Mielevä hidalgo Don Quijote manchalainen. I

Don Quichotte est sans doute l'un de ces monuments de la littérature qu'on hésite à aborder. Il fait partie de la culture populaire et tout un chacun a une image du chevalier errant. Pour ma part, Jacques Brel a largement participé de cette imagerie. J'avais depuis longtemps les deux tomes du célèbre roman espagnol dans ma bibliothèque, mais j'avais toujours craint de m'y plonger. C'est donc chose faite avec ce premier tome. Je dois avouer que j'ai été un peu déçu parce que j'avais préalablement lu (et adoré) le Manuscrit trouvé à Saragosse, de Jan Potocki, écrit plus tard mais largement inspiré du travail de Miguel de Cervantes. Et j'ai bien plus apprécié ce dernier. Peut-être aurais-je lu différemment Don Quichotte si je n'avais pas connu Potocki. Quoi qu'il en soit, Don Quichotte est étonnamment moderne. D'une part dans la forme, avec des procédés narratifs que nous retrouvons aujourd'hui dans les œuvres de fiction telles que les séries. En effet, Miguel de Cervantes maîtrise parfaitement le découpage des chapitres et l'annonce des futures aventures de ses héros ; d'autre part, sur le fond : l'art avec lequel l'auteur exprime la douce mais presque sensée "folie" de notre chevalier, ou, autre exemple, les réflexions sur la culture "populaire" et ce que réclamerait le public, propos adroitement glissés dans des dialogues. Le roman de Don Quichotte dépasse, et de loin, la simple description d'aventures. Et si la succession de petites histoires insérées dans l'histoire peut dérouter le lecteur – finalement, Don Quichotte et Sancho sont souvent laissés de côté –, je prendrais plaisir à lire le second tome de leurs aventures.

Reading Don Quixote felt like traveling with someone who chose imagination not as an escape, but as a form of resistance. From the first pages, I sensed that this was more than a comic tale. Miguel de Cervantes builds a story where laughter and sadness exist side by side, and I felt both almost constantly. Don Quixote’s decision to become a knight after consuming too many chivalric romances struck me as absurd at first, yet I quickly felt drawn to his seriousness. He believes deeply, and that belief carries its own dignity.

As Don Quixote rides across Spain with Sancho Panza, I found myself shifting between amusement and sympathy. Sancho’s grounded logic and hunger for reward balanced Quixote’s lofty ideals, and their conversations felt like debates between realism and hope. I often laughed at their misadventures, especially the famous battles with imagined giants and false enemies. Still, beneath the humor, I felt a quiet ache. The world repeatedly punishes Quixote for seeing it differently, and I could not fully side with the world.

What moved me most was how Cervantes uses storytelling itself as a theme. The novel reflects on books, authorship, truth, and illusion with a playful intelligence. I felt aware that Cervantes was inviting me to question how narratives shape identity. Quixote is not simply mad. He is faithful to a moral code that no longer fits his time. That tension stayed with me long after I put the book down.

As the story progresses, Don Quixote becomes more human to me, not less. His defeats feel heavier, his moments of clarity more fragile. When the novel reaches its final movement, I felt a genuine sadness. His return to reason felt like a kind of death. Closing the book, I carried a sense of respect for a man who dared to imagine a better world, even when it cost him everything. Cervantes reminded me that idealism may fail, but it leaves a mark worth remembering.

I started reading this with a group of friends, taking turns to read chapters aloud. For the first 5-10 chapters I was enthralled, finding it an utterly charming satire of essentially the same genre that Monty Python and the Holy Grail sends up. But after that it felt like it kept repeating the same jokes, and started to wear thin enough that I didn't actually finish it.

Was this a Sienna Nealon novel?

This is the best book in "The Girl Out of the Box" series at this point. I love how all the arcs started to fit into places as well as how the revelations were placed at certain parts (not to early, not to late).

In addition to those, it was great to pull on the bits of side information from all the other 37 books which were forgotten immediately (didn't matter back then) but turned out to be very important in this showdown.

10 out of 5 stars if it's possible.

Was this a Sienna Nealon novel?

This is the best book in "The Girl Out of the Box" series at this point. I love how all the arcs started to fit into places as well as how the revelations were placed at certain parts (not to early, not to late).

In addition to those, it was great to pull on the bits of side information from all the other 37 books which were forgotten immediately (didn't matter back then) but turned out to be very important in this showdown.

10 out of 5 stars if it's possible.