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Don Quixote Explained Study Guide

Name: Don Quixote Explained Study Guide
Author: Emre Gurgen

CHARACTER ENCYCLOPEDIA, RELATIONSHIP DICTIONARY, THEME READER, EPISODE PRIMER, JOKE DIGEST, LATIN TRANSLATOR, AND MORE.

by Emre Gurgen ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 22, 2014

Spoils a few punch lines but keeps track of the cast so readers don’t have to.

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More of a reference than a guide, Gurgen’s book dissects the comedic classic.

Don Quixote still reigns as a singular literary masterpiece. So who could fault Gurgen (True Understanding in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, 2012) for his labor of devotion? Though Don Quixote’s many jokes, memorable episodes and characters are timeless, some may pass over the heads of readers. To help navigate the classic, Gurgen’s work takes the form of a Don Quixote encyclopedia with several independent sections: a large character dictionary; a dictionary of relationships among characters and groups; an extensive section on the multiple themes; a page of Latin translations; and odds and ends, such as reproductions of a few of the tome’s poems and jokes. These last sections are least useful, especially where they crib directly from the text; a chapter on how to use the book and an index would help readers who need a guide to navigate the guide. Still, the character dictionary is thorough and includes many easily forgotten details in a digestible format. For instance, Gurgen reminds us of Don Quixote’s medical history, “Besides suffering from kidney trouble, Don Quixote has never had any teeth extracted, nor have any fallen out or been destroyed by decay or infection.” His list of injuries runs nearly a page, from his shoulder dislocation by windmill to his trampling by a herd of pigs. The chapter’s thoroughness, however, provides spoilers and deflates some of the classic’s humor. Additionally, the structure of the book, which doesn’t follow that of the classic, may disappoint those looking for a chapter-by-chapter key to Cervantes, but Gurgen’s discussions of and passion for Don Quixote’s themes and players offer much to consider.

Spoils a few punch lines but keeps track of the cast so readers don’t have to.

Pub Date: Feb. 22, 2014

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 464

Publisher: Amazon Digital Services

Review Posted Online: March 4, 2019

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

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THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS

FROM MEAN STREETS TO WALL STREET

by Chris Gardner with Quincy Troupe ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 2006

Well-told and admonitory.

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Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.

Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.

Well-told and admonitory.

Pub Date: June 1, 2006

ISBN: 0-06-074486-3

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006

Categories:

GENERAL BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | BUSINESS

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UNDER THE BRIDGE

by Rebecca Godfrey ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2005

A tour-de-force of true crime reportage.

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Godfrey reconstructs a horrific murder with a vividness found in the finest fiction, without ever sacrificing journalistic integrity.

The novel The Torn Skirt (2002) showed how well the author could capture the roiling inner life of a teenager. She brings that sensibility to bear in this account of the 1997 murder of a 14-year-old girl in British Columbia, a crime for which seven teenage girls and one boy were charged. While there’s no more over-tilled literary soil than that of the shocking murder in a small town, Godfrey manages to portray working-class View Royal in a fresh manner. The victim, Reena Virk, was a problematic kid. Rebelling against her Indian parents’ strict religiosity, she desperately mimicked the wannabe gangsta mannerisms of her female schoolmates, who repaid her idolization by ignoring her. The circumstances leading up to the murder seem completely trivial: a stolen address book, a crush on the wrong guy. But popular girls like Josephine and Kelly had created a vast, imaginary world (mostly stolen from mafia movies and hip-hop) in which they were wildly desired and feared. In this overheated milieu, reality was only a distant memory, and everything was allowed. The murder and cover-up are chilling. Godfrey parcels out details piecemeal in the words of the teens who took part or simply watched. None of them seemed to quite comprehend what was going on, why it happened or even—in a few cases—what the big deal was. The tone veers close to melodrama, but in this context it works, since the author is telling the story from the inside out, trying to approximate the relentlessly self-dramatizing world these kids inhabited. Given most readers’ preference for easily explained and neatly concluded crime narratives, Godfrey’s resolute refusal to impose false order on the chaos of a murder spawned by rumors and lies is commendable.

A tour-de-force of true crime reportage.