Don Quixote holds a special place in my heart, so I was a little skeptical going into this book but I didn't need to worry. Packed with delightful humor without being over the top, this was an enchanting and hilarious read that I enjoyed tremendously.

I have to say that I really liked Candide’s response when Don Quixote asks him if the people of America are as civilized as Europeans:
<blockquote>
<i>If by civilized, you mean they have had many wars, oppressed whole peoples, and embraced social status based on wealth, then the answer is a decided Yes! In addition to all that, they have theme parks.</i>
</blockquote>
But other than that, I felt like this book was a bit lacking.

Yes, it’s a fun idea. I know it’s been done in different ways by different authors (see Philip Jose Farmer). And a fight between Don and Cyrano on their women was at first amusing but quickly seemed a bit obvious.

And Sherlock was a bit disappointing. Rather than deducing that he was a fictional character, he discovered it through enlightenment in a drug-addled state. Well, maybe here, the author was trying to avoid the obvious.

The more I read, the more I got the feeling that this book was intended to be to the last millennia what Ready Player One was to the 80s. Except without the mean writing skills. Not only is it populated with characters from the last few centuries but they are also making pop culture references as they go.

Apologies to the author, but quote from the book seemed awful meta:
<blockquote>
<i>…‘a derivative work of fiction by a hack writer’ and ‘a millstone in the annals of literature.’</i>
</blockquote>
And then when they got in the car with Dean Moriarty, I knew it was really going to run off the rails. By that time I was non-invested enough to not care if he reproduced Dean’s verbal excretions or if the parallels between Dean and Don were inspired.

It tried to play with philosophy and values and ethics. But not in a way I thought was very engaging.

I’m obsessed with finishing books I start, so even if this wasn’t an ARC I agreed to review, I probably would have finished it. But begrudgingly.

Review of (OMG) Don Quixote and Candide Seek Truth, Justice and El Dorado in the Digital Age (LOL) by Stefan Soto

In the interests of full disclosure, I was sent an ARC of this book by the publisher through NetGalley for review purposes. All my reviews, good, bad, or indifferent, are based on my own opinion and from my personal viewpoint. They are also spoiler free.

A road trip through time, literature, and pop culture.

(OMG) Don Quixote and Candide Seek Truth, Justice and El Dorado in the Digital Age (LOL) reads as stream-of-consciousness rather than a story with an actual plot. A wide variety of characters spanning several centuries show up along the way. It is well-written, and amusing in the way of It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World or a Bob Hope and Bing Crosby road trip movie.

I’m sure I did not catch all the references imbedded in the story, but it was fun to catch the ones I did.

I give it 3 stars.

Book Review Rating System
1 star Not even worth the $1 at the used bookstore
2 stars Worth the $1
3 stars Worth the time to read
4 stars Good book! Earns bookshelf space
5 stars Great book! Start hunt for more books by this author

This book is basically an excuse to have various fictional characters interact with each other in the modern world. If you look up picaresque novel on Wikipedia, you will get a pretty good idea of the wandering, disconnected style of this book. The focus is on individual episodes and snarky quips rather than an overall plot with the connections between episodes being fairly random and unbelievable. If you like this picaresque style you will probably enjoy the book...personally, I'm not a huge fan (I was expecting a tighter plot due to blurbs comparing it to The Eyre Affair).

As far as the characters go, some of the characterizations were spot on (e.g. the idealistic Don Quixote and vain Cyrano de Bergerac whose interaction is one of the better scenes) and others were less so (e.g. the Star Trek characters felt like the author wasn't very familiar with them other than in a general make-fun-of-the-best-known-tropes kind of way). The elements of irony, satire, and meta-fiction woven throughout were entertaining enough to keep me reading, but overall it was only a so-so book for me.

Candide—after he got tired of his farm—wanders into a bar where Don Quixote is entertaining German tourists with his stories. They feel a kinship and decide to explore this modern world together, with Candide’s ultimate goal to get back to El Dorado.
For someone who’s loved the book for decades, it’s more than a little weird listening to the thoughts of a grown-up and no longer-innocent/naïve Candide. Yes, at the end of that novel he’s lost that charm, but he’s far worse here. On the other hand, his luck hasn’t changed a bit; everything bad still happens to him.
“The conductor leaned in and pointed to his badge. ‘My real name is Cyrano.’” This is the first of many appearances by famous literary—and otherwise—figures. Started out enjoying the Sherlock cameo, until it became—can’t believe I’m saying this—too meta. Luckily there’s more of him later, though I do wish someone could write about him without shoving Moriarty into it too. The entire Star Trek scene was disappointing, anticlimactic; when you get Don Quixote calling Captain Kirk a coward, you know you’re in the wrong book. They appear again near the end, but that wasn’t much better. And those good ol’ Suthin boys Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn turned out to be much bigger jerks than Twain would have ever thought possible.
Proving I am much like Candide, the long philosophical conversations during travel, especially in cars, put me to sleep. This book would have been considerably shorter and tighter without them.
At one point I thought for sure Candide would run into every character from his book, and couldn’t wait to get to Cunegonde. When he did. . . well, it could have gone better, but I’ll bet he doesn’t regret it. Too bad the monkeys from the trip to El Dorado didn’t make it into this one.
I’ve seen the Who’s On First routine done with bands before, but never for this long.
Nuevo Mancha seemed a lot more realistic than Vegas.
There are no words more chilling than “You shall join the other eunuchs.”
So. . . that was longer and tougher going than expected. A silly romp through history and the world, with each new chapter seemingly sprouting at random. Same wacky adventures with a modern twist, featuring two of early history’s most talked-about travelers. Where else would you find so many fun historical characters together?
I’m not at all sure if watching Man of La Mancha a few months ago helped or hindered this reading. . .
3.5 pushed up to 4/5

I loved this. As a fan of both Candide and Don Quixote, I was prepared to be very critical indeed, but Stefan Soto has succeeded in blending the doomed search for the "best of all possible worlds" with the equally doomed "impossible dream" while at the same time mixing in his own satiric humour in a work that is both intellectually satisfying and at the same time funny as Hell! Brilliant!

In the style of The Eyre Affair or Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Don Quixote & Candide & their road-trip to Las Vegas is a funny, irreverent romp featuring a plethora of cameos from famous characters in history and fiction. The humor is very self-aware and meta, and while some sections certainly work better than others - Sherlock Homes' cameo made me laugh, the crew of the Enterprise less so - on the whole the story is a fun time.
All of the references & shenanigans become a bit too indulgent for my taste as the book went on, & there were some problems with the passive voice in the writing style, which is a large reason I'm not more over the moon about it, but I would definitely recommend to literary friends looking for a light summer read!