BookDragon Books for the Diverse Reader

Don Quixote of La Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes, adapted by Ilan Stavans, illustrated by Roberto Weil [in Booklist]

Ilan Stavans and Roberto Weil, whose last collaboration, Mr. Spic Goes to Washington (2008), loosely contemporized Frank Capra’s similarly named, iconic film, use a comparable time-bending, pop-culturizing, humor-inducing graphic technique to adapt Cervantes’ 17th-century tome.

Stavans compresses the original 125 chapters into just 30, remaining generally faithful to Don Quixote’s odyssey to “mend the world” with his sidekick, Sancho Panza. Stavans attests, “Don Quixote is un libro infinito​ in which everything – past, present, and future – fits in,” thereby justifying his anachronistic additions throughout, including books by Kafka and Borges, R2-D2 and C-3PO, the musical Man of La Mancha​, Stavan’s own play The Oven, even a reference to Stavans’ publisher position at Restless Books.

Weil is an ideal accomplice; his emotive artistry verges close to colorful caricature, and his text bubbles break panel boundaries as if he knows the script is too large to ever be contained.

Stavans notes the simultaneous availability of a “Spanglish” edition. Undoubtedly, this is not your lit professor’s classic. Purists need not open, but readers in search of a good guffaw can expect rollicking fun times.

Review: “Graphic Novels,” Booklist, November 15, 2018

Readers: Young Adult, Adult

Published: 2018

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