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daja57's review against another edition
4.0
As per the opera, Don Juan was dragged down to Hell by devils whilst hosting a dinner for the statue of the father, whom he had killed, of Dona Ana. But the only witness to this was his valet, Leporello. So Ana, newly wed to Don Ottavio, travels to Tenorio to 'break the news' to Don Juan's dad, Don Saturno. While she is there, the peasants agitate for the irrigation Don Saturno has long promised, hoping that the death of his libertine son will stop Don Saturno haemorrhaging money. But is Don Juan actually dead?
This playful little novel has some delightful moments. It hops from one narrator to another while almost always staying the third person past tense; it lacks chapters and sometimes obvious breaks which sometimes made it difficult to know which character was actually speaking. In addition there is a huge cast list: Dona Ana's party numbers at least four and the nobility and servants at Don Saturno's residence is another four or five and then there are the schoolmaster and the miller and the miller's daughter and the village priest and the sacristan and at least a dozen peasants with speaking parts. In this it resembled a grand opera with many voices and it was appropriately brilliant in the ensembles. But in a novel I think this lack of focus makes it more difficult to fully bring out the characters; as a result the characterisations seemed superficial. And when one considers that the author's intent was to provide a commentary on the Spanish Civil War (the book was published in 1938, during that conflict), I suspect that there was too much for what, at 236 pages, is a slender novel. Nevertheless, I felt it was considerably more nuanced than Lolly Willowes, the author's debut, and there is a lot of amusing incident. And the pacing is spot-on: there is a very important turning-point almost ;precisely at the 75% mark.
This playful little novel has some delightful moments. It hops from one narrator to another while almost always staying the third person past tense; it lacks chapters and sometimes obvious breaks which sometimes made it difficult to know which character was actually speaking. In addition there is a huge cast list: Dona Ana's party numbers at least four and the nobility and servants at Don Saturno's residence is another four or five and then there are the schoolmaster and the miller and the miller's daughter and the village priest and the sacristan and at least a dozen peasants with speaking parts. In this it resembled a grand opera with many voices and it was appropriately brilliant in the ensembles. But in a novel I think this lack of focus makes it more difficult to fully bring out the characters; as a result the characterisations seemed superficial. And when one considers that the author's intent was to provide a commentary on the Spanish Civil War (the book was published in 1938, during that conflict), I suspect that there was too much for what, at 236 pages, is a slender novel. Nevertheless, I felt it was considerably more nuanced than Lolly Willowes, the author's debut, and there is a lot of amusing incident. And the pacing is spot-on: there is a very important turning-point almost ;precisely at the 75% mark.
lectora_nocturna's review against another edition
No connect amb sa història ni amb es personatges.
stormy_reading's review against another edition
dark
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
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