Derek Bartholomew’s Reviews > The Adventures and Misadventures of Maqroll > Status Update
Derek Bartholomew
is starting
I rarely do this. But I am going to bow out on this one and Rabelais Gargantua and Pantagruel, both of which I have been reading for months, at a glacial pace. I read the first two novellas, but I am just too bored with the plot and Grossman’s sentences are so repetitive: I found this be true of her translation of Don Quixote as well: Smollet’s is by far the best of the 3 translations I’ve read.
— Aug 25, 2026 02:43PM
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Derek Bartholomew
is on page 193 of 700
I just finished the second novel in this volume, Llona Cones the Rain. What a gut punch!
I know that these novels are well loved, almost universally. But these stories are melancholic, somber, gloomy tales, not I what expected but enjoyable just the same.
I suspect that the subsequent stories will be more upbeat. We shall see.
— Aug 20, 2026 06:14PM
I know that these novels are well loved, almost universally. But these stories are melancholic, somber, gloomy tales, not I what expected but enjoyable just the same.
I suspect that the subsequent stories will be more upbeat. We shall see.
Derek Bartholomew
is on page 103 of 700
This isn’t just one novel: it’s seven. One downside is the extremely tiny font.
I’ve only finished the first, The Snow of the Admiral, a slow burn.
Marqoll the Gaviero (the Lookout) is not only an adventurer; he’s an existential philosopher.
The prose style is ponderous; it flows slowly. I am hesitant to make this comparison, but he reminds me of Thomas Mann.
It may take me a year to read this.
— Aug 12, 2026 10:34AM
I’ve only finished the first, The Snow of the Admiral, a slow burn.
Marqoll the Gaviero (the Lookout) is not only an adventurer; he’s an existential philosopher.
The prose style is ponderous; it flows slowly. I am hesitant to make this comparison, but he reminds me of Thomas Mann.
It may take me a year to read this.