Candide

Francois M Voltaire

I thoroughly enjoy any piece of writing that bashes fate, and this could be the prime example. Like...more

I thoroughly enjoy any piece of writing that bashes fate, and this could be the prime example. Like the book of Job, I find it hard that any Christian individual could read this book and remain with obstinate faith in an omni-benevolent all-loving God- for the fact of the matter is: many undeserving people have lousy, highly erroneous, worthless, or evil fates and if some God is in control of these fates then this God either created these fates or is well aware and not interjecting with these fates (i.e. if God created mankind with individual purposes he therefore created Hitler, Manson, Bush, etc). If you yourself are struggling with the paradox of fate, this book will not by any means offer a solution, but at least it will aid in showing why believing in fate from a Christian standpoint is an ignorant recipe for disaster; and it will do so in a well-written and surprisingly humorous way.   hide

Ok. Here comes the blesphemy. I'm never gonna get the time I spent reading this book back. Nor...more

Ok. Here comes the blesphemy. I'm never gonna get the time I spent reading this book back. Nor will I retrieve the time spent writing this review, but I see this as a public service, so there's a purpose. Voltaire took three days to write this? About right. Yes he is clever, yes he is witty, yes, in the author's time this was a masterwork of satire, but now ... sigh. When every character is introduced with a litany of their misfortunes, they all begin to sound alike. Events slide together like a messy old run on sentence. The whole book could be reduced to one of those lineage of misery stories and save everyone a lot of time and agony. Bottom line, unless you fancy 18th century lit, steer clear. The best of all possible worlds in one in which I wouldn't feel the need to read Candide.   hide

My first distinctly remembered literary classic (romantic love) discovered when I was in my early...more

My first distinctly remembered literary classic (romantic love) discovered when I was in my early teenage years and jaded by the public school curricula.Turns out, the private school I attended in my later teenage years didn't have much to offer either and I was soon ousted as not being "suited to the catholic school". Guess those damn athiest belief sets didn't wash too well with the Brother's Valerian 1,2 and 3 of the formally known Our Lady of Sion and St Patrick's College. So back to public ed I trudged amply glad I did not suffer the same fate as my dear sister in being sent to that sorrowful "den of in[e]quity formally known as St Anne's Church of England girls school and Gippsland Grammar" :-)   hide

This piece was .. I don't even know how to describe it without giving credit where credit is due! ...more

This piece was .. I don't even know how to describe it without giving credit where credit is due! I don't want to spoil it for the ones who haven't read it yet. I guess if I had to describe it in one word it would definitely be "BIZAR"! I'm not very familiar with satires, so I'm not sure if this is the standard. It is kind of tragic, but also not. Candide went through a mess of trouble (to say the least) to be with his lover,Cunegonde, but after he was finally reunited with her, he realized he wasn't satisfied. Even though, he wasn't satisfied anymore .. he stayed with her and learned that "Il faut cultiver notre jardin" in other words "We must cultivate our own garden". I would love to be able to read it in french because it would probably be a whole new perspective!    hide

This is positively the best book you will ever have the opportunity to be forced to read in high...more

This is positively the best book you will ever have the opportunity to be forced to read in high school. Seriously. Voltaire has completely reinvented the 'dead white guy' genre. Although this book is one of the shorter classics, there isn't any wasted space - so much happens that you can't possibly put the book down or you might miss something! Through it all, Voltaire's wickedly French sense of humor adds a double level to those who are clever (or dirty-minded) enough to see through to it. A definite must-read for anyone with a brain AND a sense of humor.   hide