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What are readers saying about Candide?
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Art posted a review at 2011-06-16 07:40:51.
(Language: English)
   
I read this when I was quite young and found it heavy going, have always meant to try it again.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-11-19 01:52:34.
(Language: English)
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.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-10-28 04:20:21.
(Language: English)
Excellent read, especially mid semester into my problem of evil class. It was so entertaining to see all the plights one could be in, thinking of all the different social roles that can just get flipped up side down and turn one around, all the while thinking of how philosophy really can affect ones life, than in the end to really think back and hear pangloss talk knowingly lying to himself in saying surely it is the best of all possible worlds... damn good read... I recommend it to anyone who thinks their plight might be the worst of all plights! short read with a lot of satire that will make you laugh and cry at the same time.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-12-16 11:46:05.
(Language: English)
A brilliant book and an excellent introduction to Voltaire, Candide (or Optimism) is a scathing send-up of the mentalities which dominated the times of Voltaire and still persist today. Voltaire, a shameless skeptic and fearless commentator, spent time in prison for daring to be a free thinker and characters in Candide like Dr. Pangloss, Candide's "wise" teacher, are images of those who oppressed Voltaire. Candide is the story of an impressionable young fool, his logically-twisted teacher, the beautiful love of his life, an old woman and others and their travels through life.
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A Reader posted a review at 2011-06-11 10:33:12.
(Language: English)
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.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-08-20 02:34:59.
(Language: French)
Cunéconde était en vérité fort laide... the best line ever written for a funny effect... tout est pour le mieux dans le meilleur des mondes possibles, et en plus elle était moche! Finalement ça ressemble à la "femme qui n'était pas mon genre" de Marcel Proust.
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A Reader posted a review at 2011-02-10 05:42:00.
(Language: English)
I first read this book in high school AP French IV, and now it has returned on my Masters reading list. The more things change, the more they stay the same. On a personal note, though, it's kind of sad for me to reflect that the past eleven years have made me more of a cynical Martin than a sweet, naive Candide.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-06-26 05:22:07.
(Language: English)
a profoundly humorous adventure of misfortune seen through the lens of Liebnizian optimism...add in some heretical scenes against the church, murders, military bravado, ruined nobility, and social disorder to bring the condition of humanity into clear focus. From Voltaire's perspective it appears we are merely stewards of the earth.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-12-05 07:45:54.
(Language: English)
An easy read, and very bold. Candide floats from one outrageous and horrible situation to another, but always believes that it's for the best, and that somewhere out there is the "best possible of worlds". Makes you weary of such determined optimism, but also of constant pessimism. The real lesson in this book is to not be complacent and expect good things to happen to you without working for them.
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A Reader posted a review at 2011-01-10 02:41:05.
(Language: English)
With fantastic wit and a dose of randomness Voltaire has written a real page turner with plenty of laugh out loud moments even if you don't understand the complex range of historical and religious references. Timeless.
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Sean posted a review at 2011-03-12 02:50:04.
(Language: English)
Purposely dreary. But an interesting read.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-09-14 12:56:10.
(Language: English)
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" :-)
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-08-30 03:50:47.
(Language: English)
Attraverso la parabola del povero Candido, un inguaribile ottimista, il narratore continua a "portare uno sguardo rapido su tutti i secoli, tutti i paesi, e di conseguenza, su tutte le sciocchezze di questo piccolo globo". Pubblicato a Ginevra nel 1759, e immediatamente ristampato a Parigi, Londra, Amsterdam e altre città d'Europa, Candido consente a Voltaire di perfezionare il nuovo genere letterario da lui creato, il conte philosophique. Le convulse e mirabolanti disavventure del protagonista offrono all'autore l'opportunità di dimostrare la vanità dell'ottimismo razionalista leibniziano, che vedeva realizzato nell'universo il migliore dei mondi possibili, nonché di sviluppare una straordinaria lezione di sopravvivenza alle catastrofi della natura e della storia.
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Raymond posted a review at 2009-06-23 12:41:50.
(Language: English)
FMA Voltaire Said towards the end that he hated to be associated with what he thought of as an affectation; something to describe his thoughts without embarrasing him or causing him to much trouble(scholars please take these as a poor interpreptation) But now i think this stands as more than he intended it to be; a revelation. A taste of all things that have been and all the things that are yet to come. A pessemist is the name that an optomist has described a realist indeed, for few of us can say that other than financialy in the western world that things have really improved. Money is yet the greater god than knowledge, privelege the greater than charity and immorality the greater than freedom. So then more money is the panacea (there is a reason for using that word, one you know and understand) For i think even more now than when it was written i stands for europes ill's, foolishness and inhumanity. That we can ridicule the united states for this and find our selves guilt free i leave to your consience. The book is always great, entertaining and dumfoundedly funny.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-07-18 07:18:25.
(Language: English)
I got a copy of Candide by Voltaire, the french novelist philosopher. The story is about Candide (or optimism - catch the pun) who as his name suggests is simple enough to be betrayed again and again. More so the novel hovers around an eternal debate whether the world we are living in is worthy enough for humans to live. Dr. Pangloss, Candide's teacher believes in the affirmative and can see a brighter side of everything even to the 1746 Lisbon earthquake which took 30,000 human lives. Candide's attempt to unite with his beloved Cunegonde takes him to an interesting and unusual journey. On the way he is exploited many times financially, politically and in every other thinkable way. In Lisbon he witnesses a massive earthquake which takes toll of 30,000 human lives. He is sentenced to death by the Portuguese in order to appease the heavens but somehow manages to flee. Continuing a long list of adventure he reaches by accident the Utopian land of El Dorado where no one is interested in gold and diamonds and where there is no government or police. The citizenry is too satisfied with life to venture out to do business and amass wealth (too dangerous and loathsome to a capitalist). This definitely is a heaven says Candide but would have to leave for Venice in order to meet Cunegonde. On his farther journey to Venice he is once again agonised many times to see many royal men forced to live a miserable life. And finally when he meets Cunegonde he sees how ugly she has turned by suffering. All this melancholy rattles his faith in the hypothesis of his teacher Dr. Pangloss - who himself has lost health and wealth to the brutality of this world - that we are living in the best of the worlds and whatever happens, happens for the best. In the end when all the characters meet and when their faith in Pangloss's Philosophy has been completely wiped out they decide to go to the most famous philosopher of Turkey to ask his advice. His wisdom -- Shut up and work. So Candide says to his friends Let us work without arguing. That is the only way to make this life bearable. My view: I agree to the author's view that the world is full of gloomy instances and that this is definitely not the best of the worlds. But then it is neither the worst as Candide would despise Europe in words. I think it is more or less evolving statistically. Many miseries that Voltaire describes are definitely wiped out in our times and if you take a net sum of all, our world is much more habitable and I hope that the future world would still be better. I strongly subscribe to Immanuel Kant's idea -- Perpetual peace on earth is very much achievable and with each of our step we are moving towards it. (Rephrased in my own words, not quoted). Moreover I see that if Pessimism and Optimism are equally likely to typify reality( I strongly believe that this is true) than why not be an optimist? But nevertheless I agree with Voltaire completely when he says Let us work without arguing. That is the only way to make this life bearable.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-06-14 06:48:23.
(Language: English)
Beautiful story with great wisdom...Candide is a classic. It’s a short witty satire... Candide realized at the end of his life adventure that "work banishes the three great evils of boredom, vice, and poverty" and that happiness in life is not created by money, hope, love or religion... Voltaire shows in a remarkable story the stupidity of the popular theory of "optimism and all is for the best" that justifies evils and tragedies by hoping for the good.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-03-10 03:40:05.
(Language: English)
….one of Voltaire’s most popular works and it provides insight into the character and perspective of the famous author. A man of complication, he resisted authoritarian control while favoring freedom of speech and many other honorable traits. He was a man of sharp, rapier –like wit and had a counter for just about any put-down, which is one of the reason Candide turned into such a fantastic satire of just about anything and everything. While it might not touch every topic of life, it does well enough of topics of monarchy, love, religion, war, greed, rape, law, and other things that could easily be shown as savage and so apparent to mankind’s existence.
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Karim posted a review at 2010-07-08 04:54:24.
(Language: English)
When the service manager at the car dealership saw that I was reading Candide, he had to tell me how good the book is. Evidently, it was required reading at the Naval Academy when he attended and sparked a lot of discussion amongst his classmates. I think I can see why it was assigned. Candide, the naive, optimistic title character is very minor royalty in Westphalia. When he is driven from his home, he embarks on a series of adventures with a changing cast of associates while attempting to reunite with his true love. The travelers are kidnapped, robbed, jailed, executed and cheated while on their journey. They relate their own tales of hardship and unspeakable injury while experiencing war, plague and earthquakes. All the while, Candide remains the optimist simply because he adheres to a discredited philosophy and is used to a pampered lifestyle, he never appears to learn a lesson from his experiences. At once a travelogue, adventure and biting satire, Candide was my first exposure to Voltaire's brilliance. The book is a joy to read and surprisingly current.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-08-23 03:51:34.
(Language: English)
One of my all time favourite books -in French or English. I read this first at school and was mesmerised! It is set in 18th/ 17th century France and elsewhere. In places it is fairly gruesome. It follows the story of Candide a young naive fool of a man on his journies across many lands and episodes. He has virtually unfaultering optimism of life with the mantra-'all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds...' The black humour and satire really appeals to me. There are some terrible images of the cruelty of war, the Church, even the British Royal Navy (the list is long!) I really love the final message it delivers 'il faut cultiver son jardin' This Penguin edition is a good translation.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-07-26 02:12:36.
(Language: English)
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.
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Jason posted a review at 2010-06-16 03:52:41.
(Language: English)
Voltaire's satirical classic still holds up over the years. Candide, the naive optimist, stumbles through the world and endures every type of hardship imaginable, all the while refusing to give up hope. Along the way he collects a band of friends, most of whom are common people. This picaresque novelette is a great polemical attack against the upper classes, who suffer more because they have more to lose, and the dishonesty of religious institutions. Voltaire was also decidedly anti-racist and an advocate of egalitarianism and these values are easy to recognize in this highly readable book.
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Jan posted a review at 2011-02-04 12:46:52.
(Language: English)
Or a critique of optimism? Still the closing words are about the importance of taking care of our gardens...
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-07-25 09:29:44.
(Language: English)
Voltaire is still recognized as one of history's greatest satirists, and after reading Candide it's not hard to see why. Two and a half centuries later, it still has the power both to amuse and to shock.On the surface, as has often been noted, Candide is obviously a critique of the philosophy of Liebniz, and especially of the idea that this is the best of all possible worlds and everything is as it had to be in order for this to be so (in accordance, presumably, with the plans of an omnipotent and omnibenevolent Creator). Voltaire goes quite over the top in showing the misadventures and misfortunes that befall his befuddled hero, who at first whole-heartedly buys into this "optimism."Eventually, Candide's tale concludes with his advice that we should all just tend to our gardens--the precise meaning of which has been widely (and wildly) speculated about. Many take it to be a rejection of philosophy as such as being entirely useless, and we should just take a more pragmatic approach to life, though I find this interpretation untenable. More likely, given what we know about Voltaire as an Enlightenment thinker and from the content of Candide itself, it is simply a rejection of one philosophical school, namely that of rationalism. This is wider than just Liebniz, and Voltaire does target the ideas of other major rationalists (e.g., Descartes) as well. The message seems to be that philosophy is useless *when it has nothing to do with, and is in fact contradicted by, our actual experience.* The ending then suggests a much more practical sort of philosophy, like the one represented in America by Voltaire's contemporary Benjamin Franklin, but it is a philosophy nonetheless.In the end, this is a highly entertaining and thought-provoking story that is still very relevant in today's world, and should still be required reading for everybody.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-02-10 10:02:07.
(Language: English)
Candide by Voltaire is a classic short witty satire... Beautiful story with great wisdom...If you've never see the broadway musical version of it; then read it... Candide realized at the end of his life adventure that "work banishes the three great evils of boredom, vice, and poverty" and that happiness in life is not created by money, hope, love or religion... Voltaire shows in a remarkable story the stupidity of the popular theory at that time of "optimism and all is for the best" that justifies evils and tragedies by hoping for the good.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-10-06 08:53:14.
(Language: English)
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!
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