Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Candide ou l'optimisme by Voltaire

52 reviews

noitosfera's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional funny reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

dora_w3's review against another edition

2.5

adventurous funny reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Although Voltaire's points have merit, his execution, despite its short length, is exhausting and slowly kills the humour of his parody. Also, though racism and sexism is to be expected from most classical literature of this age, for a modern reader it is at times almost unbearable in this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Rape, Violence, Antisemitism

hayleyvem's review against another edition

2.0

adventurous lighthearted fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Medical content, Trafficking, Murder, War, Classism

Moderate: Grief, Death of parent

Minor: Animal death, Alcohol

buildingtaste's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous funny fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Amazing how I get so fed up with modern authors for going too fast through plot developments or not reasonably establishing the world, meanwhile Voltaire can be like "and then they went to South America for a bit" and I'll say "wow ok Francois where are you going with this one?" and the answer is "never mind that; we need to tend our garden."

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

Not sure I covered all the things that go down in this book, pretty much every chapter has some absolutely abysmal content.

hindyjoyce's review against another edition

2.75

adventurous dark funny sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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it was my first philosophical book…

 i took away a lot and it was a great and entertaining starting point. 

though some chapters really dragged and messed with the pacing of the book. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racial slurs, Slavery, Violence, Antisemitism, Cannibalism, War

pippawig's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous emotional funny hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexual violence, Violence, War

bcgalore's review against another edition

3.25

adventurous challenging funny informative medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Murder, War

Moderate: Racism, Sexism

kaitlin2749's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark reflective tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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This book was intellectually stimulating. Voltaire engages the reader through a story in which he is able to weave philosophical beliefs about optimism. The novel is dark and cynical at times, but the conclusion brings all the events together to make a point that life is not perfect, we all have our own struggles that happen for a reason. These struggles will shape us, but we need not become obsessed with them. Rather, we just need to “cultivate our own garden.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Murder, Colonisation, Classism

mary_juleyre's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous funny inspiring fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence

irongrip64's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous challenging funny medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

Minor: Rape