3.34k reviews for:

Candide

Voltaire

3.56 AVERAGE

adventurous dark funny reflective medium-paced

What a horrible, awful, delightful mess 

Don't let your old World Lit class reading list scare you away from this one. It's clever, cynical funny and dead on when it comes to human nature.

Surprisingly funny.

for class

It's wacky, it's topical, it's Candide. It... speaks for itself, really. Give it a read, it's not very long.
adventurous challenging dark lighthearted reflective fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This is my second time reading this book. The hilarity still slaps even from the 1700s. It’s wild how much this reflects on modern worldviews  

"Alas! I have known this love, this sovereign of hearts, this soul of our soul; all it has ever brought me was one kiss and twenty kicks in the ass."

Okay, I can sincerely say that I was not expecting an early French satire piece to be so funny. The quote above almost reduced me to tears. I identified with Martin on an almost weird level. It was honestly an enjoyable ride.

Plus all the commentary, of course.

Rating 5

I loved the humor in this story.

What a story. Having never read Voltaire, I did not know what to expect. I loved the story and the descriptive writing.

Very interesting,,, the end was somewhat slow, but I enjoyed it! By listening to it rather than reading it, I wasn't able to spell the names of the people, but the cast was diverse, and the story was somewhat amusing. His misfortunes are to be pitied, yet the idea of everything turning out for the best fills me with hope. I thought about the theme a lot while reading/listening to the book. I enjoyed it!