Take a photo of a barcode or cover
adventurous
dark
funny
fast-paced
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
In terms of easy to read classics, "Candide" is definitely up there. I wasn't familiar with Voltaire outside of his name before, but as this is satire, it's interesting to see Voltaire advocate for the rejection of Leibnizian optimism ("everything is for the best") in favor of a more practical philosophical approach by the end — "we must cultivate our garden," aka, don't walk through life and hope it all works out.
There were parts I did genuinely find funny, including one notable occasion where Candide basically says "how can anyone eat ham at a time like this" incredibly distraught (but he eats the ham anyway).
There were parts I did genuinely find funny, including one notable occasion where Candide basically says "how can anyone eat ham at a time like this" incredibly distraught (but he eats the ham anyway).
The book's characters seemed to be all hyperbolic, all or nothing. I felt much of the work was devoted to references or call outs of people Voltaire knew and that makes it difficult to relate to.
This was interesting as a satirical travelogue of the 18th century European world. It's also fascinating to find a source work that, directly or indirectly, has influenced many modern novels of fantastic fiction that I greatly enjoy. I believe that Neil Stephenson's baroque novels, Jack Vance's stories of Cugel the Clever, and Terry Prachet's Disc World books all owe a debt to Voltaire's Candide.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The narration by Jack Devenport was great, the book takes dark subjects and tells them in a way that is lighthearted as a satire to Leibniz “Theodicy” (or that we are in the best possible world). Ridiculous in Monty Python style of humor, it’s aged well.
dark
funny
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I liked how the intent of the book was to be satirical, and it was really cool when I knew what the satire was about. I would have enjoyed the book better if I'd known the contexts more of what Voltaire was writing about, but I like how he applied it to a fictional narrative. Candide was hilarious because he was so utterly naive. He went through many struggles but did not quite understand the terribleness of the events because others were taking advantage of him. He went through the book believing that everything happens for the best, and my favorite example of this was when he killed the Baron (Cunegonde's brother) by accident and then ended up not getting killed later because he had killed the Baron (a Christian) and the pagans who wanted to kill him were joyful of "revenge"; therefore, it was good he killed the Baron. The last part of the book was a good summary of the whole book: "All events are linked together in the best of all possible worlds; for, after all, had you not been kicked out of a fine castle for your love of Miss Cunegonde . . . then you wouldn't be here eating preserved citrons and pistachio-nuts" (130).
Funnier than I thought but also just as funny as you'd think an 18th century book to be.
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes