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Short and biting. Reasonably funny, with long 18th century sentences.
Voltaire obviously didn't like clergy much. The book is mainly about people doing stupid and/or wicked things to themselves and others - either because they have stupid pious/superstitious beliefs or because their victims do. Jews get burnt at the stake. The hero finds El Dorado but decides to leave it, etc. A lot of what Voltaire is making fun of is religion, but there are other targets too.
It's pretty biting. It's probably less entertaining now than it would have been when it was originally written, and Europe was full of lunatics murdering each other over their religious differences. Now that most of the beliefs that Voltaire was making fun of are ancient history (at least in my part of the world) it's not as exciting as I imagine it would have been at time.
Even if it's not as fun to read as it would have been 250 years ago it's pretty good. 3.5 stars, rounded up because it was probably worth 5 stars when it was originally written.
Voltaire obviously didn't like clergy much. The book is mainly about people doing stupid and/or wicked things to themselves and others - either because they have stupid pious/superstitious beliefs or because their victims do. Jews get burnt at the stake. The hero finds El Dorado but decides to leave it, etc. A lot of what Voltaire is making fun of is religion, but there are other targets too.
It's pretty biting. It's probably less entertaining now than it would have been when it was originally written, and Europe was full of lunatics murdering each other over their religious differences. Now that most of the beliefs that Voltaire was making fun of are ancient history (at least in my part of the world) it's not as exciting as I imagine it would have been at time.
Even if it's not as fun to read as it would have been 250 years ago it's pretty good. 3.5 stars, rounded up because it was probably worth 5 stars when it was originally written.