Candide

Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece!
Review: This book written by Voltaire in 1759 is as funny to read now as it was when it was written. It tells the story about an illegitimate son of Dr. Pangloss. This book is a satire and as good a depiction of the follies and vices of men that you'll find. We follow Candide through many outrageous adventures which put into question all that mankind holds dear (such as science, philosophy, religion, government and romance). It attacks the pretentiousness of the upper classes. It attacks man's culpability, stupidity and crudeness. It's funny, warm and incredibly poignant. Wonderful book!

Rating:
Summary: Reservations about a classic
Review: Candide is among the classics of world- literature.Voltaire wrote a hundred volumes or more but this is the only piece which is still read today. There is reason for this. The theme is an eternal one, innocent optimistic idealistic youth confronting the realities of the world, and being slowly disabused of his idealism. Voltaire takes on Leibniz whose views are represented by Candide's teacher Pangloss( Everything is for the best in the best of all possible worlds). Voltaire writes with great satirical skill of the numerous misadventures of Candide who after them all comes to the conclusion that ' it is best to cultivate one's own garden' . One reason I never fully enjoyed the book is my sense of a certain predictable slaptstick element in which the cruelty preceding is certainly about to be followed by the cruelty to come. And this too has to do with a feeling a sense that Voltaire himself seemed to be enjoying the cruelty more than anything else. Voltaire it is true has an honored place in the human struggle for freedom of individual expression but he was on the personal level a quite terrible person. And that feeling that for him the cruelties of life are a bit of a delight did not escape me when reading the work.
This to my mind means that the work cannot even come close to those peaks of world literature in which we have deep connection with and sympathy for the major heroes. Candide is a straw- figure and this little moral allegory still speaks a truth and a question.

Rating:
Summary: Great Political Satire
Review: As a political satire during the "enlightenment" Voltaire's "Candide" works quite well. As a comprehensable, logically structured novel it can be at times confusing.

The great thing about "Candide" is Voltaire treats these characters in a way I feel satire works best. You need characters who are complete cliche, sterotypes of those being mocked. Satire I feel only works when you are without limits. Go overbroad, get crazy, but always remain consistant. Don't get serious on your audience when the first 50 pages did not. It breaks your flow. And Voltaire stays true to that form.

In some ways "Candide" reminds me of the work of Homer. It is a grand epic where one absurb event after another takes place, but sometimes it leaves you scrathing your head wondering, "how did we come to this"? You can argue Voltaire, in an attempt to pass one by the censors of the day had to make the book seems "pointless" so the government wouldn't be offened, but, we come to ask ourselves, what side is Voltaire really on?

He seemed to be for the enlightment, but Pangloss, who is a symbol for the enlightenment, is presented as such a fool, who repeated says everything happens for the best when nothing is working out. Is Voltaire saying the enlightenment has lost its way? If so, he never really provides a way for it to redeem itself.

Many of his attacks on society can still be agrued today, especially his opinion of the government which makes the book a worthwhile read, but the structure of the story and much of the character set-up I found poorly done.

In short the novel works well as an example of great social and political satire, but can be improved in story development.
** 1\2 out of *****

Bottom-line: Voltaire's wit reminds me of Oscar Wilde. One of the more enjoyable satires I have read. It remains true to the spirit of what I feel it great satire but disappoints in other areas.

Rating:
Summary: My favorite book
Review: As a rule I don't recap the plot of books because I don't want to ruin anything for anyone, but for this one I will make a slight exception. Candide is a naive young man who lives in paradise worshiping his one true love, a princess at the castle in which he resides. The cruel world comes in and sends him on a trip of horrors that would make what Job went through seem like a blister. Fast moving, exciting and funny as a great novel can be.

This book can be read as a fun tale of misfortune and woe, or it can be read as a deep philosophical tale. Which is why the book is brilliant, it works on many different levels. Actually, it works on every level, which is why I recommend it to everyone who claims that they love to read. The humor is biting and hilarious, which is why it is the greatest satire ever written, even if the object of the satire has long since died.

I do want to point out one thing, and it won't ruin the ending, because the ending isn't as important as the journey. Many people see this novel as an unabashed, full on assault on optimism. It isn't. Read the ending again. In the end things work out for the main characters, just not in the way they could have ever imagined in the beginning. I think that this novel deals with the unreal expectations of youth and innocence than it does optimism. READ FOR YOURSELF AND DECIDE!!

Rating:
Summary: Waste of Time
Review: I read this for school several weeks ago, and was very disappointed. I felt so jipped after I read it that I actually NEEDED to read a better book. I went with Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire.

To be honest, I think it was a valiant effort at good political satire, but there was absolutely no skill to the storytelling. This made disconnected me from the entire story. I laughed at only one point in the book.

One thing that fascinated me was the fact that his criticisms of far superior liturary talents actually described exactly the way I felt about this book. It was certainly nowhere near Gullivers Travels and unworthy to lick the a*s of A Modest Proposal.

If you want good, more modern, social satire that's hilarious, gracefully told, and mindboggling entertaining, you'd be much better off reading Douglas Adams' The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It excells in all the areas Candide failed. I would much rather hear the thoughts of a newborn sperm whale plummeting toward the ground ("Will the ground be my friend") than hear an old woman drone on about how pirates ate her butt cheek (believe me it's not as funny as it sounds).

Rating:
Summary: Voltaire's Classic
Review: This classic by Voltaire is wonderful satire. Candide, the young illegitimate nephew of a German baron, is taught by his teacher/philosopher Pangloss that this world is "the best of all possible worlds." Candide falls in love with Cunegonde, the baron's young daughter. When their love is discovered, Candide is expelled from his home, and the fun starts. The entire novel is then consumed with tongue-in-cheek melodrama of Candide's worldwide attempt to find and marry Cunegonde, who is, of course, constantly on the move.

Early on in the story we realize that the important aspects of Voltaire's novel are not the plot's details but the higher themes: the "real-world" tragedy which disproves Pangloss' initial optimistic teachings, the hypocrisy of the day's religious theologians, and the inability of money to solve problems. Voltaire's wit shines in his masterpiece, and while this book is not for young children, it does have broad appeal, especially due to its short length.


Rating:
Summary: The best of all possible adventures
Review: I'm naturally biased towards this particular edition, since it was translated by my History of the Enlightenment professor, but even putting aside which edition it might be, it's a witty, funny, timeless story mixing adventure in with Enlightenment philosophy and Voltaire's views on a whole myriad of subjects. It's even alleged to be translated from the German notes of "Dr. Ralph," so that his detractors might not guess right away whom the true author was, much like Montesquieu's classic 'The Persian Letters' also being in the guise of having been written by someone other than himself. Professor Gordon says in the introduction that, if nothing else, at least this new translation restores Candide's original height to him! He also points out, in the lengthy but far from boring introduction, a number of the sexual puns and innuendos that the reader probably wouldn't realise are dirty puns and sexual comments because the seemingly innocent language doesn't even seem to suggest it, or the pun is lost in translation from the French.

Candide's very name means "pure," and this young man indeed is pure, innocent, and overly trusting, even after he's cheated, robbed, used, and taken advantage of time after time throughout the story. Besides his name, there is also irony in the subtitle, 'Optimism.' The entire story is a prime example of Occum's Razor in action. Everything you could possibly imagine goes wrong for Candide and his friends--being drafted into the Bulgar army, being driven out of the "paradise" of the Thunder-ten-tronck castle in Westphalia (which we know is little more than a hole in the wall!), having their riches stolen, being caught in the Lisbon earthquake, they're exiled, forced to flee for their lives, they're taken prisoners, caught in the Inquisition, you name it. Candide innocently goes through all of these many trials out of his love for Cunégonde, who in his sweetness and purity he doesn't realise is a whore. But because of the oft-repeated phrase of his wise tutor Dr. Pangloss, he believes that "all events are linked together in this best of all possible worlds," and doesn't see Cunégonde, or any of the other bad things or unscrupulous people around him, as what they truly are. Only when he finally gets Cunégonde back does he realise that it was worth more trouble than it was worth, and only holds up to his promise to marry her because she presses him so strongly and because he wants to humiliate Cunégonde's smug brother. Even the ending, which by all accounts seems like a happy life for Candide and his friends, is laden with constant wondering why they're doing what they're doing, how things might have been different if some of the things they went through hadn't happened or had happened in different ways.

Rating:
Summary: The most entertainment for your money
Review: The story is quick-- there is never a slow pace. Everything shared is done so matter of factly, you'll need to back track to realize that something serious has just happened. Just pay attantion to all the little ironic twists from a man banned from his own country (Voltaire, the author, I mean.)