Rating: 
Summary: Too far past its intended audience.
Review: Timeliness, being crucial to any piece of social commentary, has stolen the best parts of "Candide" and hidden them away from the average modern reader. Voltaire's humor, already delivered dryly, is lost to the same culprit, as is his sarcasm. Once stripped of those crucial elements "Candide" reads like the outline of a potentially great tale. But it cannot be considered a story, too much is lacking. 1. The tale is 90% exposition. Rather than showing us dear Candide's many wondrous travels, letting us come along, allowing us to feel the events unfolding, we are summarily told. 2. Though the plot takes many turns, some of them clever, there is no art to the writing. We are simply, and again summarily, hurried from place to place, twist to twist. 3. There is no character development. All we ever know of Candide is that he is naive, that he does not learn from his experience, and that he has some truly horrid luck. There is nothing to make us care about him, or any of the characters. At most we say, 'Oh, that's too bad.' But we say it without feeling or concern. 4. Of the final 10%, nine is dialogue. In this we get our only glimpse of Voltaire's intelligence. But as pleasing as that is to see, it cannot make up for the artless way he placed his words. Each character, regardless of upbringing or social standing, speaks in exactly the same manner as every other character, and I suspect that they all speak in a manner that was exactly as Voltaire may have spoken. The remaining 1% is spent, poorly, on some very minimal scenes. He spends so little time on actual scenes, that it seems he must have considered them a great inconvenience. Voltaire gives us no more than is required, which is wonderful in any descriptive passage, including the setting of any scene, but it's all done just as artlessly as the exposition and dialogue. The ending is good. There is a little moralizing, telling us to look to our own lives, but it's done with subtlety. This is the one place Voltaire's simple style pays off. This book is best suited to those of simple and undeveloped literary minds. Those who know anything about writing or good literature can find many better books, under and outside of the "Classic" umbrella.
Rating: 
Summary: Candide-A Book of Optimism and Misfortune
Review: For the most part I thoroughly enjoyed Candide. I found the chapter titles most humorous. The plot itself is a bit lacking. Basically Candide just travels places and gets robbed or beaten all for his love, Cunegone. His adventures, though, are a hilarious journey through the 18th Century world in which he meets many people with different views of the world and beyond. During almost his entire adventure Candide keeps a good outlook on things which may have been the very thing that kept him going.
Rating: 
Summary: Hilarious cynicism
Review: This is a "laugh-out-loud" funny book. Voltaire sounds very contemporary as he lashes out at everything foolish and stupid in the world. I can easily imagine Voltaire giggling hysterically as he wrote this one-and it comes through in this hilarious comedy. Not to be missed.
Rating:
Summary: Tag along with Candide for a frenzied-pace adventure!
Review: This book is at once both hilarious and horrifying. To have a book possess both these features and still be well done is a noteworthy feat. Well, I guess that Voltaire has accomplished a noteworthy feat. The tale is about a young man named Candide who was brought up under the tutelage of a chap named Pangloss. Pangloss is a caricature of the philosopher Leibniz, who believed that ours' is "the best of all possible worlds" because it was molded and shaped by an omnipotent creator. The name itself is also a pun: Pan (which is Greek for "all") gloss (which is French for talk): Pangloss = All-talk. At any rate, Voltaire finds out (and continues to find out) that this Pollyanna view of life can be rather troublesome to the senses. He experiences the horrors of war, separation from his beloved, shipwreck, unfortunate misunderstandings, robbery and a plethora of other misfortunes. He also makes it to the mythical utopia of Eldorado, only to find that it's not all it's cracked up to be, either. This is a first rate classic that deals with the meaning of life, the $60,000 question "Is anyone out there really happy?" as well as many delightful lesser questions. Read this book, then tend to your own garden.
Rating:
Summary: Very funny, very dark classic...a must read!
Review: It is probably fair to say that there is no book that is quite like Voltaire's 'Candide'. This is a venomous satire of the 'Optimistic' philosophy and outlook of enlightenment thinkers such as Leibniz and Alexander Pope. As such, it is served well by the unique combination of repeated brutality and a deft, light touch. If that last comment doesn't make sense, then you'll just have to READ THE BOOK.At a mere 144 pages (in this edition), this is a classic that is a breeze to read. As to the charge that this book is too "violent" or "in bad taste", I would only ask you to remember that Voltaire was furious that learned members of a "civilized" society (like Leibniz, Pope, and even Rousseau)could claim that the apparent senseless violence and mayhem wrought by disasters, war, disease, man's cruelty, etc. was actually only a part of some 'greater good' - after all, God (being perfect) could not 'logically' created anything but the 'best of all possible' universes. Voltaire's touch is so light and understated that I defy anyone to write anything that contains a third of the violence in 'Candide' and still manages to read as breezily and somehow be genuinely funny. But dark satire must be funny - otherwise it lapses into pedantry. Read it - even if you do not like it, I guarantee you that it will disturb you and make you think. And for that, we can thank Voltaire.
Rating:
Summary: Une histoire formidable
Review: I enjoyed the tale of Candide,written by Voltaire in 1759.Voltaire blames human foolishness and unfairness.Every reader should be fascinated by this wonderful story,thanks to an author who is at the same time ironic and realistic because he draws his inspiration from real facts.
Rating: 
Summary: a decent book but somewhat overrated.
Review: i should start by saying that i like voltaire very much but can't understand how this work has come to overshadow his "alphabet of wit". if u can get a hold of this little book it will be well worth your time. far more amusing and intelligible than candide. voltaire could be a very funny man and there really wasn't a lot of humour in candide. i thought candide was a bit boring at times. also, he did NOT demolish the argument that this is the best of all possible worlds. with matter there are limitaions and the arguments are complex. this book deals with none of them. but i still adore voltaire.
Rating:
Summary: A very interesting read
Review: I must be the only college student that wasnt forced to read this for a class. Anyway,this was an interesting book that really made me think. I didnt find it so much as funny as sad at depicting the horrors of the world but it does so in such a light, outragous way.Some of the best parts are at the end, like when they go visit the rich man who doesnt enjoy anything.The plot is over the top and outragous but this is still one of the most realistic books Ive read. I found it kind of bleak and depressing but I also found it intriguing.Voltaire exaggerates everything in Candide, all of the misfortunes everyone has to go through are too horrible to be even realistic. At least I hope no ones had quite as bad time of it as candide. Even if you dont agree with Voltire and even if you share views with Dr. Pangloss you should still read this book.One final thing, dont mourn overmuch for any of the characters when they die, theyll turn up again later.
Rating:
Summary: Very good reading but certainly a work of a bad taste
Review: This book has two things which good book needs: first, it's a work of extremely talanted man, second, it's a book of a person with which you'll never agree. Voltaire was one who talked about bad taste of Shakespeare, but his taste is really extremely bad. When you begin to read this book, you think it to be a work of honest man, but in the middle of it you see that he was just a tricky politician. But it all just adds fun to the reading.
Rating:
Summary: Magnificent, clear, and very interesting!
Review: I highly recommend this book.Fantastic and very interesting, indeed.Although there are some hardly possible things to be believed(for example:Pangloss escaped public punishments more than twice unknown),but it clearly described Voltaire's idea that everything is for the best.I have read this book more than three times, and I am sure that once you read the first three pages of this satirical book you won't be able to stop perusing it.If you know the conditions in Europe(especially in France)at that time, you would understand completely everything said in the story.Voltaire has arranged this book so cleverly that that the reader won't be bored. The story is lavishly adorned with knowledge, history,politics,and sometimes,funny and foolish things.I vouchsave, once you opened this book, your eyes would be fixed there for hours.Go and buy it!
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