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Liked It1 of 1 members found this review helpful “Candide is a very old book by one of the great philosophers Voltaire.The book is basically one big satire on European culture and life style. I think the best part of the book is not the actual book itself, but its backround. Voltaire was living in a time were people finally realized humans were...” see full review » see other reviews » |
Didn’t Like It “Candide, by Voltaire is a sattire written during the Enlightenment period. During the period of the Enlightenment, many philosophers developed different ideas, which were very popular throughout the townspeople. Many people agreed with them, but there were a few rebels who denoted the entire...” see full review » see other reviews » |
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“Candide was a very different book since it was a satire written it the 18th century. From Global History class, I learned that Voltaire was an enlightened thinker and denounced slavery and oppression of people's natural rights. This was very apparent in Candide. Because it was an allegorical piece, it wasn't very exciting and exhilarating like a normal novel would be but it had it's own specialty to it and it was interesting to read. Plus, it was easier to analyze than the other two summer reading books so I had fun interpreting Voltaire's writing and his ideas. One thing I liked about Candide was the humor. It wasn't slapstick humor which was new because Voltaire's style of writing was very witty. He also included a lot of irony which made it humorous. However, I feel the ending was a little unsatisfying and unrealistic. It was a little weird that they all ended up together because I'm used to sad endings. Although I know it wasn't meant to be fun to read, I think he could've written it better. ”
Anna Saw wrote this review 3 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“This book is about a man called Candide. Candide is exiled from the castle he lived in and is left with no choice but to search for his lost love Cunégonde. I must admit this is the strangest book I have ever read. It is filled with mood swings and unexpected reappearances of characters thought to be dead. He travels with his tutor Pangloss who is a complete optimist, he thinks that no matter what happens everything will turn out well. Candide travels with Pangloss until Pangloss jumps off the side of a boat. Candide then continues his journey on his own. He is drafted into the army of the Bulgars, while on a walk he is accused of desertion and beaten. He manages to escape this and travels to Holland where he meets the Anabaptist Jacques. While with Jacques he meets a filthy peasant who he soon realizes is Pangloss, who he thought was dead. Pangloss joins their crew and they continue. Jacques then drowns and Pangloss is hung. Candide is beaten and then taken in by a woman who shows him to Cunegonde. He tells her his story and they plan to marry but then she aggress to marry the governor of Buenos Aires, Don Fernando. Candide commits many murders during this time including that of Cundegonde’s brother who disapproves their marriage. Candide meets a man called Cacambo who agrees to travel with him. They journey to the city of El Dorado in which the streets are littered with riches. The people in El Dorado appear to have no care for riches and there is no conflict of any sort. Candide loves El Dorado but he truly longs to continue his journey to find Cundegonde. The people in El Dorado pile them with riches as a parting gift and they set off. Candide sends Cacambo to Buenos Aires to use a portion of the money to buy Cundegonde from Don Fernando. After having much of his money stolen Candide continues his journey with a pessimistic scholar called Martin. They find Cacambo enslaved and buy his freedom. Then they find Pangloss in a chain gang and buy his freedom. Although Cunegonde has grown ugly Candide buys her freedom along with that of the old woman. In the end they all settle on a farm and grow a garden to support themselves. This book in a way is realistic because love sometimes does cause people to go to extraordinary measures. But it is an extremely exaggerated version of life. In a way it is also unrealistic because every aspect is so exaggerated that it becomes a fictional story. Never the less we can learn from this book because we can learn that love and wealth are not based on beauty and riches but rather on personality and happiness.”
Frankie B wrote this review 3 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“Candide, by Voltaire is a sattire written during the Enlightenment period. During the period of the Enlightenment, many philosophers developed different ideas, which were very popular throughout the townspeople. Many people agreed with them, but there were a few rebels who denoted the entire idea, such as Voltaire. Voltaire believed everything was not as happy-go-lucky as many have said. Voltaire uses a character by the name of Candide, to travel across the world to find his lover, Cunégonde. Candide experiences many dangerous journies and very peculiar people. While reading this book during my summer vacation, I found it to be incredibly boring. The plot was chaotic and difficult to follow. While reading this book, I could tell it was extremely biased but I could not tell it was a sattire. Background information was not given before beginning the plot. If I had read this book after studying the Enlightenment period, then I might have understood and enjoyed it more. Since I was forced to read a stattire about an event I barely knew about, I found it incredibly boring and difficult to understand. If one were to read this story, I suggest researching the Enlightenment before beginning this book. If you aren't willing to do that, I wouldn't even bother picking this up. ”
AZSA P wrote this review 3 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
1 of 1 members found this review helpful“I really liked this book. At first i didnt understand it but once i got used to the language i found it very funny. The entire story was very ironic, I liked how in a time where many people stil worshiped their kings like gods, voltaire wrote a book making fun of the kings and everything they stand for. ”
JAMIE H wrote this review Monday, October 5 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“This book is about a man named Candide and his unfortunate and sometimes miserable adventures. Through his adventures he learns that all he has learned from his teacher Pangloss, is wrong, and that it isn't up to fate, you need to make your own destiny.
CAROLINE B wrote this review Saturday, October 3 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
”1 of 1 members found this review helpful“Candide is a very old book by one of the great philosophers Voltaire.The book is basically one big satire on European culture and life style. I think the best part of the book is not the actual book itself, but its backround. Voltaire was living in a time were people finally realized humans were born with basic rights like freedom of speech. Unfortunatly this was also a time when absolute monarchs ruled with an iron fist. It was a time of corruption and evil. To make things worse, these basic rights that all humans were born with, were restricted. THe corruption that plauged Europe and the lack of free will birthed Candide, a thinly veiled, critical analysis of the silly philosophies of the time, a giant middle finger to European culture. I learned all of this after i read Candide, so looking back on it now, i realized that Candide is a pretty cool book. This act of defiance places Voltaire, along side Jack Bauer and Bruce Willis as one of the biggest bad asses of all time. Now that you know a the back story, and your still interested, i think you should check out this book.
JAKE B wrote this review Saturday, October 3 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
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0 of 1 members found this review helpful“this book was kinda stupid. it goes from one place to another which made it really confusing. each chapter starts something totally different then the last chapter. the characters are in a different place almost every few pages which makes it hard to get all the information in.
VINCENT L wrote this review Tuesday, September 22 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
This book was mainly about a man named candide who gets kicked out of a castle for kissing a pretty princess named cunegonde. candide goes through many adventures and meeting alot of people. he experiences floods, earthquakes, wars, seeing his mentor die but was alive in the end. He goes through many tough times from place to place not knowing what will come next, but determined to find a girl he met what felt like years ago. He meets many people along his quest to find his beloved cunegonde again but when he found her, he had to leave her. and it has a very ironic ending because he went all that way to look for a girl but in the end she turned out ugly, which made him not like the girl no more, so basically, it tells you that Candide only liked her for her beauty, nothing else. to be honest, i wouldn't recommend this book to any body, no offense. =/”
1 of 1 members found this review helpful“I enjoyed this book a lot; I found that it gave me many things to think about. The characters have adventures which provoke thoughts of philisophical means; they wonder things such as "Why was an animal like man created?", "Are all things in the universe in their best possibles state, and for a reason?", and ideas about love and human emotions enduring the cruelties of life. ”
HELEN F wrote this review Wednesday, September 16 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No1 of 1 members found this review helpful“A hilarious romp through Western thought and Voltaire's beliefs. This book will have you cultivating your garden by the time you're through.”
Mrs. S wrote this review Monday, July 6 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
