Author: Voltaire
# of Pages: 176 (paperback)
Genre: Fiction, Philosophy, Classics
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Synopsis: One of the finest satires ever written, Voltaire’s Candide savagely skewers this very “optimistic” approach to life as a shamefully inadequate response to human suffering. The swift and lively tale follows the absurdly melodramatic adventures of the youthful Candide, who is forced into the army, flogged, shipwrecked, betrayed, robbed, separated from his beloved Cunégonde, and tortured by the Inquisition. As Candide experiences and witnesses calamity upon calamity, he begins to discover that all is not always for the best.
Review: In the past two weeks, I've read One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, One Hundred Years of Solitude, and Antigone, all of which (spoilers) end generally in an unhappy manner.
Candide, a book directly challenging the philosophy of optimism, just puts the icing on the cake for my series of "downer" reads.
The beginning of Candide was definitely enjoyable; Voltaire's use of satire and irony made a story I initially had no interest in more than endurable. However, Candide's numerous encounters with the world's misery not only lowered the morale of the characters, but the morale of the reader. While the ending is somewhat hopeful, I have been shocked so much by the despair and pessimism that I have realized that I do no like this book as much as I did initially.
Very depressing. Although the story is pretty interesting, I would not recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a "feel-good" book.
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