Candide: or, Optimism by VoltaireMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
This book was...interesting. There were some really hilarious parts, and its fair share of good quotes I must admit. However, the first half of the book was just incessant action. It was like, "Murder...rape....murder...rape...whippings...murder...whippings...misfortune...misfortune...yada...yada". It's a good thing this book isn't a classic for its plot, or I would be wondering what the heck is wrong with literary critics.
Granted, some of the plot was entertaining. The constant escapades were pretty enthralling, but they got a little tiresome because of how repetitive they were. Some of it kept me reading at times. It got more tolerable in the second half of the book, but then I just felt like the ending was really drawn out because (view spoiler).
I thought Candide's devotion to Cunegonde was reeeeeally cute <3...for most of the book. Until she got ugly. And then he was like, "Ew. Gross. Even though this entire book has been about me searching for being able to be with Cunegonde, lol I don't want to be with her anymore. But I'll marry her out of duty." Like...wow man. I thought you appreciated Cunegonde other than her beauty unlike everyone else. But no. You suck too.
And can I just mention how blaringly unrealistic this book was? (view spoiler) I know it doesn't have to be realistic, but really this was just ridiculous. Come on. Honestly.
The ending was just ugh. Overall, this book just convinced me more of the overall misery and blatancy of death, and life in general. Made me see that life is truly a bitter thing.
Quotes
“It is love; love, the comfort of the human species, the preserver of the universe, the soul of all sentient beings, love, tender love.”
*applause* Wow Voltaire. Who knew you had it in ya.
"I adored him to distraction, to the point of idolatry: I loved him as one can never love twice.”
This is a very beautiful statement that the otherwise seemingly cold Voltaire makes about love. Shocking coming from him.
Funny Quotes:
"My dear young lady, when you are in love, and jealous, and have been flogged by the Inquisition, there's no knowing what you may do."
If you're reading the book, it is hilarious in context.
“I should like to know which is worse: to be ravished a hundred times by pirates, and have a buttock cut off, and run the gauntlet of the Bulgarians, and be flogged and hanged in an auto-da-fe, and be dissected, and have to row in a galley -- in short, to undergo all the miseries we have each of us suffered -- or simply to sit here and do nothing?'
That is a hard question,' said Candide.”
I laughed aloud at this point in the book.
“Martin in particular concluded that man was born to live either in the convulsions of misery, or in the lethargy of boredom.”
“All events are linked together in the best of possible worlds; after all, if you had not been driven from a fine castle by being kicked in the backside for love of Miss Cunegonde, if you hadn't been sent before the Inquisition, if you hadn't traveled across America on foot, if you hadn't given a good sword thrust to the baron, if you hadn't lost all your sheep from the good land of Eldorado, you wouldn't be sitting here eating candied citron and pistachios. - That is very well put, said Candide, but we must cultivate our garden.”
It was such a silly way to end the book.
“If this is the best of all possible worlds, what are the others like?”
Poor Candide is constantly saying this at the beginning of the book.
Quote for Bookish People:
“Fools have a habit of believing that everything written by a famous author is admirable. For my part I read only to please myself and like only what suits my taste.”
So true. Especially in regard to this book. And my feelings on The Hunger Games series.
Philosophical Quotes:
“Work keeps at bay three great evils: boredom, vice, and need.”
I have always been of this opinion, which is partly why I read because it puts my mind to work in periods of inactivity.
“I have wanted to kill myself a hundred times, but somehow I am still in love with life. This ridiculous weakness is perhaps one of our more stupid melancholy propensities, for is there anything more stupid than to be eager to go on carrying a burden which one would gladly throw away, to loathe one’s very being and yet to hold it fast, to fondle the snake that devours us until it has eaten our hearts away?”
“What's Optimism?' asked Cacambo. 'I'm afraid to say,' said Candide, 'that it's a mania for insisting that all is well when things are going badly.”
“It is demonstrable," said he, "that things cannot be otherwise than as they are; for as all things have been created for some end, they must necessarily be created for the best end.”
I agree with some of this...but some of the ways times presented in this book, to that extreme, I do not agree with.
Basically sums up this book.
This book was largely exasperating, not that great, but had some good points. I liked it enough to say that I altogether liked it, but I wouldn't go so far as to say I really enjoyed it.
View all my reviews
The ending was just ugh. Overall, this book just convinced me more of the overall misery and blatancy of death, and life in general. Made me see that life is truly a bitter thing.
Quotes
“It is love; love, the comfort of the human species, the preserver of the universe, the soul of all sentient beings, love, tender love.”
*applause* Wow Voltaire. Who knew you had it in ya.
"I adored him to distraction, to the point of idolatry: I loved him as one can never love twice.”
This is a very beautiful statement that the otherwise seemingly cold Voltaire makes about love. Shocking coming from him.
Funny Quotes:
"My dear young lady, when you are in love, and jealous, and have been flogged by the Inquisition, there's no knowing what you may do."
If you're reading the book, it is hilarious in context.
“I should like to know which is worse: to be ravished a hundred times by pirates, and have a buttock cut off, and run the gauntlet of the Bulgarians, and be flogged and hanged in an auto-da-fe, and be dissected, and have to row in a galley -- in short, to undergo all the miseries we have each of us suffered -- or simply to sit here and do nothing?'
That is a hard question,' said Candide.”
I laughed aloud at this point in the book.
“Martin in particular concluded that man was born to live either in the convulsions of misery, or in the lethargy of boredom.”
“All events are linked together in the best of possible worlds; after all, if you had not been driven from a fine castle by being kicked in the backside for love of Miss Cunegonde, if you hadn't been sent before the Inquisition, if you hadn't traveled across America on foot, if you hadn't given a good sword thrust to the baron, if you hadn't lost all your sheep from the good land of Eldorado, you wouldn't be sitting here eating candied citron and pistachios. - That is very well put, said Candide, but we must cultivate our garden.”
It was such a silly way to end the book.
“If this is the best of all possible worlds, what are the others like?”
Poor Candide is constantly saying this at the beginning of the book.
Quote for Bookish People:
“Fools have a habit of believing that everything written by a famous author is admirable. For my part I read only to please myself and like only what suits my taste.”
So true. Especially in regard to this book. And my feelings on The Hunger Games series.
Philosophical Quotes:
“Work keeps at bay three great evils: boredom, vice, and need.”
I have always been of this opinion, which is partly why I read because it puts my mind to work in periods of inactivity.
“I have wanted to kill myself a hundred times, but somehow I am still in love with life. This ridiculous weakness is perhaps one of our more stupid melancholy propensities, for is there anything more stupid than to be eager to go on carrying a burden which one would gladly throw away, to loathe one’s very being and yet to hold it fast, to fondle the snake that devours us until it has eaten our hearts away?”
“What's Optimism?' asked Cacambo. 'I'm afraid to say,' said Candide, 'that it's a mania for insisting that all is well when things are going badly.”
“It is demonstrable," said he, "that things cannot be otherwise than as they are; for as all things have been created for some end, they must necessarily be created for the best end.”
I agree with some of this...but some of the ways times presented in this book, to that extreme, I do not agree with.
"You're a bitter man," said Candide.
That's because I've lived," said Martin.”
Basically sums up this book.
This book was largely exasperating, not that great, but had some good points. I liked it enough to say that I altogether liked it, but I wouldn't go so far as to say I really enjoyed it.
View all my reviews
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