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Candide, or Optimism - Community Reviews back

by Voltaire, John Butt
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KOMET
KOMET rated it 9 years ago
This is one of the few books I have completed reading in one sitting. That was when I was 14 and had developed a curiosity about Voltaire. I read my Mom's copy of 'Candide', which is bound in leather. 'Candide' was to me a book that evoked wonder and adventure. And for the highly imaginative teenage...
Flicker Reads
Flicker Reads rated it 10 years ago
I listened to a fantastic audio version narrated perfectly by Jack Davenport. This is timeless, bold, black comedy that takes sharp aim at its 18th century targets: royal despots, class differences, gender, race, pointless optimism... It's fascinating how current so much of this is. Voltaire and Swi...
A girl and her books
A girl and her books rated it 11 years ago
First of all, I have to say it's not a bad book. It's actually pretty good if you like that kind of writing. Unfortunately, I don't. I guess I started to read it with high expectations, because every review I read said the book was amazing and it as going to change my way to see the world. That di...
Lost in Literature
Lost in Literature rated it 11 years ago
One of the few books I was forced to read in college that I LOVED!!!
Philosophical Musings of a Book Nerd
Philosophical Musings of a Book Nerd rated it 11 years ago
What originally caught my attention with this book was that when I was wondering around Dymocks in Adelaide I discovered it in one of the cheap book buckets, and since it was slim, and cheap, I decided to buy it. I'm not really sure why I originally purchased it, maybe it had something to do with it...
Rashika, The Book Owl
Rashika, The Book Owl rated it 11 years ago
So apparently most people in my class actually liked that ending?Am I the only one who hoped that [spoiler] Cunegonde would be killed off for once and for all instead of coming back to life? [/spoiler] because seriously she was a pain in the ass.Candide himself wasn't much better. If I had to use ...
Unimportant Musings
Unimportant Musings rated it 11 years ago
There’s good sense in taking five-star and one-star book reviews with a grain of salt. For many, it is easier to fall back on exaggeration, of which I’ve often been guilty. What challenges me constantly is not letting my feelings get ahead of myself, and this book is not helping matters. More to the...
Lisa (Harmony)
Lisa (Harmony) rated it 11 years ago
Voltaire is a famous philosopher of the Enlightenment, and Candide his most famous work. It's very short, a satiric send-up of Leibniz's theory of optimism through Candide's mentor Dr. Pangloss, who believes we live in "the best of all possible worlds" even in the face of increasingly insane disaste...
Reading Adler's List
Reading Adler's List rated it 12 years ago
If you’ve been fairly fortunate in life, Candide can seem like an oddly humorous book. Satirical and comical. If you’ve had a fair amount of shitty things happen in your life, Candide is a well-found commiseration against those same annoying fortunate people who eagerly want to console you that Go...
Musings of a Bibliomaniac
Musings of a Bibliomaniac rated it 12 years ago
What a blistering criticism of blind prejudice, ignorance, religious dogma, class distinctions and the stubborn opposition to newer ideas and thoughts! I fully understand now why Voltaire's writings helped fuel the French Revolution.
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