Welcome to the third review on my classical to-be-read list!! If you haven’t seen my list, check it out here: Classics TBR. And be sure to take a look at my first two reviews here: The Alchemist & Animal Farm.
Candide
By: Voltaire
Cleanliness (See “About” for scale): Trash (1 Curse Word. Other content: descriptive war, kissing, beating, rape, prostitution, sex slavery, bestiality, descriptions of body parts, murder, and descriptive death.)
4 Stars (Purely based on the story — not considering cleanliness.)
Wow. This was my second time reading this book, and I don’t know where I was the first time. Candide is horribly disturbing and disgusting! It had tons and tons of gore and sexual references. If you want nudity, it abounds in this book.
Cleanliness aside, the tale itself is an odd one. It’s the story of a sheltered optimist being shoved out into a completely terrible, cruel world. There is catastrophe on top of catastrophe on top of catastrophe! Candide has many literal “and they all died” moments. It has hilarious randomness. (My favorite is when one of the characters suddenly says, “…though I have lost one buttock,” which isn’t explained for a few chapters.)
I really enjoyed all the places this story takes you. Candide travels from the highest of societies to the very lowest. It’s completely unpredictable and will leave you wondering what just happened.
The ending was as weird as the rest. My summary would be, “They all settled down and got bored, so they made a garden.” Apparently, a garden is all you need to be happy.
Would I recommend this book? No. Would I reread this book? No. Do I like the story-line of this book? Yes? If you want to be confused and disgusted, but still kind of enjoy it, I suppose Candide is for you.
Audra's Book Blabbing 
I read Candide for a Western Civ class a few years ago, and I totally agree with your description. I laughed at “They all settled down and got bored, so they made a garden,” but you’re right! This is an interesting book when considered in its historical context, and while I understand its place in the canon, it is still just plain weird and gross. There is a lot of symbolism (like the garden), but it can be difficult to pick out if you’re overwhelmed by the vulgarity or absurdity.
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Glad you agree! I avoided thinking deeply about most of the book. Haha.
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Love your TBR list and can relate to the mood reading. I set out to read some classics last year in between the books I review for Reader Views and have made slow progress: The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I think a TBR list might keep me a bit more focused. Thanks for sharing! Sheri Hoyte
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Thanks for reading! I think actually putting a TBR list out there for people to see helped me get focused on my classical goal. You can do it! 🙂
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thanks, it sounds like my kind of book (!), but not as I remember it from a French course about 60 years ago.
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Thanks for reading!
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Sounds pretty informative. I wonder if I could counter with a question?
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Sure. What is your question?
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Thank you for another informative website. Where else could I get that kind of info written in such a perfect way? I have a project that I’m just now working on, and I’ve been on the look out for such information.
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Thank you! I hope your project goes well.
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