Candide by Voltaire
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a French Classic book of optimism, written by one of the greatest philosophers of France, Voltaire. This great classic is said to have been written in just three days in 1759. But it never lost the vigor and charm that lie embedded in the story.

Candide, a young gentleman in the castle of Westphalia, somewhere in Germany, falls in love with the Baron’s daughter Miss Cunegonde. Having been discovered, Candide gets banished from the castle by the Baron. This book is all about how he and his philosopher Pangloss, a professor in metaphysico-theologico-cosmolo-nigology, who always believed in “Always, everything happens for the best and there is no effect without cause”, happen to travel across the globe to various nations of Europe and South America to discover the different kinds of injustice that can happen to the good and the beautiful people, with no mercy. Candide till the end, was in search of his true love, Miss Cunegonde, who was incessantly molested by different kings and generals after having been taken as a slave by foreign invaders. But Candide never lost his love for her, and ultimately re-unites with her and takes her as his wife even though she lost all her riches and beauty.

Pros: The book reveals many philosophical ideas and thought processes of optimistic thinking in a comical fashion. One gets to understand that everything happens as per fate and no event is under anyone’s control. The heights of optimism displayed in the characters of Candide, Pangloss and Martin, are the real highlights of the story. Some hard facts of how Kings and their ladies were treated after having been captured by enemy kingdoms was narrated in comedy. The book reveals the existence of best of good and bad in the world, side by side, in those days. It is quite relevant to the present days too.

Cons: The way in which the description of how ladies from defeated royal families were ravished and treated as slaves seem to have been a little exaggerated. Very few are left in today’s world with such optimism in mind. Who knows…the opposite would have taken over the world today.

My favorite quotes in the book
“Fools admire everything in an author of reputation. For my part, I read only to please myself. I like only that which serves my purpose - Martin”
“A modest woman may be ravished once, but her virtue is strengthened by it”

My rating is 3 out of 5


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