Book Review: Candide by Voltaire

This book is about a man (Candide) who capers from misfortune to misfortune, all the while convinced that everything is for the best. By the end of the book, after being beaten, robbed, conscripted, lost, convicted, etc. he begins to understand the world in a different light. This culminates in the final line of the book: “We must cultivate our garden”, signifying a total shift of perspective from external optimism to… inwards-facing apathy?

I suspect that I would have enjoyed this book a lot more if I was an 18th century French armchair philosopher. While I respect the main message of this book, that God is not good, and people are generally out to get you is not really a message that I needed to hear in the 21st century. Also, a lot of the biting sarcasm and witty satire was kind of lost on me - despite helpful annotations like “*one of Voltaire’s enemies” (of which he apparently had many) in the version I read.

It was definitely funny, outrageous, and an overall good time (for me, not for poor Candide). It’s a quick enough read that I would recommend it to people. I would particularly recommend it if you are someone with a strong understanding of philosophy and literature during that era of human history, which will let you appreciate all the more subtle criticisms which I am sure I missed.