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Candide by Voltaire

Candide by Voltaire 

Rating : 4/5 

Genres : Satire, Classics, Novella 

This is a really short book. But it covers huge ground - i mean literally! The main character in the story, Candide, walks/treads all over multiple continents and lands facing mishap after mishap with a singular pursuit in mind - to reach and unite his lover. It is a satire on the philosophy that says 'everything happens for the best'. The narrative is outright hilarious at places even where one is supposed to be moved to compassion and tears at the bad luck that strikes the main characters in the play. It goes on in a totally un-serious vein where we see people dead in earlier chapters springing back to life in the later ones. šŸ¤£šŸ¤£

Candide gets thrown out of his kingdom because he has fallen in love with the king's daughter. He had a teacher who drilled into him the philosophy that everything that happens is for the best and as life takes him through different twists and turns throwing him into disasters and misfortunes, Candide thrives on this philosophy. Even when all hope is lost for his fellow companions, his positive attitude eventually makes him attain his goals..though they are very different from what he has expected. Like he fell in love and wanted to marry a fair princess but she becomes an ugly servant unsavory to the eyes towards the end where they get married. But still,  everything happens for the best right?! Well.. Who knows if marrying this un-beautiful serving woman has more benefits than marrying a beautiful princess? 

I finally didn't think that this work is meant to subterfuge/undermine the philosophy itself because each time Candide meets with disaster and perceives it to be a boon/good thing, an unexpected boon actually happens. šŸ™‚ So even disasters were shown not to be so devastating after all. So is Voltaire against the philosophy or neutral towards it? I found it hard to make a judgment on this front. But do read this totally for the hilarity,the wittiness and the sheer awesomeness of the character of Candide himself.šŸ˜‡ 

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