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Title: Candide
Author: Voltaire
ISBN: 0-14-044004-6
Format: Paperback 144 Pages
Overall Concept 8
Execution 5

This book was one of two, the other being The Man Who Was Thursday by G. K. Chesterton, that were given to me as a wedding gift from one of my best friends, and since this is to be the 10th anniversary year of my wedding, I felt it was high time I actually read it.

This book was written in the mid 1700’s and has the general premise of trying to dissuade the young naïve protagonist from his ‘belief’ that "everything is for the best" and that he lives in “the best of all possible worlds”. It achieves this by taking the protagonist through greater and greater incidents of pain, suffering and strife, all the while forcing him to argue the veracity of his claim of how what is happening is "for the best".

Despite the age of the book, and the fact it was originally written in French and has been translated into English, I wasn’t having great difficulty with either the diction or the general style of the novel. However, the incredibly dry wit of the piece was oft lost on me and as such I didn’t fully appreciate why it is considered a classic of literature. I think I am somewhat ‘jaded’ by the modern world and therefore cannot fully immerse myself into the age in which the novel occurs. Perhaps if someone were to write an adequate modernization of the novel, I could better understand the overall gist and nuances of the text.

I do not begrudge my friend for the novel, as I am glad that he has allowed me to broaden my reading horizons. I just hope he’ll forgive the fact that I am not cultured in classic literature enough and am perhaps a little to obtuse to appreciate the novel to the same extent he does.

Perhaps, should I pick the book up later in life, I can find future joy in the words of Monsieur Voltaire.