Candide by Voltaire (1759)

In this satire of optimism and hypocrisy, the young Candide suffers incredible calamities, trials, and disasters on his many adventures around the world, finds his reliance on blind optimism insufficient to address the human suffering he encounters, but doesn't surrender all hope for life.

Book Review:  When discussing misfortune somewhere in the world, near or far, we've all heard someone say "Well, everything happens for a reason."  Well, back in the 18th century, Voltaire, a pretty smart guy from Paris, wrote Candide to give the lie to that philosophy.  He provided the book with one of the most unreliable narrators of all time, wrapped it with dark humor and absurdity, laced it with relentless disasters, catastrophes, and betrayals, made it both comic and cosmic, and ended it as a story of (just barely) Candide's survival.  Cruelty and misery are not strangers in Candide, that is just reality in this best of all possible worlds.  The book ends, Aesopian, with a moral to the story: "We must tend our garden." One of the joys of this book is reflecting on that line as long as the wine, coffee, or your beverage of choice holds out.  The clear conclusion is that everything doesn't always turn out for the best, and sometimes we are most definitely given more, much more, than we can handle.  Thank you, Voltaire.  Candide is a short book; it is literature and philosophy. When completed, you'll have read a classic, you'll have read Voltaire, and you'll be able to say that you're an educated person. [4 Stars]