Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

Candide by Voltaire

12 reviews

aelien's review against another edition

dark funny reflective fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Violence, Slavery, Colonisation, Racism, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Rape, and Antisemitism

clack's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.5

Candide goes on quite the dramatic and tumultuous adventure, spanning many cultures and countries, all rocked along on a sea of philosophical mulling. However, it is muddied so exceptionally by prejudices and wording of the time. At least everyone on earth is equally stereotyped in one way or another?

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Classism, Murder, Violence, Torture, Religious bigotry, Death, Trafficking, Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, Rape, Antisemitism, Blood, Slavery, and Sexual assault

Minor: Infidelity, Islamophobia, Racial slurs, Misogyny, Grief, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Sexism, Blood, Cannibalism, Animal death, and Emotional abuse

Lots of sordid and terrible things happen to and around and by these characters but the author mostly rushes right through everything without exploring the situations.

al_ex's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, War, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, Antisemitism, Blood, Genocide, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Cannibalism, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Grief, Murder, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Toxic relationship, and Trafficking

honestly just don’t read it

c_lde's review against another edition

adventurous sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Cannibalism, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Gore, Incest, Rape, Slavery, Torture, War, Colonisation, Grief, Physical abuse, Classism, Violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Misogyny

gabspina's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective fast-paced

2.0

eu sei que é um texto filosófico e, nesse quesito, possui algumas reflexões até que interessantes (principalmente considerando a época em que foi escrito), mas pra acessar isso é necessário passar por tanta asneira e absurdos que eu diria que há formas melhores de discutir tais questões - entretanto, claro, existe valor sendo um clássico de tantos séculos, escrito por um nome de tanto peso 

também é bem acessível, pelo menos a versão que eu li, o que é um ponto positivo, no final das contas

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Religious bigotry, Slavery, Islamophobia, War, Trafficking, Sexism, Xenophobia, Racism, Antisemitism, Physical abuse, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Colonisation and Murder

szel_zsofi's review against another edition

adventurous funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

it was sometimes funny, but also racist and anti-semitic.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Antisemitism, Racism, War, Blood, Colonisation, Murder, Rape, Sexism, Slavery, Violence, Sexual assault, and Torture

Minor: Cannibalism

katariinatoivanen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Racism, Racial slurs, and Violence

Moderate: Antisemitism, Murder, Slavery, and Colonisation

Minor: Suicide, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, and Medical content

buildingtaste's review against another edition

adventurous funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Amazing how I get so fed up with modern authors for going too fast through plot developments or not reasonably establishing the world, meanwhile Voltaire can be like "and then they went to South America for a bit" and I'll say "wow ok Francois where are you going with this one?" and the answer is "never mind that; we need to tend our garden."

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Cultural appropriation, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, War, Colonisation, Classism, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Animal death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Slavery, Trafficking, Violence, Infidelity, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Torture, Antisemitism, Blood, Cannibalism, Confinement, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Islamophobia

Not sure I covered all the things that go down in this book, pretty much every chapter has some absolutely abysmal content.

kaitlin2749's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book was intellectually stimulating. Voltaire engages the reader through a story in which he is able to weave philosophical beliefs about optimism. The novel is dark and cynical at times, but the conclusion brings all the events together to make a point that life is not perfect, we all have our own struggles that happen for a reason. These struggles will shape us, but we need not become obsessed with them. Rather, we just need to “cultivate our own garden.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Slavery, Rape, Death, Violence, Torture, Classism, and Colonisation

breaktheshell's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

somewhat funny. tbh there's not much reason to read it if you don't have a solid grasp on enlightenment philosophy, which i don't, and so a lot of the jokes didn't really land. at least it's short?

(the answer to the "Would you say the cast of characters is diverse?" question is "It's complicated" because it is but you will wish it wasn't lol)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Antisemitism, and Colonisation

Moderate: War

Minor: Rape and Slavery