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Candid is a classic well worth the success and the scandal it had. Perhaps one wouldn't be complete without the other, but still it is quite a novel. I remember Candid (and quite possibly I will always remember it) as one of the funniest books I've ever read. Maybe my mood was just right to enjoy it, but I did enjoy it immensely. I didn't have great expectations for it when I picked it up (I believe that it was even a required read) but it really charmed it. Most of all, I so did not expect it to be as witty as it was. Voltaire knew how to be witty, that's for sure, but he didn't always strike the right balance. Fortunately, Candide is well balanced in terms of paradox, irony, cynicism and sarcasm. It is almost as if by going so overboard with so many different forms of humour, he found the right amount of darkness of it. I do believe that there is such a thing as too much irony and cynicism but Candide hits the right spot. It's the perfect satire.

The narrative is easy to follow but has no meaning on its own outside the paradox that this novel is. The plot is a part of humour, it is not excluded from it. The narrative is all lost in paradoxes and satire. The story follows a young man on his path to a lot of trouble and it manages to make fun of everything and everyone. It even successfully parodies romance and adventure novels. It shows the meaningless of a then popular philosophy. Voltaire is so witty in Candide; it's really enjoyable to read. It's not shallow; the story's humor has a meaning behind it and it's not too dark. It is comic enough to make some pretty bloody scenes seem comical, but at the same time, this book does make the reader think. No wonder it enjoyed great success and scandal.