Terry Southern

Mason Hoffenberg

Banned upon its initial publication, the now-classic Candy is a romp of a story about the impossibly sweet Candy Christian, a wide-eyed, luscious, all-American girl. Candy a satire of Voltaire's Candide chronicles her adventures with mystics, sexual analysts, and everyone she meets when she sets out to experience the world.

A Novel

Candy

Dorian Avers

I picked this book up at a used bookstore because the cover caught my eye. It really is a beautiful cover with crudely drawn, colorful characters. It reminded me of a cover for a play and after reading the quick summary of the book I was interested. I had recently read a play called, "How I Learned to Drive" by Paula Vogel which was great in a twisted way and Candy seemed similar. It was a book that I had never heard anybody talk about and did not have any recommendations for, it was bought on a whim. 
When I first started reading this book I thought it was satirical or ironic. I thought that there would be some moment where someone would turn to Candy and tell her that she was the dumbest person to ever live, or something more witty. I hoped for some character development by anybody, but all I got were declines in morality and intelligence. I thought that there would be some type of different interaction between characters and Candy, but there never was. Candy is a gorgeous girl and she thinks it is her duty to give herself wholly to the man that desires her most at that very minute. And every man wants her desperately, so every time she meets a new guy she goes through the process of attempting to lose her virginity, but something always happens. The men in this story are almost all predators. Candy is molested while she is unconscious by a doctor in a hospital, while another doctor watches occasionally telling the doctor that is touching her to get it in check. She is constantly manipulated, grabbed at, and sexually assaulted and she believes that this is okay because the men desire her so much and she constantly says that it's her fault for being so desirable. This is a disgusting, vulgar, and sexist book. Maybe it was written for pure shock value. Books don't always have to have a deep meaning or a lesson to be learned and that's okay, but this book is just horrendous. It's only saving grace is the last lines tie in, which is comical.

Candy A Novel

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