The Stranger by Albert Camus Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Stranger
Book Review: what Camus himself said about The Stranger
Summary: 3 Stars
A lot of people are confused and have wrong notions about what The stranger is about, here's what Camus himself said about it, and is in my opinion the best explanation, "...the hero of the book is condemnd because he doesn't play the game. In this sense, he is an outsider to the society in which he lives...you must ask yourself in what way Meursault doesn't play the game. The answer is simple: he refuses to lie. Lying is not only saying what isn't true. It is also, in fact especially, saying more than is true and, in the case of the human heart, saying more than one feels. We all do it, everyday to make life simpler. But, contrary to appearences, Meursault doesn't wnat to make life simpler. He says what he is, he refuses to hide his feelings and society immediately feels threatened."Albert Camus, January 8 1955
Book Review: why do people think it is depressing?
Summary: 5 Stars
Maybe I'm odd, but I've never found this book depressing as many say it is. It is beautiful and sad, as existentialism is suppose to be. I find this book to be rather like a fairy tale, where the normal world is ever so slightly off what is normal. I would highly recommend reading this book, its good for your soul, I'm sure of it.Book Review: wonderfully absurd!!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
I find it hard to believe that there are some people out there that do not find the brutal behavior of merusault endearing. His mannerless killing of an other man is a ture test to his views of the absurdity of life.Book Review: worth rereading.
Summary: 5 Stars
When it became known that President Bush recently read the Stranger, one comedian remarked that he was happy that the president was finally completing his ninth grade reading list. Like many students, I read this book in high school, enjoyed it, and then decided to read it again as I had forgetten much of the plot. The book remains of interest too me still many years after reading it in high school. As is well known, existential themes such as choices and their consequences, and individual subjectivity are quite prominent, yet the novel is more than simply a philospophical treatise. It flows easily and is quite short but the reader can spend a great deal of time considering the questions raised by the stranger. The story's protagonist, Mersault, is a young Algerian very detached both from his personal emotions and from the traditional values one expects in society. One does however feel that there is a certain sincerity to many of his actions. There is no outward show or pretense, he says and does what he feels. The book begins as he attends his mother's funeral and behaves somewhat indifferently. He cared for her, but they had little in common and he doesn't consider showing any grief that he doesn't truly feel. He then forms an attachment to a young woman who loves him. He says he will marry her if that is what she wants, but again he behaves very ambivalently. In the second half of the novel, Mersault, through a chain of unlikely and unfortunate circumstances commits a crime. The plot then focuses on his trial and societies' outrage not only at his crime, but for the untraditional behaviour he exhibited in the novel's beginning. He is portrayed as an uncaring and unfeeling monster by the lawyers. The reader believes that this is too harsh a judgement, but then how can he be characterized? I think that this is the question that makes this a very rich novel whether you are a high school student, or president Bush