The Stranger by Albert Camus Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Stranger
Book Review: A Very Disturbing look into the mind of a Nihilist/Existentialist
Summary: 5 Stars
This is perhaps the most disturbing book I have read in the recent past. Camus gives a chilling story of a man with no morals. C.S. Lewis desribes a man like this in Mere Christianity as being like someone who is born color bind, except that instead of being blind to colors, he is blind to morals.
Most of Camus books deal almost exclusively with existentialism, mostly with transcending Nihilism. However, in this book, Nihilism is never transcended. All is meaningless, even death.
Albert Camus is a literary genius, but God have mercy on the soul of the man who believes anything like what the man in this book believes, for his life is truly meaningless in his eyes.
Book Review: A Very Good Book Help Us to Think!!!
Summary: 3 Stars
An honest human being who is responsible for his social role and being executed for unwilling to accept any pre-defined social values that he doesn't believe. A good book for any real human beings. We are not able to and have no right to judge the moral issue in this book. But we have to think about life honestly when facing ourselves. Something exists with thoughts alone and nothing to do with any sensation or materials. This book definitely helps us to think.Those people who contempts this book have no serious thoughts about the real life and real value. It's not much difference of they never read this book.
Book Review: A View of Atheism in the Stranger
Summary: 5 Stars
My reading of Camus' The Stranger triggered a dual response. It caused me to harbor a great contempt for it as well as a respect for the thought-provoking mastery of its message. This reaction was precipitated by a feeling that Camus, through the voice of Meursault is incredibly arrogant. I believe that atheism is as hypocritical as religion. Either extreme requires a confidence which no man can truly possess. Either is a denial of the doubt that makes us human. It is the questions that we cannot answer that make us who we are. An acceptance of the "benign indifference of the universe" only brings happiness in its finality. It closes the question of death and the unknown, ending the accompanying fears. It is man's futile attempt to grasp the nature of existence by denying its significance. People have a similarly feignedly apathetic response when greeted with a question of trivia that they cannot answer or answer incorrectly. They simply say, "It doesn't matter." Another hypocrisy in this book is the presence of a so-called existentialist hero. If man defines his existence individually why does he need another man to be his hero and the exemplar of his beliefs? In fact, if it is true that there is no meaning in life, then why does it matter that Camus' message be heard? He must record his message because he cannot deny his humanity. It is his humanity that makes him ask "why," and feel compelled to share it with the world. He cannot be the true existentialist. No man can. It is just as true that no man can truly believe in God without consciously deluding himself. He is aware of his doubt at every step in his life, and blinds himself with affirmations and professions of his faith. However, all these ideologies must be respected and are popular in literature for the reason that they attempt to answer the unanswerable question which is the most important in our lives, "Who am I and why do I exist?" Everything we do is connected to this question, all of our decisions and all of our thought. We continually ask, "How do I fit into the system? What is my role in the community? Where does my community fit into the world? Where does my world fit into the universe?" The human race is incurably narcissistic and homocentric. It may seem cynical to believe man incapable of ever comprehending the universe. On the other hand, this seems to be a tenet of many religions and a truth to most atheists. Agnosticism is the only logical conclusion we can draw from these realities. Who can say with certainty what is and what is not? There are over 10,000 species on this planet alone, and things change every day. Science can test the physical and conclude on temporary truths, but the spirit is un-testable. Reality exists for each of us in relativity. But these relative truths are not absolute reality. It is an aphorism that this truth must exist, for the universe does not only exist in our minds. When a tree falls in the forest and there is no one there to hear it, it makes a sound. However, knowledge and comprehension of this absolute reality is beyond our reach. As Albert Einstein once said, "Nothing in science is final, but the truth is real." Science here can easily be substituted with life. Our minds are but the imperfect lenses through which we see the universe.Book Review: A bleak, haunting world without hope
Summary: 5 Stars
Although Camus' The Stranger completely goes completely against my entire belief structure; it is a simple masterpiece of human indifference. It illustrates how many people in this world think, react, and feel about the purpose of life and whether any of it has meaning. The Stranger explores issues such as irrationality in the universe, the meaninglessness of human life, and how important the physical world is. Camus was himself a proclaimed atheist and these bleak issues shine through in the most haunting way.
The Stranger is told in first person by a character named Meursault. He is attending his mother's funeral. He really doesn't care too much that his mother has just passed away. Merusault has a cold indifference concerning everything around him. He feels nothing most of the time, but he still feels very much like a real human being and not a cardboard narrator. On the day of the funeral, he mostly notices the weather and how hot it is, instead of what he should be focusing on: the death of his mother.
The day after the funeral, life is back to normal again. Nothing has changed for Meursault. He meets a girl, takes her to a movie, and spends the night with her. This is a key sequence describing how logic never seems to grab hold of him. Where did he develop this attitude from? The novel never really explains, but our belief structure can never totally be explained.
Meursault, soon after, develops a friendship with a man named Raymond. Raymond has a furious temper and has been known to assault women. On one occasion he beats up his Arab mistress rather badly. This leads to revenge that is attempted on him and Meursault later on in the novel by the mistress's brother and his friend.
The climax of novel occurs on a sun drenched beach. Raymond has invited Merusault and his girlfriend Marie to spend the day there with a couple of friends. The morning starts out well enough. This small group of people goes swimming, talk, and eat a pleasant lunch together.
After lunch Merusault, Raymond, and another fellow named Masson decide to go out walking. They spot the Arab brother of this mistress Raymond assaulted. He is with a friend, walking towards them. As they grow closer towards one another a fight breaks out, Raymond is stabbed, and the two Arab's flee. It turns out Raymond didn't suffer any major blows, however, and his is patched up at the hospital within a couple of hours.
Later on that afternoon, Merusault and Raymond spot the two Arabs again on the beach. They stare at each other coldly, but no outbreak occurs and the Arabs walk away, Raymond and Merusault continue walking and Raymond decides he needs a rest. Merusault asks him for his gun and heads back in the other direction.
Merusault soon spots one of the Arabs lying down on the beach, and in one of the most explosive and tense scenes in all of literature, guns him down.
Part two of the novel deals with Merusault's time in prison, the trial of his crime, and the delivery of his sentence. This is philosophical section of the novel and possible the finest. Merusault is left alone with his thoughts which become increasingly urgent with impending doom weighing down upon his mind.
The tone of The Stranger is appropriately detached and empty, much like its narrator. Notice how Merusault doesn't acknowledge anything by using judgment or emotion.
He simply points out the "physical" things that people do around him. The weather being hot... the nice skin on a girl...the sand on the beach. He never states emotional things such as: I really loved being with her.....I liked the way she made me feel.....He had a good personality. Things like this are not noticed. Only the physical aspects of the world around him are. This is an underlying symbol of his detachment with God and the emotional side of the world he lives in. Merusault never breaks character. Camus molds him into the symbol of his own beliefs and never once strays from that path.
It ironic that at the moment Merusault gives up all hope is the moment he is at peace and happy. As long as he clings to hope he is miserable. There is a key sequence at the end of the novel between him and the Chaplin. The Chaplin cannot accept that Merusault will not turn to God in his hour of need, but Merusault cannot understand why the Chaplin can believe in something that is illogical and unreal. When we die, that is all there is. Human life has no greater meaning.
That is the central issue of the novel. There is no logic in the universe. There is no God, no higher being, no fate, destiny, or any outside force acting upon us. We are simply creatures of chance and coincidence. Personally, I feel that is a very bleak way to describe the world, but nevertheless it is a view many people believe in.
The Stranger didn't change any of my beliefs, but it gave me a greater understanding into the minds of others. It unflinchingly went against all that I hold sacred. But it made me think long and hard. It helped shed some light on why people are the way they are, and at the same time strengthened the beliefs that make me who I am. That is one right we all have and no one can take from us: our beliefs and values. I felt like I was right there with Merusault in his hopeless little world he lived in. What makes a novel great is not whether or not you agree with the issues presented by an author, but rather the way the author presents them....and there aren't many greater at doing that then The Stranger.
Grade: A
Book Review: A book for everyone......
Summary: 5 Stars
The Stranger is Albert Camus' most accessible book. Camus, the existentialist, gives us the portrayal of a man (Meursault) that on the outside appears to be a man of indifference. But as one delves deeper into the book, Meursault's life seems to come a bit more into focus. One cannot fully understand Meursault, but one does tend to understand why he is the way he is: deep, intricate, personal, reflective. Meursault will at times amuse you, at times anger you, at times cause you to lose all care for him, only to gain it back on the next page. Thats a credit to Camus' genius. And in the end you may just begin to wonder who "the stranger" really is. Meursault? Society? Yourself? "...I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate."