The Stranger by Albert Camus
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Book Reviews of The Stranger
Book Review: "The Stranger"
Summary: 5 Stars
When I initially read this book, I was entirely confused and a bit disturbed at what I had just read. As I began to research the book and analyze the book, I began to understand it. The concepts are quite bizarre... but in the end pleasantly intriguing. After first reading the book, I really didn't understand Meursault's character and how all the events enhance the reader's understanding of his character. This book was read for a paper and my teacher told me that Meursault was dynamic. However, I didn't fully understand how until later. During the beginning of the story, Meursault takes a passive role in his life. The events in his life don't seem to be happening to him.... just to someone else or something. At some point during the trial, Meursault discovers that the events are truely happening to him. At this point, he decides to take an active role in his life. He chooses not to sit on the sidelines any longer. He also want to make useful all the time he has left. He doesn't want to waste a moment worrying about God or something else (like when he spent the whole day watching the people from his window). He wants to pack as much into the time he has left and forget about all the past problems he's had. He relates to Maman in that he wants to start over, with no problems or expectations. His life to come will be much more productive than the life he lead earlier. In most reviews of this book, this book has almost been an example of what not to do. I, however, have found comfort in this book in that I think it is an example of what TO do. You should live life as if you are not going to be here tomorrow because you never know what's coming next. You never know when that sun's going to shine just right!Book Review: Read more Camus
Summary: 5 Stars
Of course The Stranger is a brilliant novel, better than 99.9% of anything ever written, but readers should not think they know Camus because they've read it. I read it in English and French, and if you can read French don't bother with the English (Matthew Ward's translation is fabulous, but you'll get so much more from the French. And don't go anywhere near the Stuart Gilbert translation!) Anyway, the rest of Camus' work is so important also, notably "The Plague," an utterly betraying work of seminal brilliance, "The Fall," a mordant first person narrative seething with wit (Sartre's favorite), his novellas in "Exile and the Kingsom," especially "Jonas." Camus was also involved thoughtfully in world affairs, and the essays in "Resistance ,Rebellion and Death" are timeless and provocative, and Camus also wrote for theater. His "Caligula" is at the top of my list for the best plays of the century with "Endgame" by Beckett and Sartre's "No Exit." "Caligula" explores the phiosophical roots of tyrrany with insightful and clever banter and action. Finally, there are those brilliant larger essays "The Rebel" and "The Myth of Sysphus" to add to the list. Perhaps the most personal of his wrtitings if "The First Man," a semi-bitter and pensive evocation of a stark childhood, the manuscript of which was found in the car which Camus was accidentally killed in at Sens in 1960. "The Stranger" should never be seen as required reading for school, because by essense it is so much more than that, but people should also see that Camus was so much more than "The Stranger."Book Review: Life and Nothing But...
Summary: 5 Stars
THE STRANGER is one of those timeless classics sure to disturb new readers well into the next millenium. Albert Camus is dealing with truth here, and truth, like life, is not for everyone. And neither is this book. I wouldn't have it any other way. Camus' pitifully honest anti-hero Meursault finds himself on the wrong end of French justice following a carefully plotted train of carelessly indifferent but seemingly innocent decisions culminating in one senseless murder that is the real mystery of the novel. Why did he do it? Who is Monsieur Meursault, really? Naturally, the reason supplied by the author is strongly provocative and certainly unsatisfactory for most if not all. The writing is terse, economic, exact. A wonder, really. Readers should note what is said just as well as what is. This book did what few books can. I was left in a state of aesthetic arrest, neither drawn to nor repulsed by story or character, a sort of neutral zone where all fear and loathing have been replaced by pure wonder--much like Meursault himself. THE STRANGER only confirms for me what I have always suspected: in the hands of a master, writing is the highest form of art. What Camus achieves in a few pages most modern authors would spend chapters doing.Book Review: Confusion: Lots of it
Summary: 5 Stars
The stranger is more of an epic describing Camus "absurd" man. It goes through his mind, transcends his soul and at last introduces us to his wavering thoughts.
Mersuault is a depressed existentialist who sees no meaning in anything around him, however he believes that there can be something interesting about every minute thing that can make you happly-or at least not sadly- go through every single moment. He possesses the same qualities; the same approach that Camus describes in his philosphical essay about the mythical figure Sisyphus.
Mersault is condemned by people who don't know him because of his carelessness. He reminds them of their predominant dark sides and their weakness and inability to face the truth. His friends and acquintances look upon him as a mere person who managed to get along with them fine because of his passiveness and indifference. He yields to all their requests. He doesn't counter-argue. He is more of a friendly intelligent pet. The main theme of the novel, however, stems from Mersault's view of himself. He doesn't understand anything whether relating to him or to the world around him. He is a stranger in his own eyes who moves as a stranger between people unaware of anything except for his existence and insignificance.
At the end of the story, just before his execution, Mersault realizes that he has no other opportunities in this life he didn't live trying to understand. He wants to embrace his last moments by becoming worth of anything, even if it was people's hatred or disgust.
The stranger is one of the most intriguing novels that artistically describes an existentialist and confused mental state.
Book Review: An excellent and short read
Summary: 5 Stars
I just finished reading "The Stranger" and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The book gives me a lot to think about and it puts a new perspective to the "emotionless state" that Meursault lived in.
Looking at the book at a purely story-oriented standpoint it would be easy to analyze it to be about a man who feels nothing but his own desires. But, viewing it from an existentialist point of view it is easier to see Camus' intentions for the reader. He gives us a story in which the protagonist is not judged based upon his actions, but rather by his beliefs. The facts of the case were self defense but the judgment was decided as premeditated because he "didn't cry at his mothers funeral".
The story also shows the confident side the psyche. When Meursault was confronted with the chaplain at the end of the story he was more upset at the accusation of denying his feelings than at the notion of dying. The statement "I was sure about me, about everything, surer than he could ever be, sure of my life and sure of the death waiting for me." sums up the entire book for me; it shows that he was just not an emotionless man, but also a man passionate about his beliefs. When speaking to his lawyer he stated that lying about his emotional state would be wrong. In effect, he would rather be truthful and acknowledge his lack of emotions than lie to save his own life.
The story makes me think of the way that the lack of faith is viewed in this country; for example George H. W. Bush once said "I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God." If that statement isn't bigoted, I don't know what is.