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L’étranger

3.89 of 5 stars 3.89 · rating details · 193,790 ratings · 5,888 reviews

Quand la sonnerie a encore retenti, que la porte du box s'est ouverte, c'est le silence de la salle qui est monté vers moi, le silence, et cette singulière sensation que j'ai eue lorsque j'ai constaté que le jeune journaliste avait détourné les eux. Je n'ai pas regardé du côté du Marie. Je n'en ai pas eu le temps parce que la président m'a dit dans une forme bizarre que j'...more

Mass Market Paperback, 186 pages

Published March 2nd 2000 by Folio (first published 1942)

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Jun 29, 2008 Trevor rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: literature

I don’t know what to do with these stars anymore. I give stars to books and then I think, ‘god, you give five stars to everything, people will think you are terribly undiscriminating’ – so then I give four stars or even three stars to some books. Then I look back and it turns out that that I’ve given four stars to Of Human Bondage and honestly, how could I possibly have thought it was a good idea to give that book less than five stars? It is the absurdity of human conventions that has us doing s...more

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Jan 31, 2013 Anthony Vacca rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: translation, existential-action-figure-set, 2013

A young man, who finds himself in a serious relationship and a potentially lucrative job, both of which are moving along faster than he likes, shoots an Arab and goes to prison. This is the first fifty pages of the book; the second half takes us through a ring circus of a trial as various people try to explain away the young man’s actions and character flaws so that his situation doesn’t upset their nice, neat world views. But the young man does not relent.

This is Albert Camus’ The Stranger, a...more

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Jan 15, 2013 Madeleine rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: head-in-the-clouds-nose-in-a-book, our-libeary, maybe-it-s-time-to-live, mmxii, tooting-my-own-muted-horn

I was so amped about this book when I tore through it a few weeks ago; alas, in that yawning chasm of time between then and when I first sat down to start this review (as opposed to this most recent effort -- I think at least my fourth?), I found that I’d forgotten a lot of the specific reasons why it had hit all the right spots for me.

Fortunately, since Goodreads has instilled in me the need to take notes on, emphatically underline passages from and analyze the pants off every book I read thes...more I was so amped about this book when I tore through it a few weeks ago; alas, in that yawning chasm of time between then and when I first sat down to start this review (as opposed to this most recent effort -- I think at least my fourth?), I found that I’d forgotten a lot of the specific reasons why it had hit all the right spots for me.

Fortunately, since Goodreads has instilled in me the need to take notes on, emphatically underline passages from and analyze the pants off every book I read these days, a quick revisit to my thorough defacing of this novel got me right back in the mindset of being unexpectedly taken by a deceptively disinterested narrator. This is a work that got under my skin and burrowed deep into my brain in slightly disturbing but mostly welcome ways right from the first sentence.

I am not a terribly literal person. I love hyperboles and understatement and metaphors because they allow for elasticity of interpretation. It lets people impose their own inner landscapes on the seemingly uniform outside world, just as it leaves room for individual interpretations of message, intent, subtext, whatever. People do not perceive and interact with the world the same way, so why should they be expected to hear the same things, pick up on the same cues, follow the same logic of thought? To me, that’s how you get to the core of a person and their internal workings: Let them show you how they operate by giving them enough variables to put in comprehensible order as they see fit.

Of course, forcing the observer to do some creative thinking on the fly (or trusting them to observe at all, in some cases) has a tendency to backfire more often than simply saying what's on your mind to eliminate all doubt, but that's how you suss out the mental midgets. Or, you know, wind up on death row. Like life, it's all a gamble and not always worth the risk.

As odd (though probably unsurprising, given the nature of my reviews) as it is to say, I found a certain kinship with Meursault. True, there’s not much to the fellow when you observe him as an outsider (that is, outside his head), but when I let myself roll around in the vast implications of what he says and the fathoms of unspoken depth in what impels him to behave as he does, I started to recognize so many of my own leaps of logic and nonsensical-without-an-explanation reactions.

To me, Meursault is just a guy who just doesn't process the world in the same rank-and-file way as others do. He's an open book, an adaptable entity and honest to a fault, a man who doesn't subscribe to societal norms -- not because it's cool to be That Guy but because he truly seems to process events and impulses with a sense of sincerely stoic reservation. How many people haven't cried at a loved one's funeral, only to crumble under the emotional weight days or weeks or months later after some mundane event hammers home the finality of loss? Or have taken up an unpleasant task to relieve a friend from its terrible burden? Or shrugged their shoulders in the face of an ugly truth because nothing can change the course of fate once the momentum reaches its unstoppable peak? What, really, is the point of getting emotional when it's not going to change a damn thing?

Meursault knows he is powerless to change things. He knows he has no business making assumptions about other people and their behaviors based solely on his own. What's so wrong with that? Fighting death is the most hopeless of causes so don't even bother wasting the effort; similarly, he knows that crying over his mother's death won't bring her back. Besides, what we know about their relationship is only what Meursault reveals, overtly or not, so who are we to judge him strange for not reacting as histrionically as we would? Isn't it awfully presumptuous to impose our sense of "normal" on a stranger? But by the time he shares his belief that no one has a right to cry over his Maman when being so close to death allowed her a peace that simply does not exist in the bloom of life, Meursault's own minimal relevancy to the world is nearing its close. We are not supposed to get to the heart of him but we sure can appreciate where he's coming from with just enough effort to realize that the example made of him misses the point by a shamefully vast distance.

This book touched on a lot of things that annoy me about society, mainly the need to cling to misconceptions when confronted with an individual or circumstance that can't be neatly cataloged as a "type" or doesn't fall into a inflexibly prefabricated black-or-white category. Why is it so difficult for the staggering masses to extend the courtesy and minimal exertion of critical thinking to appreciate and be educated by a deviation from the norm? I appreciated the opportunity to judge that which I cannot stand in a cathartic, safely isolated way. It allowed me to focus on feeling just awful for Meursault. I mean, c'mon -- someone had to, right? He's the victim of the dangers of monochromatic thinking in a world painted in every hue, common or not.

(Alternate read is that Meursault is an emotionally stunted Maman's boy who can't cope with life sans mommy, throws himself at this woman he barely knows and then gets himself legally killed so he doesn't have to do it himself, but that's so... so.... nope, not even gonna consider that one.)(less)

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May 11, 2008 Chris rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

If every few words of praise I’ve seen for “The Stranger” over my lifetime materialized into small chunks of rock in space, there’d be enough sh!t to conjure up the Oort Cloud. Much like this distant collection of debris bordering the outer solar system, I can’t really comprehend the acclaim heaped on this story, but luckily, like the Cloud, it’s usually out of sight, out of mind, and has absolutely no discernable current influence on my life. And just like the Oort can occasionally spit a chunk...more If every few words of praise I’ve seen for “The Stranger” over my lifetime materialized into small chunks of rock in space, there’d be enough sh!t to conjure up the Oort Cloud. Much like this distant collection of debris bordering the outer solar system, I can’t really comprehend the acclaim heaped on this story, but luckily, like the Cloud, it’s usually out of sight, out of mind, and has absolutely no discernable current influence on my life. And just like the Oort can occasionally spit a chunk of sh!t at the earth and devastate all life upon it, so too can I hear/read some lip service paid to “The Stranger” resulting in my transition to Freak-Out Mode, resulting in me slapping someone in the face, usually someone I have to deal with again at some point in time (if only in court).

Personally, I don’t see what the big deal is. Armed with a 100-word vocabulary, a meager 123 pages to bore one with, and a character who simply doesn’t seem to give much of a damn, Camus somehow shook the world of literature with this inane garbage. I haven’t sat down to conduct a thorough analysis, but using some reasonable guesstimation I will say that the average sentence in this book is about eight words long. I’m not asking that every sentence in a book run the length of a page, but the end result when employed by Camus was that either a twelve year old or some sort of retarded robot wrote this. (Cue robot voice) It struck me as strange. The sentences were so short. It was very peculiar. This could be read very fast. I began to read this on the train on my in to work. I finished it on my way back home.

Who the hell writes like that? More importantly, who the hell reads a book like that and suspects therein lay some complexity? Each time I noticed how condensed everything was it occurred to me that somehow the literati had spent all this time adoring the published equivalent of a commercial.

Here’s a snapshot of the dude we’re supposed to give a hoot about. He doesn’t readily assimilate to or accept the conventional mores everyone else seems accustomed to. He’s not overly concerned, but he seemingly knows there’s some kind of disconnect. He’s also not out to go f#ck with the system for lack of anything better to do or in some attempt to make a statement. He’s pretty emotionless, he shows some genuine concern for himself at times, but even those close to him really aren’t too significant in his grand picture. His testicles are extremely small and sterile, and he fondles them often.

Not long after the death of his mother, Our Hero is chilling on the beach when some Arabs come around looking to start sh!t with an acquaintance of his, and after a small skirmish earlier in the day, Our Man goes back down to the beach and shoots an Arab. He gets arrested and pretty much just goes with the flow, he rolls over and let’s the prosecution have their way with his scrawny white ass. The whole time he pretty much just thinks it’s all pretty ridiculous and isn’t too concerned with the proceedings.

I wasn’t too concerned about the book. More than anything I was just bored with it. There was no build up, there was no action, there was no climax. There was nothing funny, nothing exciting, nothing interesting, and nothing to really take away from the book; just the same words repeating over and over, grouped in strings of seven or eight. The longest sentence in the book was also the only thing which I found even remotely amusing: “Finally I realized that some of the old people were sucking at the insides of their cheeks and making these weird smacking noises”. That isn’t particularly funny, but compared to the rest of the book it was comedic gold.

“The Stranger” is some seriously weak shit. I’ve gotten more enjoyment from looking a map of Kentucky.
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Jun 02, 2008 Ryan R rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

The book is simply written and a rather quick read, but the depth Camus manages to convey through this simplicity is astounding. I think a problem a lot of people have with this book is that they fail to look beyond the whole "what is the meaning of life" message. While an interesting question, the book raises so many other philosophical questions beyond this. What I found the most interesting of these is "what truly defines humanity or makes someone human?" During Meursault's trial, he is const...more

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Oct 24, 2011 Ian Graye rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: reviews

If You Exist

"The Stranger" dramatises the issues at the heart of existentialism.
The same issues are probably at the heart of life, whether or not you believe in a god.

Being Judged

It's interesting that there has been a crime and now Meursault is being "judged".
The judgement is symbolic not only of the justice system, but of God's judgement of humanity.

Defending Yourself

You would normally expect the defendant to assert their innocence or plead not guilty in the criminal justice system (cue Law and...more

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Nov 21, 2008 Danny rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Stranger is considered by many to be one of the most important philosophical novels of the 20th Century. In most college courses on Existentialism (a philosophy which holds that human beings create the meaning and essence of their own lives) The Stranger is usually the first thing you will read. If you're interested in philosophy, or Existentialism specifically, The Stranger is a great place to start.

Camus describes Meursault, the main character, only sparingly; and for the majority of the n...more

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Jun 22, 2007 Kelly rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: those interested in philosophy

Shelves: fiction, worlds-lost-dead-and-dying, 20th-century-postwar-to-late

I read this because I felt like it was just One of Those Books You Had To Get To. It was worth it, though! It is fascinating, and I had no problem finishing it. It wasn't so much engaging as it was intellectually stimulating. I had no problem putting it down and forgetting about it, but I eventually came back to it. I did prefer the Fall to this one, which I'm sure many people would disagree with. But after awhile the sheer distance and isolation started to wear on me.

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Mar 10, 2012 Joshua Nomen-Mutatio marked it as to-read · review of another edition

If I am to believe Urban Dictionary (and why wouldn't I?) the book is summarized rather well by its definition:

1. To lay on one's arm so as to deny the passage of blood and ultimately loose feeling in the limb, followed by the act of masturbation with said limb.

2. Sitting on your hand until it falls asleep and then jerking off, eliciting the feeling of a hand job from someone else.

3. A masturbation technique which the user commences by sitting on their hands until they go numb and as a result ca...more

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Jan 24, 2013 Jeremy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: translated-from-french, philosophy, literary, review

Writing about your favourite and the most influential single book of your life—not that that means anything—is a little like staring into the sun, the same sun here in an Australian suburb as that of an Algerian beach: so I shall squint, if you don’t mind.

Firstly, Sandra Smith’s work is excellent. I have read all four English translations of L’Étranger that I am aware of (Stuart Gilbert, Joseph Laredo, and Matthew Ward being the other three. If you know of another, please let me know…) at least...more

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Sep 09, 2010 karen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: littry-fiction

THIS MAN'S MOM DIES HE FEELS NOTHING.

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Nov 29, 2007 Mariel rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Robert Smith not good enough for you?

Recommended to Mariel by: Robert Smith of The Cure. I am not making this up

Last night I awoke to find my soul empty.

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Feb 02, 2008 Dustin rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The narrator, Meursault, is a fascinating character in that he has an incredible sense of material resignation about him. He absolutely rejects all concepts of importance to the absurd trivialities of life while at the same time living with such simple pleasure that one can't help but smirk reading the descriptions in the first half of the book.

His indifference to the way he is perceived leads him to a very level-headed but unsympathetic countenance regarding his friends and acquaintances. The...more The narrator, Meursault, is a fascinating character in that he has an incredible sense of material resignation about him. He absolutely rejects all concepts of importance to the absurd trivialities of life while at the same time living with such simple pleasure that one can't help but smirk reading the descriptions in the first half of the book.

His indifference to the way he is perceived leads him to a very level-headed but unsympathetic countenance regarding his friends and acquaintances. The terrible irony of his character is that he rejects the false certainty of religious sentiment and other such realms of impossibly dubious nature, rejects them along with an understanding and statement of love (which he continually denies to Marie, his girlfriend, who asks him if he loves her periodically), along with material possession and the "bitch goddess" success (he turns down a promotion for "no reason" whatever), Meursault rejects all these common sentiments and yet replaces them with nothing, nothingness, in fact.

He constantly flees from all manifestations of false knowledge, finding them arbitrary. The trial following his murder of an Arab resulted in the victor of the most skillful lawyer instead of whether or not he was guilty, Marie vainly prodded him to proclaim his love for her, to which he replied that the question is nonsense, the priest, assuming that Meursault valued the physical, things of the world, asked him relentlessly why he valued these things and why he doesnt seek God for help in his time of trouble, to which he replied by grabbing him by the cossack (half expecting him to disappear in his hands)and describing the impossibility of being sure of such things, described why he could not believe the same notions, "From the dark horizon of my future a sort of slow, persistent breeze had been blowing toward me, all my life long, from the years that were to come. and on its way that breeze had leveled out all the ideas that people tried to foist on me in the equally unreal years i then was living through."

All is helpless and arbitrary and what can one do but relish that which one is sure of.

"It might look as if my hands were empty. Actually, i was sure of myself, sure about everything, far surer than he; sure of my present life and of the death that was coming. That, no doubt, was all i had; but at least that certainty was something i could get my teeth into - just as it had got its teeth into me. I'd been right, i was still right, i was always right. I'd passed my life in a certain way, and i might have passed it in a different way, if I'd felt like it. I'd acted thus, and i hadn't acted otherwise; I hadn't done x, whereas I had done y or z. And what did that mean? That, all the time, I'd been waiting for this present moment, for that dawn, tomorrow's or another day's, which was to justify me."

"It was as if that great rush of anger had washed me clean, emptied me of hope, and, gazing up at the dark sky spangled with its signs and stars, for the first time, the first, i laid my heart open to the benign indifference of teh universe. To feel it so like myself, indeed, so brotherly, made me realize that I'd been happy, and that I was happy still. For all to be accomplished, for me to feel less lonely, all that remained to hope was that on the day of my execution there should be a huge crowd of spectators and that they should greet me with howls of execration."(less)

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Jun 23, 2007 chris rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: taught-books

I remember loving this book as a teenager, and re-reading it this week, I have felt the same. Meursault is one of the most fascinating characters I've ever read, and at the same time I've always felt a certain kinship to him. Why isn't it okay to not care as deeply, or in the same way, as others, especially on the subjects of love and death? Is there any possible connection we can have with the feelings of another? How would we ever know if we were talking about the same thing? His reactions to...more

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Mar 07, 2013 Mohammed Yusuf rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

قصة أورد فيها رؤيته ومشكلته الوجودية .. شخص لا يبالي , بلا إحساس وذلك يخرج من منطلق أن ( القضية منتهية .. إن ذلك لا يهم .. لن أؤمن ) ففي كل الحالات سأموت
لا أعرف إذا بعد كل هذا علاقة الراوي الكبيرة بالطبيعة , الرغبة , ونوعا ما الحياة
سرد طريف مفعم بالجمال .. وشخصية غريبة بفلسفتها وبا للامبالاة حتى في الظروف الصعبة .. لم يكن فيها إبداع عالي ولكن صورة جذابة و رؤية فكرية

كامو ... ممتع

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Dec 01, 2011 Stephen M rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 3-cheers-4-complex-characters

Laife iz absurd..... lolz jk!!!!

plus

How cool is existentialism?

description

This is no coincidence!

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Aug 25, 2012 Dina Nabil rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: own

يُنهي ألبير كامي رائعته الغريبه
بجمله" في ذلك الليل الذي يفيض بالنجوم احسستُ للمره الأولى بعذوبة ورقة اللامبالاه ، واحسسست اني كُنت سعيداً في يومٍ من الأيام ، ومازلت حتى الأن اتمنى ان ينتهي كل شىء ، واتمنى ان اكون هناك اقل وحده من هنا"...متعه يا سيدى

هكذا ، بعد تجاربي مع البير كامي من قبل في الطاعون و سوء التفاهم وكاليجولا اختم اعماله بأهمها على الأطلاق ( الغريب ) الاهم

في البدايه تشعر بجو غريب في الروايه كأنها رتيبه او ممله ، او كأن الكاتب لا يهتم بإثارة اهتمام القراء لا يهتم بحيازة تعاطف القارئ...more يُنهي ألبير كامي رائعته الغريبه
بجمله" في ذلك الليل الذي يفيض بالنجوم احسستُ للمره الأولى بعذوبة ورقة اللامبالاه ، واحسسست اني كُنت سعيداً في يومٍ من الأيام ، ومازلت حتى الأن اتمنى ان ينتهي كل شىء ، واتمنى ان اكون هناك اقل وحده من هنا"...متعه يا سيدى

هكذا ، بعد تجاربي مع البير كامي من قبل في الطاعون و سوء التفاهم وكاليجولا اختم اعماله بأهمها على الأطلاق ( الغريب ) الاهم

في البدايه تشعر بجو غريب في الروايه كأنها رتيبه او ممله ، او كأن الكاتب لا يهتم بإثارة اهتمام القراء لا يهتم بحيازة تعاطف القارئ مع البطل ، وكأنه يخبرك بشكل غير مباشر ، انه حتى هو وليس فقط بطله ، من ذلك النوع الذي لا يستطيع إلا ان يؤقلم معتقداته مع الحياه !

شىء في شىء يأخذك معه إلى عالم مختلف خاصةً بعد حدوث الفعل الرئيسي في الروايه ، ليُدخِلك إلى عالم مليئ بالأحتمالات

لن تستطيع ان تصنف هذا العمل إذا كان عبثياً ، او سودوياً ، او ينتمي إلى المدرسه الكلاسيكيه ، ربما هو خليط من كل ذلك ! لكنه بالتأكيد يستحق القراءه والتمعن وعدم الأكتفاء بالقشور

وكانت نسختي الورقيه ترجمة دكتور / محمد غطاس تحتوي على مقدمةٌ ممتعه .. مفيده وشارحه لأعمال ألبير كامي عموماً لكن اكثر مااعجبني بها ، إنها ليست مقدمه على الأطلاق ! فهي تأتي في مؤخرة الكتاب وهذا ماانادي به من فتره ، فهو لم يحرق لك الأحداث او يرغمك على تقبلها من وجهة نظر المترجم بل وضعها لك كخاتمه مفيده توضح الصعوبات وتبين نقاط الأبداع
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Feb 21, 2011 Milo rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 10-stars, well-played-sir, classic

Alright, so after some thought I'm finally ready to consolidate my thoughts on this novel.

This books follows the character Meursault and shows us his perverse and somehow refreshing outlook on life. He is completely disinterested in things that social life revolves around like marriage, elevations of status, etc... in essence he is the ultimate nonchalant bum. His life is hollow but he is utterly unconcerned with this and goes on quietly existing in the most comfortable way possible.
His is a ni...more

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Dec 15, 2012 [P] rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

...AT WHICH POINT [P] CREATES A CHARACTER AS A STAND-IN FOR HIMSELF...

Meet Lucas Willen, the existentialist:

'What are you thinking?' The question that he is most often asked, and which is, not always, but usually, merely a way for the speaker to fill time, to avoid the burden of time with a capital T, the kind of time that silence makes most apparent. 'What are you thinking?' most often really means 'say something,' which, in turn, really means 'don’t abandon me to myself and my own thoughts, to...more ...AT WHICH POINT [P] CREATES A CHARACTER AS A STAND-IN FOR HIMSELF...

Meet Lucas Willen, the existentialist:

'What are you thinking?' The question that he is most often asked, and which is, not always, but usually, merely a way for the speaker to fill time, to avoid the burden of time with a capital T, the kind of time that silence makes most apparent. 'What are you thinking?' most often really means 'say something,' which, in turn, really means 'don’t abandon me to myself and my own thoughts, to a self I dislike or find tiresome or thoughts I cannot comprehend or endure.'

'Nothing much.' His most frequent response to the question, a response that is often considered to be satisfactory, because it is, at least, something, a sound, an acknowledgement, albeit a meaningless one. It is, furthermore, often the truth, because he, in his most precious silence, is not thinking anything of note; he is merely using that silence as a way of avoiding the person asking the question, just as he or she, the person asking the question, wants to avoid themselves by attempting to recall him from his cocoon of nothingness. And even if they appear to have his attention, in reality they do not; they are merely looking at a mask designed to give the appearance of an attentive face. The truth is that all his facial expressions are used to mask, to cover, a true state of being that, although not necessarily unsightly, is nevertheless deemed by him to be conspicuous, like the way that a colourful curtain can be used to draw attention away from what lays behind it.

Lucas Willen is not a happy man, but he does not consider himself to be an unhappy one either; he just is. He is not prone to feelings of extreme emotion, or, he believes, any emotion at all. He will pretend to be capable of emotional responses when he is in the company of other people, but only out of self-preservation. He has learnt through his observation of others how he is meant to behave in almost all social situations, when he is, say, meant to be upset by something, and will therefore exhibit the correct behavioural response, but he does not feel the upset. He does not have access to any of the peaks and troughs of human experience which so bewitch other people. Sadness, jealousy, anger, desire, apathy, euphoria, despair etc: he knows of them, but he does not know them; they are a series of mysterious islands, paradise or otherwise he cannot say, that all others discover and navigate, Columbus-like, throughout their lives, but whose existence he can only logically infer.

In his deceit he is accomplished, maybe even supremely talented, and he always takes the utmost care to avoid detection. He is confident of his success despite, as he sees it, his estrangement from the rest of the human race, because the rest of the human race, or at least those he comes into contact with, still attempt to classify his personality by matching his behaviour to a series of adjectives that are, in literal terms, beyond his experience. To most he is brooding, serious, and deep [a term he found particularly difficult to comprehend], he is, by all accounts, also courteous but distant, intelligent but modest, sometimes cold but capable of [apparently] random and admirable acts of affection and kindness.

He is, indeed, something of an enigma, which according to the men whom often take it upon themselves to engage him in conversations relating to the females of our species [and in particular the drive to stick our things into a multitude of accessible and not-so-easily-accessible orifices] are peculiarly attractive qualities in the proportions that he possesses them [or so they believe, but, for Lucas, it is better they believe that than be exposed for the fake that he is, the world class fake].

He has been this way his entire life [even when exiting the womb he did so silently, with no reluctance, completely unaffected by the new world that he had been introduced to], no event or catastrophe befell him during his formative years, no tragedy changed his life, and his attitude towards it, with a flap of its butterfly wings, setting in motion a series of events leading to him being the way that he is. Then, as now, he just is. A comprehensive account of his childhood years, his parents, his upbringing, would not shed any light on the subject of ‘Why Lucas is the way that he is,’ as there is no light and nothing to illuminate.(less)

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Dec 16, 2008 Jeanette rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, all-fiction

I think the "meat" of this book, and what made it a classic, is mostly contained in the final chapter. That's where Camus showed himself for the philosopher that he was. I wasn't wowed by this book, but it was interesting to read. The main character is likable enough to the people around him, but he drove me nuts because he is so passive! He just says, "Yeah, okay" to whatever anyone proposes. He has also never learned the art of dissembling, so he causes trouble for himself by always saying the...more

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Dec 17, 2012 Giorgi rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

this story seems very ambiguous the first part of story is so clear it doesn't matter who/what/where/why/ are only what you care about world around us peoples this whole circle of nonsense hopeless situation only absurd again again again but what responds to it ? i will read more about it in order to find the answer and to clarify this damn(wonderful) everyday living experience what does it means to be a stranger (there is a Sartre's critical article about Camus stranger which i have read but i...more

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Oct 14, 2012 Alex rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: reading-through-history, 2012

"If something is going to happen, I want to be there," (113) says the narrator of "The Stranger," but he hasn't been there through most of the book. The Arab isn't the Stranger in question; the narrator is. And even in this late, apparent declaration of consciousness, he hasn't really appeared.

Henry Miller did a terrible job of encapsulating the same feel, pre-WWII, that everything in life was up for grabs and it was all meaningless and terrifying. Camus' simple sentences might remind you instea...more

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Oct 13, 2011 Dante rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, imaginative-lit, prose, novel, existentialism

I actually read this book in July, so this is already a very late review. I didn't know how to review it then. This is already the second time that I've read this. It's not that I love it. I'm not even sure if I like it. For some reason, I failed to appreciate it. So I don't understand why many people consider it to be a classic.

But it's a profound book, I think. The story is very interesting, from my point of view as a Christian.

It's an existentialist novel. The main character is Meursault. He...more I actually read this book in July, so this is already a very late review. I didn't know how to review it then. This is already the second time that I've read this. It's not that I love it. I'm not even sure if I like it. For some reason, I failed to appreciate it. So I don't understand why many people consider it to be a classic.

But it's a profound book, I think. The story is very interesting, from my point of view as a Christian.

It's an existentialist novel. The main character is Meursault. He sees life as basically absurd. The novel opens with the news of his mother's death. But for him, it doesn't really mean anything. He has a significant other, Marie, and apparently she loves him. She even asks him if he'd want to marry her. But he says that it doesn't really make any difference!

I find the story very interesting because Meursault is an atheist. I think that's significant because your beliefs or worldview really has an influence on how you interpret the things around you. I think Meursault is just being honest. That's just the logical outworking of atheism, I think. If God does not exist, life is basically absurd. Life has no ultimate meaning, value and purpose, because everything ends at the grave. It wouldn't matter if you lived a saintly life or a sinful one, because there's no life beyond the grave and hence no accountability.

Therefore, for Meursault, there's no meaning to his mother's death, and there's no difference between his marrying Marie or not. It seems that there's really no such thing as "love" in an atheistic universe. There are only feelings, impulses and desires, all of which are unpredictable and temporary.

I like Marie. She's very lovable; she's very carefree and simple. It's just very unfortunate that he meets a man like Meursault.

I am moved by the scene where Salamano cries for his lost old friend, his dog.

I didn't like the priest character very much. He had a chance of consoling Meursault, of listening to him, understanding him, and even talking about the Christian faith with him and how it is absolutely relevant to his life, but he didn't know how to handle the conversation with him. His character is not even believable, because a priest would know about theology and would know how to talk about the issue of God's existence.

I think Meursault is wrong in thinking that God does not exist, and it's unfortunate that in the novel he did not pursue that issue further. Perhaps he did not think it was an important issue in the first place. But the implications of God's non-existence are very serious.(less)

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Apr 03, 2008 Davide di Cagno-Hagen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Everyone

Recommended to Davide by: My Mom

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. When I was first handed a copy of The Stranger by Albert Camus, I was apprehensive about it. Most of what I had heard was that it was "absurdist fiction" and all these terms which at the time, I felt pretentious (now knowing better). In January, I wanted to read something short after having spent time reading longer novels, thus at 130 pages, this seemed like a likely candidate. The first night I read the first 50 pages, and finished it the next day.
The book is about Meursault, a young Algerian...more When I was first handed a copy of The Stranger by Albert Camus, I was apprehensive about it. Most of what I had heard was that it was "absurdist fiction" and all these terms which at the time, I felt pretentious (now knowing better). In January, I wanted to read something short after having spent time reading longer novels, thus at 130 pages, this seemed like a likely candidate. The first night I read the first 50 pages, and finished it the next day.
The book is about Meursault, a young Algerian whose mother dies very early on in the novel. He goes to her memorial, where he spends the night. The novel goes on to describe his relationship with a woman in the neighborhood. One day they decide to go to their friend's beach house. While there, Meursault and his friend run into a group of Arab teenagers who Meursault's friend has problems with. The glare and each other and keep walking. Later, after lunch, Meursault goes out by himself while the others are napping. He takes his friends gun, which was never explained. As he's walking he comes up on one of the Arabs sleeping. Without any explanation, he murders the sleeping man. The rest of the book goes into his imprisonment and trial. The trial is extremely important in the book because the lead prosecutor claims the murder was premeditated because Meursault showed insensitivity on the day of his mother's death. He is sentenced to death by guillotine. The final chapter of the book is dedicated to his thoughts of the execution and the existence of God. The story ends with the bold quote:

"As if that blind rage had washed me clean, rid me of hope; for the first time, in that night alive with signs and stars, I opened myself to the gentle indifference of the world. Finding it so much like myself — so like a brother, really — I felt that I had been happy and that I was happy again. For everything to be consummated, for me to feel less alone, 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."

I enjoyed this book very much. I loved how it was written and the language. The short span of life we see of Meursault was great. I generally agree that this is one of the greatest books I've ever read. A must read.(less)

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Sep 15, 2007 Cindy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I started this book, finally, understanding that it was an example of existentialist philosophy but knowing little else. I began reading and immediately felt lost in the randomness of it all, in the detailed descriptions of settings and the truncated passages dealing with human exchanges. It was like I was a pinball, being randomly thrown about, much like the protaganist (though he had more input than he would likely admit). I finally had my lightbulb moment, realized that this was the point, an...more

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Jul 24, 2007 افشین افشار rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

این کتاب داستان یک مرد درونگرا به نام مرسو را تعریف می‌کند که مرتکب قتلی می‌شود و در سلول زندان در انتظار اعدام خویش است. داستان در دههٔ ۳۰ در الجزایر رخ می‌دهد.

داستان به دو قسمت تقسیم می‌شود. در قسمت اول مرسو در مراسم تدفین مادرش شرکت می‌کند و در عین حال هیچ تاثر و احساس خاصی از خود نشان نمی‌دهد. داستان با ترسیم روزهای بعد از دید شخصیت اصلی داستان ادامه می‌یابد. مرسو به عنوان انسانی بدون هیچ اراده به پیشرفت در زندگی ترسیم می‌شود. او هیچ رابطهٔ احساسی بین خود و افراد دیگر برقرار نمی‌کند و در بی...more این کتاب داستان یک مرد درونگرا به نام مرسو را تعریف می‌کند که مرتکب قتلی می‌شود و در سلول زندان در انتظار اعدام خویش است. داستان در دههٔ ۳۰ در الجزایر رخ می‌دهد.

داستان به دو قسمت تقسیم می‌شود. در قسمت اول مرسو در مراسم تدفین مادرش شرکت می‌کند و در عین حال هیچ تاثر و احساس خاصی از خود نشان نمی‌دهد. داستان با ترسیم روزهای بعد از دید شخصیت اصلی داستان ادامه می‌یابد. مرسو به عنوان انسانی بدون هیچ اراده به پیشرفت در زندگی ترسیم می‌شود. او هیچ رابطهٔ احساسی بین خود و افراد دیگر برقرار نمی‌کند و در بی تفاوتی خود و پیامدهای حاصل از آن زندگی اش را سپری می‌کند. او از این که روزهایش را بدون تغییری در عادت‌های خود می‌گذراند خشنود است.

همسایهٔ مرسو که ریمون سنته نام دارد و متهم به فراهم آوردن شغل برای روسپیان است با او رفیق می‌شود. مرسو به سنته کمک می‌کند یک معشوقهٔ او را که سنته ادعا می‌کند دوست دختر قبلی او است به سمت خود بکشد. سنته به آن زن فشار می‌آورد و او را تحقیر می‌کند. مدتی بعد مرسو و سنته کنار ساحل به برادر آن زن(«مرد عرب») و دوستانش برمی خورند. اوضاع از کنترل خارج می‌شود و کار به کتک کاری می‌کشد. پس از آن مرسو بار دیگر «مرد عرب» را در ساحل می‌بیند و این بار کس دیگری جز آن‌ها در اطراف نیست. بدون دلیل مشخص مرسو به سمت مرد عرب تیراندازی می‌کند که در فاصلهٔ امنی از او از سایهٔ صخره‌ای در گرمای سوزنده لذت می‌برد.

در قسمت دوم کتاب محاکمهٔ مرسو آغاز می‌شود. در این جا شخصیت اول داستان برای اولین بار با تاثیری که بی اعتنایی و بی تفاوتی برخورد او بر دیگران می‌گذارد رو به رو می‌شود. اتهام راست بی خدا بودنش را بدون کلامی می‌پذیرد. او رفتار اندولانت (اصطلاح روانشناسی برای کسی که در مواقع قرار گرفتن در وضعیت‌های خاص از خود احساس متناسب نشان نمی‌دهد و بی اعتنا باقی می‌ماند- از درد تاثیر نمی‌پذیرد یا آن را حس نمی‌کند) خود را به عنوان قانون منطقی زندگی اش تفسیر می‌کند. او به اعدام محکم می‌شود. آلبر کامو در این رمان آغازی برای فلسفهٔ پوچی خود که بعد به چاپ می‌رسد، فراهم می‌آورد.(less)

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Jul 24, 2007 Jonathan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: life_and_other_atrocities

Je ne l’avais jamais lu, mais j’en avais entendu parler. Je l’ai donc découvert avec une forte attente, et je n’ai pas été déçu. Je me contenterai ici de rapporter le commentaire de Camus lui-même qui fit la préface d’une édition universitaire américaine de ce roman. J’ai adoré. C’est peu de le dire.

"J’ai résumé L’ Étranger, il y a longtemps, par une phrase dont je reconnais qu’elle est très paradoxale : ’Dans notre société tout homme qui ne pleure pas à l’enterrement de sa mère risque d’être c...more Je ne l’avais jamais lu, mais j’en avais entendu parler. Je l’ai donc découvert avec une forte attente, et je n’ai pas été déçu. Je me contenterai ici de rapporter le commentaire de Camus lui-même qui fit la préface d’une édition universitaire américaine de ce roman. J’ai adoré. C’est peu de le dire.

"J’ai résumé L’ Étranger, il y a longtemps, par une phrase dont je reconnais qu’elle est très paradoxale : ’Dans notre société tout homme qui ne pleure pas à l’enterrement de sa mère risque d’être condamné à mort.’ Je voulais dire seulement que le héros du livre est condamné parce qu’il ne joue pas le jeu. En ce sens, il est étranger à la société où il vit, il erre, en marge, dans les faubourgs de la vie privée, solitaire, sensuelle. Et c’est pourquoi des lecteurs ont été tentés de le considérer comme une épave. Meursault ne joue pas le jeu. La réponse est simple : il refuse de mentir. Mentir ce n’est pas seulement dire ce qui n’est pas. C’est aussi, c’est surtout dire plus que ce qui est et, en ce qui concerne le cœur humain, dire plus qu’on ne sent. C’est ce que nous faisons tous, tous les jours, pour simplifier la vie. Meursault, contrairement aux apparences, ne veut pas simplifier la vie. Il dit ce qu’il
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L’étranger

est, il refuse de masquer ses sentiments et aussitôt la société se sent menacée. On lui demande par exemple de dire qu’il regrette son crime, selon la formule consacrée. Il répond qu’il éprouve à cet égard plus d’ennui que de regret véritable. Et cette nuance le condamne.

Meursault pour moi n’est donc pas une épave, mais un homme pauvre et nu, amoureux du soleil qui ne laisse pas d’ombres. Loin qu’il soit privé de toute sensibilité, une passion profonde, parce que tenace, l’anime, la passion de l’absolu et de la vérité. Il s’agit d’une vérité encore négative, la vérité d’être et de sentir, mais sans laquelle nulle conquête sur soi et sur le monde ne sera jamais possible." "On ne se tromperait donc pas beaucoup en lisant dans L’ Étranger l’histoire d’un homme qui, sans aucune attitude héroïque, accepte de mourir pour la vérité. Il m’est arrivé de dire aussi, et toujours paradoxalement, que j’avais essayé de figurer dans mon personnage le seul christ que nous méritions. On comprendra, après mes explications, que je l’aie dit sans aucune intention de blasphème et seulement avec l’affection un peu ironique qu’un artiste a le droit d’éprouver à l’égard des personnages de sa création."

[http://jonathan.touboul.free.fr/artic...](less)

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Jun 04, 2007 Rebecca rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: grown-ups

Shelves: thingsilove

Albert Camus, the French Algerian author of this book, as well as two of my favorite collections of humanist essays, "Resistance Rebellion and Death," and "The Myth of Sisyphus," was one of the great novelists of the 20th century. This book, relatively short and quick reading for as much as it tells and does, is a complex psychological portrait of a killer. But Marceaux is not a weird, twisted, evil killer, but a killer whose major failing is his inability to recognize the humanity, or even the...more

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Jul 03, 2007 AJ Griffin rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: anyone who wants to feel deep and troubled and needs a vehicle to express it

Yeah yeah, I liked this book just like everyone else.

Unfortunately, this was one of three assigned to our AP class for summer reading one year, and the inspiration for everydimwitteddogooder"ihaveasensitiveside" asshole in my grade to suddenly "discover" the concept of existentialism.

Suddenly, having nothing better to worry about besides the utter pointlessness and/or meaning of life was the hippest thing since Capri Sun. The phrase "I'm a big fan of existentialism" was being tossed around with...more

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Feb 05, 2011 Banan rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, short-stories

لأنَّها حائزة على نوبل خمنت أنَّها ستستقبلني بدهشةٍ فارعة , ولم يحصل . كانت القصَّة موجودة , أمَّا السرد فكان تالفاً في مواضع منه- الفصول الأولى بالذَّات , فالإسراف في وضع " و " للربط بين الجمل كان قد بدّّد رغبتي في القراءة في كثيرٍ من اللحظات , وجعل نبرة الرواية تبدو وكأنَّها لاهثة سريعة لا نيَّة لها أبداً في التوقُّف , وهذا بالتأكيد ممَّا ينعكس على القاريء محولاً قراءته لوضع : هاي سبيد !
أعتقد أنَّ خيط الخطأ هنا يعود أثره للمُترجم , إذ كانت الترجمة ركيكةً للغاية , و كل ما أذكره من السرد اقتصر ع...more

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About Albert Camus

Albert Camus was an Algerian-born French author, philosopher, and journalist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957. He is often cited as a proponent of existentialism (the philosophy that he was associated with during his own lifetime), but Camus himself rejected this particular label. Specifically, his views contributed to the rise of the more current philosophy known as absurdis...more

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