La Chute

by Albert Camus

book data

5,117 ratings, 3.87 average rating, 273 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		28%
4		37%
3		26%
2		6%
1		1%

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published

January 11th 1999 by French & European Pubns (first published 1956)

details

Paperback

setting

Netherlands

isbn

0318634872 (isbn13: 9780318634876)

description

Elegantly styled, Camus' profoundly disturbing novel of a Parisian lawyer's confessions is a searing study of modern amorality.

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Feb 06, 2008

Lauren rated it:

(review of isbn 0679720227)

Read in March, 2008

I ran into my friend Dan at the club last week, and he was drunk. So we talked Camus. We didn’t discuss Camus’s theories, or the fact that he avoided riding in cars and then DIED IN A CAR CRASH. We just talked about Camus in relation to Dan’s life and in relation to mine. The only really interesting thing about anything to me is how it affects me. That’s the honest truth.

Dan and I agreed that an interest in Existentialism is kind of a stage in your life – like when you lik...more

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Oct 23, 2007

Katherine rated it:

(review of isbn 0679720227)

Read in November, 2007

recommends it for: those who always sit at the bar, lawyers

Eh. This book started off with potential, I thought, even making me laugh out loud, though I'm not sure it's supposed to be funny. But then again what's not funny about proclaiming that humans will be remembered only for reading the paper and fornicating?

It took me a while to get into the monologue form, and then I liked the casual banter for a bit. But then by page 40, and it's only 100-some pages, I found myself fast asleep face down in the book, literally. This book also fails the...more

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4 comments

Feb 02, 2009

Michael rated it:

(review of isbn 0679720227)

Read in January, 2009

recommends it for: Those looking for an example of The Absurd Man in action.

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

The Fall is an appropriately titled book in which we meet the personification of what Camus called "The Absurd Man". He did not use this term to refer to someone who was merely ridiculous. The Absurd Man is one who has come to realize the absurdity of life, the resulting despair, yet chooses to live and try to find dignity in what life there is. This is, of course, Camus' worldview and as such is projected into all of his fiction. This may be, however, the clearest example of his w...more The Fall is an appropriately titled book in which we meet the personification of what Camus called "The Absurd Man". He did not use this term to refer to someone who was merely ridiculous. The Absurd Man is one who has come to realize the absurdity of life, the resulting despair, yet chooses to live and try to find dignity in what life there is. This is, of course, Camus' worldview and as such is projected into all of his fiction. This may be, however, the clearest example of his worldview I have yet read.

The protagonist is a lawyer, and the story is his autobiography, told in the first person to the reader. From him, we learn that he seemed to live a charmed life, possessing those things which many deem to be truly important in life; good looks, good health, success in his work, the esteem of his colleagues and clients, success in his romantic pursuits, and wealth. He appeared to others to be generous, courteous, and noble, frequently taking up the cause of the poor, going to great lengths to help the infirm, and so on. All of these things gave him great self satisfaction. This is, so to speak, his state of grace, his garden of Eden. Of course, there must be a fall.

Through a series of seemingly insignificant circumstances, the lawyer, Jean-Baptiste Clemence, realizes that his life may not be as idyllic as he thought. His generosity, his concern for the poor and infirm, his nobility, all of his most laudable character traits are in fact nothing more than an attempt to call attention to himself. There is nothing genuine behind his actions. Clemence realizes that others have seen through him, and thus the good esteem he thought he enjoyed does not really exist. He hears the world laughing at him and his shallow egotism. There is a moment when, through a physical fall, he has an opportunity to redeem himself, but he fails to act. His failure is the catalyst for deep self examination, and he sees the depth of his self deception. Clemence then experiences a psychological and spiritual fall from his state of grace. His expulsion from the garden takes the form of a descent into hedonism, self hatred, even a form of crime. Ultimately he finds an equilibrium of sorts in Camus' absurdity, and it is there that the book leaves him. He is not the Nietzschean superman, yet his full awareness of the absurdity of reality elevates him, in a sense, above his fellow men, such that he is in a position to truly judge himself and others.

The Fall is dark and hopeless. In some ways, it parallels the Biblical book of Ecclesiastes, in which the author sees vanity all around him, and can find true satisfaction in nothing that is apart from God. Clemence, though, has no God, thus there is no hope for him, no satisfaction. He is not an appealing figure; he is the logical conclusion of Camus' thought, and Camus is to be commended for not compromising his integrity in order to manufacture a happy ending. For Camus, there is none. Because it is well written, unwavering to the author's convictions, and engrossing, the book deserves high praise. As stated elsewhere, though, the presuppositional flaws compromise its excellence, resulting in a three-star rating.(less)

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Sep 20, 2008

Katherine rated it:

(review of isbn 0679720227)

Read in September, 2008

I read this for a class, which I admit may have colored my view of it, but honestly, I did not like it. I questioned my view because I know it is a classic, and I know Camus is supposed to be a genius. I freely admit I haven't read any of his other books, and it is entirely possible that they are all amazing, and I am missing out.

That said, this book just wasn't for me. It is essentially a long speech by one character, once a lawyer in Paris, on his fall from grace, and, in esse...more

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Mar 14, 2008

Jake rated it:

(review of isbn 0679720227)

Read in March, 2008

recommends it for: Anyone who's confused as to what this life is all about.

As with most Camus, this book is, in the course of a hundred or so pages, an entire decade of therapy. If you don't feel worse—yet oddly optimistic—about yourself and people in general after this book, you're either inhuman, or you're the exact person this book was meant for.

Someone once extolled this book as "an examination of modern conscience," and it was through this lens that I first began this work. That's accurate, I suppose, to a point, but to leave interpretatio...more

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Feb 11, 2008

fbuser61301102 rated it:

(review of isbn 0679720227)

Read in October, 2007

This is my favorite of the Camus I have read. The style is one of the most interesting I have ever come across. It is written in a strange monologue. You follow the lead character through his entire life leading to that point as the lead explains it to some guy he met in the pub (someone who never speaks). As you follow the lead you learn more and more about this fall. A successful lawyer being reduced to getting drunk every night in upper class Amsterdam. Over the course of three or four eveni...more

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Aug 12, 2007

Nicole rated it:

(review of isbn 0679720227)

bookshelves: read2007

Read in January, 2007

I read the 1956 Vintage Books paperback copy of The Fall as translated from the French by Justin O'Brien (I am not aware of another translation, please let me know if there is one!), and found it a complex look at human morality. The clumsy preening of the narrator is, at first, a little hard to get past, but his predicament is essentially a human one: what responsibility do we have to action and to others? Although, like in his essay The Myth of Sisyphus, there is a central focus on suicide,...more

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Mar 19, 2009

Kevin rated it:

(review of isbn 0679720227)

Once in a men's room stall, I saw written: "Why can't people just be good? It's not that hard." I think the guy who wrote that should read this.

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Mar 14, 2009

Bryan rated it:

(review of isbn 0679720227)

More of a dialectic of Camus' existentialist philosophies and views than "novel", it can be an interesting read. If you're looking for a book of plot twists and character development and so on, this ain't your book. If you want a 100 book about the absurdity and meaninglessness of modern life, this is surely for you.

I have to say flat out that I don't buy into his philosophy, as I find it inherently flawed. He creates quite a compelling world view of humanity and modern ...more

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Jun 13, 2009

Eric rated it:

(review of isbn 0679720227)

Read in January, 2009

recommends it for: Nobody

Sartre is supposed to have said,"perhaps the most beautiful and the least understood" of Camus' books. It's just like Sartre to claim to find something profound in what seems to me just one of those things that didn't quite come off.

For once, I can agree with Sartre, at least half way. This is certainly not the most beautiful of Camus' books --- I'd choose "L'homme revolte", but you might choose "La peste" and I wouldn't argue with you. Sartre's right ab...more

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Jan 12, 2010

Justin Cremer rated it:

(review of other edition)

Read in January, 2010

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Nov 03, 2009

Mr Grenouille rated it:

(review of isbn 0679720227)

"Etre le roi de ses humeurs, c'est le privilège des grands animaux."

"J'avoue ma faiblesse ... pour le beau langage, en général. Faiblesse que je me reproche, croyez-le. Je sais bien que le gout du linge propre ne signifie pas forcément qu'on ait les pieds sales. N'empêche. Le style, comme la popeline, dissimule trop souvent de l'eczéma. Je m'en console en me disant qu'après tout, ceux qui bafouillent, non plus, ne sont pas purs."

A propos des fra...more

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Mar 30, 2008

Gåry! rated it:

(review of isbn 0679720227)

bookshelves: philosophy

Read in May, 2008

A brilliant admission of what we consider questionable moral decisions based in (whether we would ever admit it or not) what I believe would be a common truth.

It's a fast (but not easy) read... double-spaced, the Vintage International edition clocks in at 147 pages. Highly recommended as a gateway to philosophical studies or simply as an introduction to Camus and his masterful storytelling abilities.

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Jan 29, 2010

Sparrow added it (review of isbn 0679720227)

Read in January, 2010

I have a weird edition, with a photograph -- a kind of minimalist collage -- on the cover, it looks very 1971. Plus pages are falling out, as I read them -- including the one saying who is the translator. Or the publisher. As the book went on -- and I read it over many long months -- I began to feel more and more accused, by the nameless protagonist. (Or does he have a name? I think so.) Setting it an Amsterdam was a touch of genius. In a bar called Mexico City (reminds me a lot of the fa...more

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Aug 10, 2009

Andrew rated it:

(review of isbn 0679720227)

I have been reading some of the existentialist writers lately...reading Sartre's trilogy and now The Fall by Albert Camus, and I am still trying to figure out this "philosophy."

I remember once hearing in a lit class that it means that the only reality is the one that you perceive...if you perceive it is real, nothing else is. People can tell you that it is different, but your perceptions are the only things that count and so there are as many realities as there are pe...more

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Mar 16, 2009

Steve rated it:

(review of isbn 0679720227)

bookshelves: 2009, novel

Read in March, 2009

Camus is one of my favorite writers. That said, this is not his best work. Sartre said that it was his least understood and most beautiful book, but I cannot agree.

I was a little disappointed because I found the idea of the book more interesting than the book itself. As much as I hate saying this, not much really happens. Yeah, it's "modern." But, c'mon. I was hoping for the spare Camus prose voice of L'etranger but got the blabbermouth Clamence.

There are, of ...more

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Oct 08, 2009

Joe rated it:

(review of isbn 0679720227)

bookshelves: 2009, x2009-october

Like a litmus test for psychosis and self-absortion: see how far you can read before your disgust overcomes your intrigue. And then, like any of Camus's works, you are intrigued again. Probably one of the best dramatic monologues constructed in the 20th century. A true vision of humanity's delusions of grandeur and eternal shortcomings.

"A single sentence will suffice for modern man: he fornicated and read the papers" [6:]

"May heaven protect us from bein...more

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Mar 09, 2008

Olegas rated it:

(review of isbn 0679720227)

bookshelves: art

Read in May, 2008

Keista knyga.. Prasideda visai nekaltai, bet nuveda i tokia minciu bala, is kurios norisi begti, bet negali, nes traukia kazkur i apacia..
Yra fraze: kada tu pradedi ziureti i tustuma - tustuma pradeda ziureti i tave. Puikiai tinka sitai knygai.
Uzteks vienam vakarui skaitymo, nes sunkiai atitruksi.

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Nov 14, 2009

Henry Leung added it (review of isbn 0141182024)

bookshelves: novel

Read in November, 2009

hm, so I wasn't the first one after all to come up with the idea of the narrator addressing the reader as a character in conversation, using blank space to supply the reader's presumed statements.

a better read than The Stranger. more elegant, more representative.

"But what do I care? Don't lies eventually lead to the truth? And don't all my stories, true or false, tend towards the same conclusion? Don't they all have the same meaning? So what does it matter whether th...more

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Mar 06, 2009

Cecily rated it:

(review of isbn 0141187948)

bookshelves: miscellaneous-fiction

Read in March, 2009

A self-titled “Judge Penitent” living in Amsterdam tells his life story, over several days, to a man he meets in a bar, bizarrely called Mexico City. It is written as a first person monologue, with occasional asides and replies to the other man, which gives the narrative a very distinctive voice.

Although a very short book, it is not one to rush as so much philosophy, law and theology is explored. (It is certainly much heavier than The Outsider or The Plague.)

You disco...more

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