Jesse’s Reviews > The Stranger > Status Update
Jesse
is on page 50 of 123
Mersault’s lack of narrated introspection is daunting insofar as I am constantly challenging myself as to whether he is really just composed of surface level thoughts or if he is, like Murakami’s protagonists, talking around landmines, but I believe that he is really just an ordinary guy who doesn’t challenge his status quo much.
— Aug 15, 2025 08:03AM
Like flag
Jesse’s Previous Updates
Jesse
is on page 100 of 123
Mersualt is so blasé about everything, except when he’s feeling lusty or severely annoyed. His situation is kind of absurd with the contrivances that led to him murdering in what felt like self-defense, but it’s impossible to empathize with him because he hardly feels for anything. I did laugh when the magistrate jovially sends him away as “Monsieur Antichrist”.
— Aug 15, 2025 08:43AM
Comments Showing 1-3 of 3 (3 new)
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Jesse
(new)
-
rated it 5 stars
Aug 15, 2025 08:04AM
It feels very different after having read A Happy Death, with its “Americanized” prose style, to quote the translator.
reply
|
flag
I guess the key to the Murakami comparison is that with HM it’s more about suspiciously specific omissions on what the narrator is willing to be introspective about.
I’ve only read one Faulkner novel and one Hemmingway novel and I’m pretty sure that neither are really representative of whatever style Camus is invoking (A Soldier’s Pay and The Torrents of Spring)
