Albert Camus - The Stranger

Pros: Well written, thought provoking novel.

Cons: I can't read it in the original French.

The Bottom Line: This is a classic of world literature that everyone should read.

Review: Albert Camus’ timeless literary classic, The Stranger, is the tale of an average lower middle-class French Algerian Colonist named Mersault who finds himself involved in a pointless murder. The story is told through Meursault’s eyes. ...

Pros: lucidity, brevity

Cons: the deck is stacked for the conclusion of "absurdity"

The Bottom Line: This review is filled with plot-spoilers for anyone unfamiliar with the book (or Visconti's screen adaptation of it).

Review: Albert Camus died (in an automobile accident) a year and a half before fellow Nobel Prize-winner Ernest Hemingway. A few years later (the mid-1960s) when I was reading their fiction, Hemingway seemed much "longer ago" than Camus did. In part this is ...

Pros: good symbolism, a quick read, good characterization

Cons: not particularly climactic

The Bottom Line: If you find yourself in disagreement with Camus, then look to the indirect message that the novel sends.

Review: To be honest, this was one of the books we were forced to read for my English class. But, it was actually a book I didn't mind reading at all. Basically, a man, Meursault, lives his life out of touch with any sort of emotion other than what his physical ...

Pros: Gives the reader a view of Camus's Philosophy of Human Nature

Cons: Leaves the reader with unanswered questions at times

The Bottom Line: I would recommend this book highly because it introduces one to philosophical ideas on a small scale. It can be read quickly, and is not difficult to comprehend.

Review: Though many people have argued about the system which all human beings are connected, Albert Camus's The Stranger depicts the rules of society in a novel that will not take more than a day or two to read. The novel itself is very straightforward; ...