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Rating: 
Summary: An outstanding and important piece of work
Review: If you ever wanted to know anything about Albert Camus, this is the book to read. An exceptional job of research and writing. I hated to see it end. Oliver Todd is an excellent writer and his book a joy to read.
Rating:
Summary: a biography of a biographer
Review: If you want camus' angle on his life, read the first man, if you want an outsiders opinion, oliver todd is as good as it gets. Todd is a stickler for detail which is what anyone reading a biography really wants, so it's a must read on my list
Rating:
Summary: a biography of a biographer
Review: If you want camus' angle on his life, read the first man, if you want an outsiders opinion, oliver todd is as good as it gets. Todd is a stickler for detail which is what anyone reading a biography really wants, so it's a must read on my list
Rating:
Summary: A great book about a great Author
Review: Mr. Todd has written a wonderful account of Albert Camus' life. From his beginnings, throughout his life and his writings, to his untimely death and beyond, he includes all the information you would ever want to know about this Existentialist author. Anyone interested in French Authors, Existentialism, or just interested in Camus' life and times should pick up this book.
Rating:
Summary: Camus from Soup to Nuts
Review: Olivier Todd has compiled an excellent, thorough and captivating account of the life of Albert Camus. I was particularly impressed with this book's detail and accounting of Camus' s life in Algeria before moving to France. If there is any criticism I might have, it is that there is not enough detail about his last years. For a book that is filled with interviews, details and anecdotes from those who knew Camus, wanting even more information is a bit of a complement. I always suspected that Camus's personal life was a complicated one and this book confirmed that. I read it over a ten day period and didn't really want it to end. Wonderful job!
Rating: 
Summary: Terrible
Review: One hopes that the French edition, which is 400 hundred, not 100, pages longer, is considerably better, but I find that hard to believe. The writing is unacceptably choppy and awkward, with paragraphs springing from nowhere and sentences shifting from one grand topic to another without stopping. It's almost laughable. Chock full of details and totally lacking in style or spirit, this book will only be useful to those seeking a blow by blow chronology of Camus' life - and the chronology is uneven at best (many times Todd goes back several months without clear indication).
Poor writing wouldn't be a problem if there was at least a point of view, but Todd offers us none, preferring instead to recounting facts and quoting at length from Camus' letters. The fact that Camus was such a crystalline writer only makes this book seem like more of an insult.
I was hugely disappointed by this book. (...)
Rating: 
Summary: Read the French Edition of this book.
Review: The only real problem I have with this book was that the American edition has been abridged. Over 150 pages have been cut. As a result much of the portrait of Camus as a philosopher has been deleted. So I would recomend reading the French edition if at all possible
Rating: 
Summary: An excellent job of capturing Camus....
Review: This book provides an interesting portrait of someone whom most would now qualify as one of the more interesting (if not most important) authors of the twentieth century. This book documents his early life (somewhat disappointingly for anyone who has read 'The First Man'-- Camus' own account) through his dallainces with careers and women to his litery triumphs. This is a well-written and researched book, with the only negative from me that Camus comes out a lot less heroic and a lot more bitter and stereotypically hepcat and existentialist, which was a disappointment for I, who had raised him toward being a god.... A must read for anyone interested in Camus....
Rating:
Summary: An excellent job of capturing Camus....
Review: This book provides an interesting portrait of someone whom most would now qualify as one of the more interesting (if not most important) authors of the twentieth century. This book documents his early life (somewhat disappointingly for anyone who has read 'The First Man'-- Camus' own account) through his dallainces with careers and women to his litery triumphs. This is a well-written and researched book, with the only negative from me that Camus comes out a lot less heroic and a lot more bitter and stereotypically hepcat and existentialist, which was a disappointment for I, who had raised him toward being a god.... A must read for anyone interested in Camus....
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