Rating: 
Summary: Excellent~This book stays with you long after you finish it~
Review: This is the haunting story of a young man mindlessly going through life. He seems neither happy nor sad, just pleased to live another day. The protaganist, Meursault, goes about his everyday life in a kind of haze. Even when his Mother dies, he simply accepts it. All the characters around him have a purpose and he drifts along with them until one day he finds himself killing a man.Even as he sits in prison, he lives a life of happenstance, to him all life leads toward death it doesn't matter whether the journey is long or short, it all ends the same so why not make the best of each day. Simplistic as this seems, the writer, Albert Camus, pulls you into the mind of such an ordinary man in an extraordinary and absurd situation. This is by far, the best novel I have ever read and it's only 123 pages.
Rating:
Summary: A unique and intriguing book
Review: This is a book I recommend to anyone who claims they liked "The Catcher in the Rye". Camus acheives the same sort of antihero in this novel, the detached, dispassionate protagonist that intrigues and mystifies us. This book should be read by all purely for the experience, for it is so much unlike the typical or popular styles that it is good exercise for the mind; in addition, it's a great story, and a classic. Go get it!
Rating:
Summary: The Order....disrupted by one
Review: The North African sun flashing off an Arab knife. The whole book has the feeling of being a delirium though a lucid minded one, in the same way Kafkas stories combined those two (usually) inconsistent qualities. The main character seems overwhelmed by the world. He is a kind of victim of circumstance. The circumstance of being on the beach when the blade flashed in the sun which he felt threatened by and perhaps misinterpreted but also the circumstance of living in a world that makes no sense to him. Like Kafka before him Camus uses remarkable experiences to show the ambiguous nature of existence on every level. The courts themselves are senseless, arbitrarily handing out judgements with no real understanding of what occured either on the beach or in the lead characters head. The courts processes do not lead to understanding, that is not even their goal in this book. Camus shows that it is more important for civilization to retain a certain semblance of order in the face of chaos than to really offer a true order based on any true understanding. A brilliant book. The stars may look down indifferently on what we do here on earth but that fact and this book just make you realize how tricky and important a thing order, and justice can be. Lacking any absolutes to go by man exists in a world he can only partially comprehend. It is hard enough to comprehend who we are and doubly difficult, if not impossible, to comprehend another human . All systems of knowing and judging are flawed. Though Camus brilliantly shows society trying to deny this fact. Society persecutes, villifies, what it doesn't understand. All in the name of order.
Rating: 
Summary: Indifferent...
Review: A quick and very light book to read...I liked Camus style of writing and the way he delivers his message to the reader. His writing makes you think of what exactly the characters are going through, why do they act in certain ways, and how similar are we to all that... The book takes you through bizzare situations, each one is unique in its own way, but each one has a lesson behind it...
Rating:
Summary: Thought Provoking Classic
Review: When you finish this short classic you ask, "What was it about?" The fact that you ask is one of the reasons it's a classic. Another reason is that, like all classics, it's about the human experience. A 50+ year old book tackles themes still relevant today. A young French Algerian man, Meursault, kills an Arab for little reason and is tried for murder. The book is an examination of a dispassionate killer that doesn't seem to care for anything, even whether he lives or dies. Is Meursault is a typical sociopath or just an indifferent slob getting by? I was taken by how his lack of passion was read by every character in the book differently. He seems cold to the funeral director when his mother dies. But his new girlfriend is attracted by the same lack of passion. His boss sees him as a good employee though odd. Ultimately the court sees him as a mad killer. They all see what they want to see. The lack of any human feeling was ultimately the demise of Meursault. He could have done all of the same things, but if he had only shown some emotion, he would have survived. I find this very true in life. Our emotions are read for the good and bad. We are expected to be dispassionate when we're professional and passionate when we're in love. The deviation from those expectations many times leads us to trouble even when our actual actions are appropriate. Meursault's actions are questionable, but it is easy to see that with a little charm and personality, he could have easily talked himself out of all of his troubles. Of the 20th century classics, it is certainly one of the shortest, and it has plenty to say. I liked it enough that I will attempt another Camus in the future.
Rating:
Summary: The Stranger Without Ambition
Review: I think that Albert Camus did a great job at letting its readers get into the mind of the main character in his novel The Stranger. The Stranger takes us through the daily life of Meursault, who is a man that lacks ambition for life and cares very little about the actions that he takes in his life. The novel starts out with Meursault receiving notice of his mother's death. His reaction to this is very out of the ordinary, because he doesn't have a reaction. He thinks that his mother's death will not change anything in his life. That scene, and the next scene in the novel lead me to believe that this man does not have any ambition and lacks self-confidence. The next scene involves Meursault shooting an Arab on the beach in which he killed for no apparent reason. Killing the Arab makes his life take a turn for the worst. He ends up going to jail and goes on trial to serve the death penalty. His lack of ambition and will to live makes this novel interesting as it takes you on a journey for the rest of his life.
Rating:
Summary: en244 book review
Review: The stranger is a novel of a man named Meursault whose only motive in life is to live from day to day. He is not motivated by love, money, or power, but only the next day. Unfortunately, his senseless murder of an Arab will end his living from day to day. He could escape death from this murder he openly admits to have committed, but refuses to lie. He might easily have been left off if he would have admitted to there being a god or that he was religious, but Meursault does not believe in god or religion. He will not lie about what happened or his beliefs or lack of beliefs the case may be. He acknowledges his murder of the Arab, but not till it is announced he is to be beheaded aware his life is over. He unfortunately had no hand in the deciding of his fate, thus death. He murdered the Arab out of pure chance. If he had not walked back down the beach or had the sun not been so intense, he might not have shot the Arab with Raymond's gun. His punishment, though, was absolute in the fact that he would be punished through death no matter what. His not crying or morning his mother, going on a date the night of her funeral, and helping an established pimp beat his ex girlfriend did not help his case. Instead of people realizing how he believes things happen and to just live for the next day, they perceived him as a senseless human being who was motivated to murder. His carefree way of life to live from day to day in the end ended his life leading to his execution. This is a good book and worth reading. It shows you a different way to think about things.
Rating:
Summary: Best summer reading ever
Review: What started as an obstacle between me and my plans to get drunk and watch TV all summer, ended up being a delicious 120-page dive into one of the most fascinating philosophies of all time. Camus introduces to us M. Meursault, the epitome of existentialism. I was forced to read this book for my AP Lit course. I enjoyed it so much, not only because it was the shortest but also because it was written in the kind of English I speak (as opposed to the other two books, King Lear and Tess of the d'Urbervilles :-]). The more I read, the more I felt like part of Meursault. His nonchalance made sense to me. It was wonderful. A great read for all seventeen year olds out there!
Rating:
Summary: Interesting read
Review: In 'The Stranger', we are taken through the daily events
of a seemingly ordinary man leading up to and following
his senseless murder of an Arab, over a domestic dispute
concerning his 'pal', Raymond. The novel is essentially
a character study from an existentialist viewpoint. The
anti-hero, Meursault, is a man of no convictions who is not
driven by passion, money, or love.. but by the simple desire
to get by, day to day. The murder of the Arab was senseless, and
he knows it, but does not feel particularly remorseful. When his
mother dies, he is apathetic. Meursault felt, from day
to day, the way all of us have felt at times. His nihilistic
attitute, while repulsive to many, has a cold and inescapable
logic. In the end, death is inevitable. It will claim us all,
no matter how much we cling to life. It is this fact that makes
our lives and the frantic scrambling for happiness absurd. There
is no God, there is no higher meaning, or for that matter, any
lower meaning. This brings me to my objection to some of the
earlier reviews which criticized the lack of plot in the novel.
To them, I'd point out that the lack of plot is a stylistic
device used to showcase the randomness and absurdity of life.
The events in the novel in fact are random. Meursault does not
play an active part in his fate. The shooting of the Arab was
not intentional, and when he says during the trial that
it was 'because of the sun', we should take him at face value.
This is not a plot driven novel. Like many existentialist works,
much of the prose is devoted to minor details which may seem
irrelevant. Meursault once states that he has lost the habit of
self-analyzation. Camus spends as little time analyzing his
character as the character does himself. The style of the novel
is almost phenomenological in that we are given a list of events
and mindstates from the point of view of the protagonist,
without analysis or futher reflection. The prose is simple and
to the point. A complex plot would have worked against the
theme of the book, which is man's crisis of facing the absurdity
and pointlessness of existence. Definately give this short novel a chance. While it does not
say a lot that hasn't been said by other existentialist authors,
it does so with a certain grace and economy. A word of warning
though: it can be a somewhat depressing read.
Rating:
Summary: " Read this or not. It doesn't really mean anything."
Review: Camus gave birth to a character whose apathy seems to be the
fruit of pragmatism and a desire for simplicity. Meursault is
cursed with hyper-sensitiviy to the people and elements around
him. He becomes exasperated when others say things that he has no
concern about. Whatever palpable enthusiam he once had has been
replaced by the need to sate physical demands and momentary lapses of curiosity. His unrestrained stolid demeanor infuriates
his employer who perceives it as a lack of ambition. It hurts his
girlfriend's feelings when she ask if he loves her. Meursault's
cold response isn't filled with malice, just honesty about his
indifference. If he were simply selfish he'd tell her what she
wanted to hear to ensure she'd stay in his life. His actions and
rationalizations are of a man in a phantasm aware of his pillow
reality. From that vantage point what does morality, remorse, and
love have to do with anything? Whether the sleeper does good or
bad he'll wake-up just the same. Meursault is eventually beseiged
by people who implore him to capitulate to god, and remorse to
spare his body and soul. They may even care more about being his
heroic redeemers in the tragedy more they than empathize with his plight. His ceaseless resistance denies them the chance to
become transitory deities. Meursault is a man sinking in quick-
sand who spits at the ones holding branches within his grasp. His
defiance damns him in the eyes of his peers more than any crime
ever could.
|
