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Summary: What literature is all about.
Review: Albert Camus explores an area of thought that is widely underrated. L'Etranger was not written as a book with a message, instead it explores how we as humans, when confronted with the monotony of daily life, depart from our normal existence to become observers of our own absurd rituals and idiosyncracies. When we look back at our lives, in our most vulnerable hours, we see how ridiculous most things were, and how most of our time was spent on trivial matters. It is the fundamental concept of "If I had it to do over, i would have had more fun," to be quite simplistic. The beauty of The Stranger is that it provokes thought in every reader. It is not a book to be forgotten quickly upon completion, it delves into the abyss of thought in order to explore our own lives.
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Summary: Profound, Poetic, and Disturbing
Review: A terrific read. Very dry, engaging, and clips along at a good pace. I finished it in less than three hours, and felt that I had witnessed part of myself on Camus' stage. M. Meursault is, for the most part, an ordinary person who has been benumbed by a daily existence of "getting by." Finding himself so dulled, that finally, he is a mere spectator in his own life. "Effect" instead of "Cause." The story begins with a death, and ends with a death. In the folds of each is found new life, whether it is his Maman's "fiancee" or Meursault's own rebirth of consciousness in his final minutes. Perhaps through this story, we can all find something of ourselves in M. Meursault, and heed the warning that seems to glare in mile-high neon. Be "Cause." Not "Effect." Get out and LIVE. Live heroically instead of being a spectator or simply "getting by."
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Summary: An existential novel of average quality.
Review: This book is exremely well written. The language is descriptive and the words are chosen with care and knowledge. Lines like th end of part one where he describes his shooting a gun as the loud rapping "of fate at the door of my undoing." You can'
t beat stuff like that. But as existential novels go, it is not the best, yet it is one of Camus' better works. It took me two hours to read the entire book, but I am still thinking about it.
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Summary: A life of Truth
Review: Camus' captures the essence of existentialism through style and tone in this masterpiece of modern narration. M. Meursault's summarized tale raises questions of motivation, existance, religon, etc. This ambiguous narrator tests the context of a life so absurd that the novel will have you pondering for days! A halmark novel that deserves attention from any bibliophile
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Summary: Essential for the understanding of Existentialism
Review: Philosophers have long said that it is impossible to easily define Existentialism as a philosophy. To understand the meaning of such an abstract philosophy one must experience the works of the Existential philosophers. For anyone wishing to experience human understanding at its best and most insecure, "The Stranger" is nothing but the most essential of all Existential fiction
Rating: 
Summary: Simplicity
Review: Camus has written a story in the simplest form to investigate an extremely complicated side of human nature. Every word uttered by the narrator causes even the most apathetic human to read it twice, constantly asking how he could so callously brush off every event in his life. This is a book that not only asks, but demands to be read several times
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Summary: Our Existence Defines our Essence
Review: M. Camus has presented in his short novel an eye-
openingly graphic portrait of one M. Meursault, a man who lacks an understanding of life. He is resigned to being an irrelevant force in the universe, having seen how little control he can actually excercise over the events in his life. In listening to the case made against him in court,
that he was a criminal by nature on account of his behavior
at his mother's funeral, his belief in his insignificance
is greatened. However, in the final pages of the book, he
discovers that he is what he does, for there is nothing else
to his being. Camus implies that this discovery is made by all people as they approach death, if not sooner. The basic tenet of existentialism, that our actions determine the quality of our being, and that this is what our free will is, is put forward very effectively in The
Stranger. Meursault's dreary life, of which we are only shown a short time, creates an intense contrast against the passion which he has for his last action: his death. A subtler means to this end is the use of time. The
story moves quickly so long as the first person is acting.
Once he is imprisoned, however, M. Meursault's existence is
devoted to remembering his life as it was, causing the action to slow to a near standstill.
This novel is perfectly representative of existentialism, embracing the importance of acton. While it focuses less on the interaction between people, as many
modern writers have done, the reader is spared the extreme
cynicism that Camus has proven himself to be capable of.
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Summary: It was very thought-provoking, raised interesting questions.
Review: When I first started reading it, or rather, more precisely, about 3 quarters of the way through it, I was somewhat puzzled, hoping that each new page I turned would reveal something that would point to the actual PURPOSE. I didn't think it was necessarily a BAD book, simply that i didn't see any real point to it. 'Why would anyone write a book like this?' i thought to myself. 'I mean this M. Meursault is just a comnpletely self-centered loser, indifferent to life itself.' By the last chapter, however, when he is thinking over his ever-looming beheadment, the writing and descriptions of the concept of life and death to an ordinary person with no real biases whatsoever, was so thought-proking and beautiful that i could've cried. After finishing it, however, i was still a little confused as to what the point was. About 3 days later, i was still thinking about it, mulling each chapter over in my head--a definite sign of a good book. (After all, even if one can read a book, give it a shallow label of "good", but never thinks about it again or probes it for meaning, how good was it?) Finally, (I think) I came to a conclusion: M. Meursault's thoughts as he was awaiting his execution finally resulted in a basic gist of "well, we all gotta die sometime, so really, no big deal." I think the contrasting, implied meaning that Camus was trying to bring out was, "yeah, we all gotta die sometime, THUS, it's not death--how it's carried out, or when it occurs--that's important, but rather, what you do on this earth in LIFE." I believe M. Meursault's last remark, "For all to be accomplished, for me to feel less lonely, all that remained to hope was that on the day of my execution there should be a huge crowd of spectators and that they should greet me with howls of execration", summed that very idea up well, indeed. It sort of leaves one (or at least ME) with an impression that M. Meursault has one last resolve to make something memorable and extraordinary out of his life, if it be only his execution; one last attempt at trying to live out the life he remained passive and indifferent toward during his time on earth
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Summary: Who Is Mersault?
Review: Is the protagonist a sociopath, a retard, a genius? Camus does an incredible job of letting the reader decide if Mersault is guilty or not. You can even blame the sun for the murder. This book has no fat and leaves you thinking
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Summary: Camus is the king of realistic fiction
Review: RyneMading"Mother died today; maybe yesterday, I can't be sure" ( Camus 1). These are the opening words of The Stranger, which I found to be one of the most interesting and psychologically challenging books I have read thus far.
The book begins with the stranger attending his mother's funeral and displaying a puzzling lack of emotion toward his mother's death.
I loved reading this book. There were times when I could not put it down if I tried and other times when it was difficult to get into. The main reason why I enjoyed reading this book is because of Albert Camus' unique style of writing. He adds such meticulous character descriptions and detail to every aspect of the book it never really gets boring, even during less interesting sections. The storyline is somewhat difficult to follow. For those who have seen Seinfeld, I would relate this book to a Seinfeld episode: lots of jumping around from scene to scene and many complicated situations. This sense of chaos adds to the intensity and nature of the book itself.
I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy an intellectual challenge and also to people who enjoy learning about different cultures. This book will open up even the most closed off mind.
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