The Fall

Rating:
Summary: A Fallen World Devoid of Laughter
Review: The Fall by Albert Camus is a short, disturbing work about the "fallen" life of Jean-Baptiste Clamence, the narrator of the story. The entire work is actually Clamence's own narrative, which makes reading it more like listening to a type of confession; at the very least it is like being on the recieving end of a conversation.

As the title indicates, this books plays off of Christian themes heavily. The very idea of "the fall" is a fundamentally Christian notion of lost innocence (which is very much at the heart of this work); "Jean-Baptiste" - "John [the] Baptist" in English - describes himself as a type of prophet crying in the wilderness but refusing to come forth; the bar he frequents is described as a church (and one could argue that, by extension, his life in the bar is something of a participation in an inverted communion); entire discussions about redemption, forgiveness, and repentance fill the pages of this work.

Despite all of its religious imagery and imagination, however, it is a work that is completely devoid of any notions of real redemption, forgiveness or love. Clamence's/Camus' view is basically that this world is, indeed, fallen but that there is nothing else.

It is interesting that an entire discussion about the death of God takes place within this book. As Camus - like Nietzsche before him - notes, without God all meaning and transcendence is lost. The picture Camus paints of such a world is indeed compelling if God is dead; as Clamence says - tragically - at the end of the book, he would permit himself everything all over again but without laughter the next time. A world devoid of laughter is a world devoid of love; a world devoid of love is a world devoid of transcendence; a world devoid of transcendence is a world devoid of God.

This book is a heavy work that attempts to carry the weight of the world upon its existential shoulders. It is one of the better places to start if one is interested in getting a feel for existentialist philosophy and literature, as well as a post-Nietzschean worldview.

Upon finishing this book, one should listen closely to the sounds of a haunting silence, born of a world without laughter, and ask one's self whether or not that silence is compelling. Is it what one wants to hear? Is it what one does in fact hear? Perhaps ironically, it is only in such absence that the whisper of faith, hope, and love can be heard; indeed, fallenness cannot be the totality of being.

A viewpoint that denies laughter is, in the end, a viewpoint worth looking past, over, and beyond: in short, transcending.

Rating:
Summary: Challenging
Review: My favorite book for Camus, his style in writing is very provocative, and challenging. Forces you to think of his personality and how that relates to us. He is very detailed and makes you imagine exactly what he is going through.

One of those books that you have to stop once in a while and reflect on what message has been communicated. What is the hidden message behind all this, and how would that imply to me...

Even if you are not into these kind of books, I believe you should try reading it, quick reading, easy to follow through, and more than anything else enlightening.

Rating:
Summary: Existentialist masterpiece
Review: I read the old Penguin translation over ten years ago, and have re-read it a couple of times since. This is my favorite Camus book: very sombre and thought-provoking, I cant do better than to quote Phillip Toynbee ... "one of those books which lie like yeast in the mind, producing all sorts of strange fermentations later on ..."

Some years later, when I read Dostoevsky's Brothers Karamazov, I realized that he had managed to convey what Camus does in this book in a single two page conversation between Father Zosima and Katerina Ivanovna. Though I still like this book, this is mainly for stylistic reasons now.

Rating:
Summary: Like a mirror
Review: In "The Fall", Camus flexes his literary abilities and shows us again that he is the master of creating storys that incite the reader to question aspects of his or her personality. He wastes little time describing the setting, as he puts emphasis on the dialoge between a libertine lawyer and an anonymous listener. At first, this lawyer braggs about his generosity and good will. But little by little, he reveals his true, indifferent self under this facade of propriety. This is what Camus means by "The Fall".
This is a short, but immaculately written classic piece of literature that forces you to question your identity.

Rating:
Summary: A deep, unique novel
Review: This is one of the most evocative and reflective novels I have ever read. The novel chronicles the confession of Jean-Baptiste Clemence, a former hotshot Parisian lawyer, to an unknown, unspeaking companion. In his monologue, delivered over a period of several days, Jean tells of his old life and how he came to leave it. Jean tells his silent listener of how he had once been successful, admired, philanthropic, and content in his old life, even though his secret motive was to feel superior to those around him. Jean's life began to change when he came to the realisation that his apparent altruism arose out of his own self absorbtion and desire to be admired. As Jean's confession continues he tells how he was pushed out of his comfortable life by guilt over having not chosen to save the life of a woman who he encountered just as she was about to commit suicide, and, following that, the constant weight of judgement all around him. Jean talks of how judgement and guilt hounded him until he could no longer evade them. His confession is a way of facing self judgement and the judgement of others.

There is much reflection on morality, self-absobtion, the need to feel dominant, and the judgement and guilt that must be endured by each of us. It is woven around a complex core of philosophy (much of which is, admittedly, beyond my grasp) that gives the story great depth. I thoroughly enjoyed the introspective, thoughtful tone of the book. The thing that I truly reveled in, though, was Camus' spare yet eloquent imagery. The scene that Camus paints of Amsterdam, where the book is set, is incredibly suggestive and subtle. For another example, Jean compares Paris to an enourmous stage set, inhabited by silouettes consumed by pursuit of ideas and sex. Such imagery and the book's unique point of view are the main reasons why I believe this book to be of high calibre. I would recomend it to anyone who is willing to recognise a beautiful construction of words and read with an open mind.

Rating:
Summary: Nice
Review: This is a great little book about crawling up inside one's own mind and finding out that we are all original sinners. We hold the key to our own demise in our very nature. It should be depressing, but it's presented in such an entertaining manner that it's really kinda fun. Important to note that it's just philosophy and therefore only one of an infinite number of hypotheses reagarding what's wrong with the human race. We may be messed up, and this may indeed explain why, but it's better to muse about this stuff than to take it seriously. After all, free will demands that we have the will to be free. And that may be the only true means of salvation.

Rating:
Summary: Challenges our comfortable self-perceptions
Review: A self-described 'judge-penitent', met in a cosmopolitan bar in Amsterdam, tells us the story of his life in this evocative, yet deeply introspective novel by existential philosopher Albert Camus. The narrator is an intelligent, voluble, fanciful man, who had been a lawyer in his former life, never doubting that he was an essentially good person, fulfilling more than his share of charitable, even altruistic duties, and even taking great pleasure in the realization that he was a better man than most... at least until an incident on a bridge in November taught him that he was not so remarkable a man after all. After this experience, his self-confidence and self-image are shattered, as is his overall perception of humanity in general. Unable to go on as he had been, he re-invents himself as part of a plan to try to give meaning to the remains of his broken life.

While not as much of a 'downer' book as the above synopsis may sound to some, this is a very sobering story for those who have given little thought to their own moral position in the world. The narrator's fall from ignorant bliss is universal, or at least common enough that it should strike a disturbing chord with most readers. Still, the story is perhaps not entirely without hope, and is, of course, told in descriptive language that evokes urban Europe while providing settings that carefully dictate mood and theme as well. The structure of the essentially one-sided conversation is powerfully riveting, and helps keep this book a quick read despite its weightiness, but the structure is also functional within the context of the story, since the purpose is to convert the reader to the narrator's viewpoint. Whether this technical tour-de-force actually changes one's life or not, readers should be prompted to re-examine their own lives and values, which in itself can hardly be a bad thing. This book is not challenging reading, but it challenges the way we live and perceive ourselves.

Rating:
Summary: One of the Masterpieces of the Twentieth Century
Review: For me, there are probably only a handful of books or essays that I'd consider essential reading, and this is one of them. This is Camus in his mature years, and at his peak. Perhaps, one could sum it up as a flash of light, a stunning illumination of the inescapable duplicity of our human nature.

Rating:
Summary: Wish I Could Give "The Fall" a 1/2 Star
Review: Having recently discovered Albert Camus and very much enjoyed reading "The Stranger" and "The Plague", I was really looking forward to reading "The Fall". I have to say this is the most disappointed I have ever been in a book. The best thing I can say about this book is it is mercifully only 147 pages long so it doesn't take a great deal of time to read. I read it in 2 days. The real challenge is being able to remember what you just read.

It is hard to believe this is the same author who wrote 2 of my all time favorite books, :"The Stranger" and "The Plague".

The story is told in the 1st person, a man by the name of Jean-Baptiste Clamence who has to be the most self centered long-winded character I have ever come across. He speaks of himself and his life the entire 147 pages. The person I feel sorry for is the guy in the Amsterdam bar to whom he is speaking. I doubt he has more than a grand total of 1 page of dialogue throughout the entire book. The poor guy. Imagine being trapped in a bar by a guy who speaks continually of himself and you can't get a word in edgewise. The rest of the dialogue belongs to Clamence. And I mean every single dry word of it.

I am surprised there are people who actually gave this book 5 stars. I don't understand it. We must come from 2 different reading schools. I found it very hard to follow and very dry. And also very uninteresting. I could not get interested in this Clamence character and cared very little for him. After finishing the book, I really had little idea what this book was about. I am not giving up on Albert Camus, though. I plan to read a couple more of his books. "The Plague" and "The Stranger" I found to be very easy to read, and very interesting. I cannot reccommend "The Fall" however. I can just say "caveat emptor" and don't say you weren't warned.

Rating:
Summary: sorely dissappointed
Review: After reading The Stranger I was eager to get my hands on another Camus title. After reading the many positive reviews of The Fall I decided enthusiastically to purchase my very own copy. Needless to say it fell short of the hype and positive reviews. Vapid, tedious and dull - nothing of it enthralled me and I found myself dozing off within the first five pages. I will admit that I only made it throught about twenty pages, and I consider myself an avid reader. However, I still plan to read The Rebel and the Myth of Sisyphus...