The Stranger

Hello and welcome to the Young Reader's Review! The book I am going to review today is somewhat…unique. And somewhat strange. That’s one the reasons why the book of this week is called: The Stranger (Originally called L’Etranger in French and apparently it can also be called The Outsider) by the legendary Albert Camus.  

This book seems very simple to understand. The vocabulary is clear, easy and rather basic. The story itself is quite banal. But the thing is, the storyline is just a cover, the door, to Camus’ crazy little world. The ideas behind the book are extremely strong and deep which is why this book’s genre is “philosophy of the absurd and existentialism”.  I don’t know about you but the name of the genre just makes my spine tingle. It seems complicated and it is, which is why I strongly encourage you to get a book that explains the story behind the story. Because figuring out what Camus really meant was more than hard. 

So let’s start off with the storyline.  The story takes place in Algeria, Albert Camus’ home. The book starts with probably one the most famous quotes of French literature where Meursault, the protagonist, talks about how he had just received a telegram about his mother’s death. He doesn’t seem to care and that’s the whole point of the story actually. But we’ll get to that later. 

What hit me as especially strange in this story is that Meursault is impeccably honest and truthful and he speaks without filtering his words. In the story, we have the sensation as if he is talking to himself. For example, he comments about washing his hands, or about what he ate, when to be honest, you really don’t care. It’s plain disturbing with a tinge of creepiness. 

Later on in the story, he goes to his mother’s funeral and he still doesn’t seem to care. He even smokes and drinks coffee in front of his mother’s open casket. Little things like this, are what push us to realize that Meursault may be a human being, but he doesn’t act like one. Who smokes in front of their mother’s casket? Don’t worry, this isn’t science-fiction so he isn’t an alien.  

Afterwards, Meursault starts seeing a woman called Marie who works with him even though they start hooking up at a public pool. Marie actually falls in love with him later on in the story and wants to Marie him but Meursault doesn’t believe and love nor in marriage and practically says “I don’t believe in it but why not”.  Again, this is another feature that makes him unhuman. The only thing that is actually human about him is his desire for sexual relationships with women. But on the other hand that is another feature that can make him strange, because even though Marie cares about him, he only cares about her body. 

Meursault has actually a friend: Raymond, a violent, unbalanced mentally man who abuses his wife and enjoys it. Raymond also believes that he is himself manipulative. Meursault considers him a friend, and is totally indifferent about the fact that he likes being violent. But does Meursault know what friendship is? Well, he enjoys his company, and they develop some kind of bond. But, that is all I really can say. 

 

Then, out of nowhere, something extremely unexpected happens. I would’ve never guessed what happened. From this point on, Meursault is a changed man, to the point that he becomes a new Candide (I’ll review Candide by Voltaire in the future), a naïve, and lost man. The writing style changes too, he becomes more human, more relatable. And all of this, I’ll give you a clue, is because of the sun. Seriously you’ll see. But I won’t say more because I don’t want to make any spoilers. 

I realized that this book isn’t famous in English-speaking countries, which is why I decided to review this today. In France, it’s considered a masterpiece and I can understand why: it’s brilliant. You have to be a genius to write it, every word means something deep and so thought through. I, personally, usually devour books but this one I savored and let the ideas flow in. I think that young book worms could read this if, like I said, you help yourself with a book that explains it. Because the story itself is simple. Most important of all, don’t be intimidated by it! Go for it!

So that was it for today, I hoped you liked this review and that I made you want to read this book! Don’t forget to follow me on Google +, and to like and share this review! See you next time! づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ