Reviews for The Stranger
Review - Stranger, The
Why I read the book: Racine List — 39 to go.
What the book was about: The un-named narrator is a Frenchman living in Algiers. He strikes up an acquaintance with his neighbor Raymond, and they soon become friends. Raymond has an ongoing feud with an Arab because he beat up the Arab’s sister in a lovers’ spat. The two men go to the beach with some friends, and the Arab and his friends follow. The men meet and fight on the beach. Raymond is slashed with a knife. He goes back and gets his gun. The narrator tells Raymond that he’ll hold the gun while Raymond fights. But when the Arabs see the gun, they run off. The narrator, drunk and bothered by the heat, goes back later on his own. When he sees the Arab lying on the beach, he shoots him five times.
He’s arrested and brought to trial. Unable to put forth an enthusiastic defense, the narrator is convicted to die on the guillotine. The book ends on the morning of his execution as the guards are coming to his cell.
What I liked about the book: Nothing
What I didn’t like about the book: Another exciting story about a nihilist. The narrator cares about nothing. He just drifts through life and lets whatever happens happen.
His mother dies — Oh. OK.
His girlfriend wants to get married — Oh. OK.
His boss wants him to transfer to Paris — Oh. OK.
Raymond wants him to fight the Arab with him — Oh. OK.
He is sentenced to death — Oh. OK
In addition, Camus’ writing reads like Hemingway’s, with short choppy sentences and no emotion. Dully-written book about a dull character.
The most interesting quotes:
After his arrest — Then he [the magistrate] wanted to know if I had hired an attorney. I admitted I hadn’t and inquired whether it was really necessary to have one. “Why do you ask?” he said. I said I thought my case was pretty simple. He smiled and said, “That’s your opinion. But the law is the law. If you don’t hire an attorney yourself, the court will appoint one.” I thought it was very convenient that the court should take care of those details. I told him so. He agreed with me and concluded that it was a good law.
On the morning of his execution — As if that blind rage had washed me clean, rid me of hope; for the first time, in that night alive with signs and stars; I opened myself to the gentle indifference of the world. Finding it so much like myself — so like a brother, really — I felt that I had been happy and that I was happy again. For everything to be consummated, for me to feel less alone, I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate.
Recommendation: I gave it a 4. If you want to spend two hours reading a book with absolutely no point and be thoroughly bored in the process, then I heartily recommend The Stranger.
Further Comments: The introduction talks about the famous first sentence. “No sentence in French literature in English translation is better known than the opening sentence of The Stranger.” The opening sentence reads, “Maman died today.”
The back cover of the edition I read says, “Camus explored what he termed ‘the nakedness of man faced with the absurd.’”
I can only imagine that Camus does a pretty good job of describing what life must be like for those who don’t have Christ. If we are here by accident and have no future, what possible reason is there to care about life or anything else? If any evolutionist was honest, he or she would have to admit that murder is no crime — it is simply survival of the fittest put into practice. This explains how they can condone abortion. An unborn child is too young to defend itself or protest what is happening to it, so those who support abortion don’t have to think about the ramifications of their philosophy.
But if you shoot at an evolutionist, he will all of a sudden begin thinking that there might be purpose and value to life after all.
What the book was about: The un-named narrator is a Frenchman living in Algiers. He strikes up an acquaintance with his neighbor Raymond, and they soon become friends. Raymond has an ongoing feud with an Arab because he beat up the Arab’s sister in a lovers’ spat. The two men go to the beach with some friends, and the Arab and his friends follow. The men meet and fight on the beach. Raymond is slashed with a knife. He goes back and gets his gun. The narrator tells Raymond that he’ll hold the gun while Raymond fights. But when the Arabs see the gun, they run off. The narrator, drunk and bothered by the heat, goes back later on his own. When he sees the Arab lying on the beach, he shoots him five times.
He’s arrested and brought to trial. Unable to put forth an enthusiastic defense, the narrator is convicted to die on the guillotine. The book ends on the morning of his execution as the guards are coming to his cell.
What I liked about the book: Nothing
What I didn’t like about the book: Another exciting story about a nihilist. The narrator cares about nothing. He just drifts through life and lets whatever happens happen.
His mother dies — Oh. OK.
His girlfriend wants to get married — Oh. OK.
His boss wants him to transfer to Paris — Oh. OK.
Raymond wants him to fight the Arab with him — Oh. OK.
He is sentenced to death — Oh. OK
In addition, Camus’ writing reads like Hemingway’s, with short choppy sentences and no emotion. Dully-written book about a dull character.
The most interesting quotes:
After his arrest — Then he [the magistrate] wanted to know if I had hired an attorney. I admitted I hadn’t and inquired whether it was really necessary to have one. “Why do you ask?” he said. I said I thought my case was pretty simple. He smiled and said, “That’s your opinion. But the law is the law. If you don’t hire an attorney yourself, the court will appoint one.” I thought it was very convenient that the court should take care of those details. I told him so. He agreed with me and concluded that it was a good law.
On the morning of his execution — As if that blind rage had washed me clean, rid me of hope; for the first time, in that night alive with signs and stars; I opened myself to the gentle indifference of the world. Finding it so much like myself — so like a brother, really — I felt that I had been happy and that I was happy again. For everything to be consummated, for me to feel less alone, I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate.
Recommendation: I gave it a 4. If you want to spend two hours reading a book with absolutely no point and be thoroughly bored in the process, then I heartily recommend The Stranger.
Further Comments: The introduction talks about the famous first sentence. “No sentence in French literature in English translation is better known than the opening sentence of The Stranger.” The opening sentence reads, “Maman died today.”
The back cover of the edition I read says, “Camus explored what he termed ‘the nakedness of man faced with the absurd.’”
I can only imagine that Camus does a pretty good job of describing what life must be like for those who don’t have Christ. If we are here by accident and have no future, what possible reason is there to care about life or anything else? If any evolutionist was honest, he or she would have to admit that murder is no crime — it is simply survival of the fittest put into practice. This explains how they can condone abortion. An unborn child is too young to defend itself or protest what is happening to it, so those who support abortion don’t have to think about the ramifications of their philosophy.
But if you shoot at an evolutionist, he will all of a sudden begin thinking that there might be purpose and value to life after all.
Reviewed by Roger on 2006-08-13 14:35:14