don't let this book remain a stranger

books:

	• The Stranger Albert Camus Vintage, 1989 - 144 pages average customer review:based on 530 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

don't let this book remain a stranger

thought provoking, well written.
short but excellent read.
great to discuss with others with more than half a brain.

worth rereading.

When it became known that President Bush recently read the Stranger, one comedian remarked that he was happy that the president was finally completing his ninth grade reading list. Like many students, I read this book in high school, enjoyed it, and then decided to read it again as I had forgetten much of the plot. The book remains of interest too me still many years after reading it in high school. As is well known, existential themes such as choices and their consequences, and individual subjectivity are quite prominent, yet the novel is more than simply a philospophical treatise. It flows easily and is quite short but the reader can spend a great deal of time considering the questions raised by the stranger. The story's protagonist, Mersault, is a young Algerian very detached both from his personal emotions and from the traditional values one expects in society. One does however feel that there is a certain sincerity to many of his actions. There is no outward show or pretense, he says and does what he feels. The book begins as he attends his mother's funeral and behaves somewhat indifferently. He cared for her, but they had little in common and he doesn't consider showing any grief that he doesn't truly feel. He then forms an attachment to a young woman who loves him. He says he will marry her if that is what she wants, but again he behaves very ambivalently. In the second half of the novel, Mersault, through a chain of unlikely and unfortunate circumstances commits a crime. The plot then focuses on his trial and societies' outrage not only at his crime, but for the untraditional behaviour he exhibited in the novel's beginning. He is portrayed as an uncaring and unfeeling monster by the lawyers. The reader believes that this is too harsh a judgement, but then how can he be characterized? I think that this is the question that makes this a very rich novel whether you are a high school student, or president Bush

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Not as good as Gilbert's translation

All that can be said in praise of this novel has been said on the page already in the other reviews. However, I think it needs to be addressed that this is the newer, "americanized" translation of the novel and, in my opinion, one would be better off sticking with the original Stuart Gilbert translation that was so satisfactory for so long. Ward's translation seems much too informal, in a tone that seems to ramble and not get across a mood fitting enough for Meursault's character. If at all possible, I recommend finding Gilbert's translation, as, in my opinion, it was much more enjoyable.

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A very touching book.

I should make it clear that I did not read the "americanized" new translation, but rather the orginal english translation that comes off as more formal. I must say i'm rather interested in reading the other translation now, to see if the same atompshere is retained using less formal and language that may not appear as detached.
Some how in school they skipped having us read this book sadly, as I feel that young people in particular would benefit from understanding the world of absurdity that the character of Meursault finds himself unwittingly engaged in. In a world where stories like "Fight Club" are popular among young men, many a young man of that strain would find it very rewarding to spend sometime understanding Camus's world of Meursault, a character who's alienation in society is unavoidable, as he is just being himself. I felt connected in a way to the character who is constantly dealing with an irrational society, but that can never completely deal with him.
The book reads very quickly and smoothly. The story while very based in the mind of the character, never lets itself get over indulgent in detail, or when demonstrating its points it never comprises the flow of the story.
It will be a certain recommendation to others from myself from now on for sure.

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reviews: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, page 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20

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