Discussion of The Stranger by Albert Camus

[soniakhan33]

I read that book about couple days ago,its really touched my heart......

[rayallen]

Albert Camus (1913-1960) was a representative of non-metropolitan French literature. His origin in Algeria and his experiences there in the thirties were dominating influences in his thought and work. Of semi-proletarian parents, early attached to intellectual circles of strongly revolutionary tendencies, with a deep interest in philosophy (only chance prevented him from pursuing a university career in that field), he came to France at the age of twenty-five. The man and the times met: Camus joined the resistance movement during the occupation and after the liberation was a columnist for the newspaper Combat. But his journalistic activities had been chiefly a response to the demands of the time; in 1947 Camus retired from political journalism and, besides writing his fiction and essays, was very active in the theatre as producer and playwright (e.g., Caligula, 1944). He also adapted plays by Calderon, Lope de Vega, Dino Buzzati, and Faulkner's Requiem for a Nun. His love for the theatre may be traced back to his membership in L'Equipe, an Algerian theatre group, whose "collective creation" Révolte dans les Asturies (1934) was banned for political reasons.

[BookwormService]

I have been wanting to read Camus' "Stranger" again for a long time. It is such a powerful novel. The whole second half is truly eye opening & life changing. Just brilliant.

[Davinci]

Mandatory reading ay school. My mother tongue is French so I read it at about 12 and hated it. Really hated it. I thought it was boring nothing was happening. This was not the right age for me as I read only for plot at the time. Read it again at 20 and loved it so much I read it again a few times since then.

[Maud Fitch]

Mandatory reading ay school. My mother tongue is French so I read it at about 12 and hated it. Really hated it. I thought it was boring nothing was happening. This was not the right age for me as I read only for plot at the time. Read it again at 20 and loved it so much I read it again a few times since then.

Yet another 'thumbs up' for mandatory school reading. It does introduce you to books you might otherwise never read.

[tinybore]

One of my fav books now, just finished reading it and I'm about to purchase more Camus books.

Many people seem to miss the point or just simply not understanding the idea of the story when saying Meursault is cold/depressed/dangerous/asshole etc, or that the book is boring or something. Try reading it again with an open mind, and ask yourself what Camus is trying to tell you :)
Well I admit not everyone can like this, but I think so many more could like this if they only wanted to :P

[Robin jackson]

after long long time i have read any nice book,it is very nice book .it is my favourite book.

[paketwisatajogja75]

Albert keep goin on and on..

[Mad_Butch]

I read the book in school, in French.. and I have to say.. it confused me a lot. I didn't understand why Marsault led such a boring life! I found the book pretty hard to follow at some points. I think I'll need to read it again.

In general, the books that are written by existencialists are hard to understand. You have to think in a bit different way, I think

[bibliofreak]

It's an interesting book. I can see why some people have found it hard to understand - its certainly not as straight forward as it might seem. I've just written a review and an analysis.

[donniedarko]

I just finished reading the book and I loved it. I don't find it hard to grasp as many seem to, until the ending. I found his life interesting, and am intrigued into exploring more existentialism.

What do you think of Meursault?

I like his simplicity and coolness. His frankness and how he does purely what he wants is almost inspiring. It's very hard for me to hate him, since we think in similar fashions. In fact he's one of my favorite characters from a book.

What do you think of Meursault's refusal to become religious before his execution?

As an atheist myself, I honor for being true to his thoughts, and not changing under despair. He wasn't better against religion but thought there were more important things to spend his time on.

So yes I liked the novel, Part 1 (which seems like the place where many stopped) is much more passive and simple than part II. I enjoyed both parts though, and it was almost two different books.