Stranger, The Books

Pros: writing, story, thought-provoking
Cons: first half seems slow

Author's Note--My alter-ego, psychiatrist Dr. Freudine, has clients and guests from favorite epinions.com members. Please check them out by going to their profile pages. Last time Doc discussed Wampeters, Foma and Granfalloons with two of them. ...

Pros: Possibly the most important existentialist novel ever written.
Cons: None for me.

Translated from the French, L'etranger, by Joseph Laredo

Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday, I don’t know. I had a telegram from the home: ‘Mother passed away. Funeral tomorrow. Yours sincerely.’ That doesn’t mean anything. It may have...

Pros: Emotive. Electrically charged with tension and meaning
Cons: Surely you jest?

This little book is the account, written in the first person of one Meursault, standing trial for murder. The murderer (for it is not disputed he slew the deceased), is an indifferent individual. He is functionally devoid of conscience, does not easily...

Pros: A Work Of Genius
Cons: Disturbing At Times

BACKGROUND: 'In our society,' wrote Albert Camus, 'any man who doesn't cry at his mother's funeral is liable to be condemned to death.' This may seem a bewilderingly dramatic, almost self-indulgent sort of assertion, but it is one which Camus brought to ...

Pros: Excellent book. Makes you think.
Cons: You might keep thinking about it longer than you expected.

NOTE: This review will contain all the details about the books plot, but I will warn you before doing so, so you can still read the beginning and not have to worry.

I picked up The Stranger when my fiance had to read it for a college course...

Pros: Classic literature, thought-provoking
Cons: None for thinking, intelligent people, many for the close-minded

It had been nearly 30 years since I read Albert Camus' classic 1942 novel of Existentialism, "The Stranger." So, when I found a slim Vintage International copy at the bottom of a free box of books at a yard sale, it was like meeting an...

Pros: Good story, flowing narrative...
Cons: Needs more exposure outside its pigeonhole...

Existentialism has been with us for a long time, but experienced a revival along the sidewalk cafes of Vichy France. Philosophers like Sartre and Camus would sip java and marvel at the comedy transpiring about them, SS troops stood around chatting with...

Pros: Well written and thought provocative.
Cons: Be open-minded, not a con, but a requirement.

I was browsing the member center on EPINIONS and came across my name not only under most popular authors for video games but for books as well. Granted I was only number 538 out of 1,000 in books, whereas I am number 30 something in games, but hey, I am s ...

Pros: Concise; well structured; well written; interesting; a classic!
Cons: None

THE STRANGER by Albert Camus is a book that is a routine reading assignment in college and university 'English Literature' class and, for most students, a monotonous obligation. I've heard many people say, "Thank God for Clift notes!"

I feel...

Pros: beautiful literary style (even though translation)
Cons: sometimes the philosophy isn't quite as clear as one would like

In this book, Albert Camus espouses his theories of existentialism in literary form, rather than through an essay. Like any good piece of philosophy espoused through fiction, you wouldn't know that you were getting a sermon unless you were actually...

Pros: Philosophical, insightful, a good read
Cons: Difficult to understand, stranger than fiction

I had the opportunity to read this book in college, in a philosophy class, so I had an chance to discuss it with other intellectuals.

Not really, I was in a class full of idiots.

Which is better than intellectuals, because they...

Pros: just simply brilliant and right to the point
Cons: 113 pages doesn't normaly pack so much punch

Within the criminal mind lies a centre of fascination for authors and readers alike. No matter how heinous the crime, we feel this innate need to familiarise ourselves with their lives in order to satisfy our curiousity. Albert Camus' "The...

Pros: Challenges Convention
Cons: None

"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"


The Stranger is short, sweet, and to...

Pros: style, tautness of prose, the idea
Cons: short, shocking, not to everyone's taste

Camus takes the clarity and significance of existentialism to new heights in 'The Stranger'. Compared with some of Sartre's rather flabby classics ('Nausea' for example) the narrative of 'The Stranger' is direct, uncompromising, and even shocking....

Pros: It effortlessly forces the reader to posit difficult questions
Cons: AAAAHHH! We're all condemned!

The Stranger was my first foray into the fiction of Camus, and I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly I moved through this 150-page novel. While the pacing and descriptive prose were beautiful beyond compare, I found that it was Camus’ profound...