The Stranger - Albert Camus BOOK REVIEW
Вставка
- Опубліковано 28 чер 2022
- Shop Real Carbon Fiber Accessories: www.SimplyCarbonFiber.com/BTF
Use “BTF10” for 10% OFF.
BUY BOOK HERE:
amzn.to/3y6TqOu
CAMUS DOCUMENTARY:
• Albert Camus: The Madn...
SUPPORT / PATREON:
/ booksarebetterthanfood
INSTAGRAM: @booksarebetterthanfood
/ booksarebetterthanfood
MUG:
www.zazzle.com/better_than_fo...
-----------------------
PATREON INFO:
For $5+ per video Patrons you'll receive (in addition to all below):
Entered in the Book & Coffee Jar
For $1+ per video Patrons you'll get access to:
Patron-Only Reviews
All Reviews Ad-Free
Discord Channel
Better Than Friday Newsletter (5 things I'm interested in sent to you every Friday)
-------------------------------
PATRON ONLY REVIEWS:
Hamlet: Poem Unlimited by Harold Bloom
/ 66203438
10 Books to Be Read 2022:
/ 63010254
Train Dreams by Denis Johnson
/ 60574022
The Necrophiliac by Gabrielle Wittkop - Halloween 2021
/ 58073911
Death in Midsummer by Yukio Mishima
/ 55759685
Holy the Firm by Annie Dillard
/ 53139833
The Key by Junichiro Tanizaki
/ 51134117
Platforms by Nina Power
/ 48914140
Consider This by Chuck Palahniuk
/ 45465524
Bookshelf Tour 2020:
Part 1: / 41287302
Part 2: / 42817306
Part 3: / 43783138
The Blind Owl by Sadegh Hedayat
/ 38823138
Margery Kempe by Robert Glück
/ 38645694
Transparent Things by Vladimir Nabokov
/ 37527267
The Lover by Marguerite Duras
/ 35574016
11 Books to be read in 2020:
/ 33921584
Atomic Habits by James Clear
/ 32697977
Too Loud a Solitude by Bohumil Hrabal
/ 30969884
The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene
/ 29515320
Reading is Expensive (A Rant)
/ 29065141
White by Bret Easton Ellis
/ 26771749
A Room on the Garden Side by Ernest Hemingway
/ 21573550
The Return by Roberto Bolaño
/ 21019229
Darkness Visible by William Styron
/ 20276630
"Blindness", an essay by Jorge Luis Borges
/ 19529985
The Alligators by John Updike
/ 18428537
The Diaries of Adam and Eve by Mark Twain
/ 17281418
Animal Crackers in My Soup by Charles Bukowski
/ 16924023
A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
/ 16133547
Video Sponsored by Simply Carbon Fiber. Check them out here: www.SimplyCarbonFiber.com/BTF
Use Code “BTF10” for 10% off your order
When you talk about films in that genre, immediately, I'm reminded of Truffaut's THR 400 BLOWS.
summer beach read. kind of fitting
DISCLAIMER: No arabs were harmed in the filming of this video.
The sun was in my eyes
@@SealSore65_ Cue The Cure song "Killing an Arab".
(Peace be upon everyone 💜)
This was the book that really got me reading at eighteen years old. This and The Old Man and the Sea, cannot remember which came first. So I read everything by Camus and took a course at university called Camus, where again I really read all of Camus. I've never returned to Camus in the last three decades but I've never left him either.
I am all just eighteen years old, what has reading brought to you?
@@jenesaisvraimentpasquoimet8473 The pleasure of seeing emerge from a human being a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts, while also relishing what at least to me seems to be the inevitability of its parts i.e., details. Order out of Chaos, and the vision that demonstrates that even Chaos is a kind of order.
@@jenesaisvraimentpasquoimet8473 the most important thing that reading will bring you is wisdom.
It's Amazing how we all have different tastes
Personally those two books I rate at the bottom end of books I've read... They are clearly written well and in the intended style, just not what I find enjoyable
@@kurolo7695 reading alone can give you knowledge...
Wisdom however is taking that knowledge learned and applying it in experience
Having all the book smarts/knowledge in the world does not make someone automatically wise.... Many times we do things we KNOW we shouldn't do, yet we do.... We had the knowledge but lacked the wisdom 🤣
Some people for example, me included, are not wise with our time and waste it reading books 😅😅 when there are wiser ways to use the time
When I tell people I subscribe to absurdism, they give me a confused look. Most of the time, they haven't heard of the concept. But then I'll reference media like Rick and Morty, Everything Everywhere All At Once, or even John Williams' Stoner (whose name, by the way, evokes Sisyphus' eternal task), and people begin to realize that this idea is already a popular one in our society, hiding in plain sight. As soon as I describe it to them in terms of Sisyphus smiling, they seem to have a light go off and they will tell me that they believe similar things, they just didn't have the vocabulary to express it. Camus wrote a book that propelled this philosophy, and I think it will come to define the existential state of the American psyche for decades to come. Truly a remarkable book.
I was able to appreciate this book for popularizing existentialism, but man I really did love everything everywhere all at once so much. Though I wonder if a person who has never been exposed to the ideas of absurdism or existentialism would be able to make much sense of that movie.
i recently read stoner, such a life bringing book
The Stranger is great, but The Plague and The Fall are even better. The Myth of Sisyphus is good, and so is The Rebel. I recommend Camus for every one.
The Myth of Sisyphus transcends the rest of his work, Caligula is the best to my taste, I agree about the Plague being better. I hadn’t heard of the Fall, thank you for that
I have only read the fall and the stranger, thanks for the recommendations
@@grixtraselespejo136The Fall is absolutely worth it. It is certainly the most interesting in the way it is set up, you'll understand what I mean by that when you read it. Though that can make it a little less easygoing of a read through, you get used to it, and to me it was even the most touching out of all of his novels
Also there is a book which is a collection of six short stories of him which is also great. If you guys haven't read it give it a try.
There is something extremely useful about accepting the uselessness of everything. With that reminder you can find calm.
I found this comment useful. Thanks.
Supposing everything is useless, which is not a fact by any stretch of the imagination. A better solution is finding contentment with your fate and whatever you have and making it meaningful.
I disagree that nothing useful can be taken from the book. The nature of how he approaches life is cathartic to anyone(probably most people) who deals with anxiety and constantly asks themselves what they should be doing, or if they're doing the "right" thing. This book gave me a deep sense of serenity and I will be attempting to emulate some portion of the carefree, live in the moment, it doesn't really matter mindset. In our chaotic modern world, with infinite choices and possibilities, this book has more value than ever.
In The Myth of Sisyphus, Camus answers the question in The Stranger - pushing the boulder up hill is the only meaning that matters.
I've been considering a re-read of this (after 20+ years). This must be my cue.
Did you do it
What a coincidence! Or not? I just started reading this book today an hour ago. Somehow very appropriate reading for the summer. Thanks for the review!! (As always)
I just finished it yesterday! :)
He said it
Incredible book. Incredible author. Biggest mistake for me was reading his work in my late teens before reading any optimistic based philosophical works so it was so powerful when I closed the last page I felt quite hollow. But this is a testament to his subtle, minimalist yet impactful writing style. So much more palatable french post modernist writers of the time.
Completely agree with you about it not telling the reader what they SHOULD or SHOULD NOT do, and in a way, there’s optimism in that in knowing that he knows it’s up to us and us alone to decide.
and it’s a style I’m still in love with.
Another author who died too soon and robbed us of more rich works.
This book is SO GOOD!! I loved this non-reactive character. I loved how different this book is. I found myself laughing at times and I found my self putting my hand over my mouth in shock before part 2! I loved the idea of it all does not matter and yet somethings do. I loved that life is life and we are sometimes left to chance. Great book! I never read anything like this before! 10/10!!!!
This book popped up in my life in AP English, 11th grade, 2006. I had just gotten back to school from a Bible camp I attended in Louisiana that concluded with me considering the atheist might be on to something. My 17 year old life in a rut, parents fighting, getting in trouble, girlfriend broke up with me, I was lost. Then there was Camus. Camus taught me how to live in the present, honestly, more than the Ram Dass ever could.
My whole perspective of life was changed after that book for better or worse.
Thanks Camus!
I’m gonna re read it for the first time since then, thanks for reviewing it!
Kamel Daoud, an Algerian writer and journalist, wrote the novel "The Mersault Investigation" (2013), which revolves around the family of the man killed in "The Stranger".
The book was translated into English, and I think it would be cool if you reviewed it, as a follow-up.
Also, you mentioned the Turkish film adaptation, but Luchino Visconti did one, too. It's from 1967, and it starred Marcello Mastroianni.
Daoud's book too is very good.
I loved this book. Although I love Camus and The Stranger, whose message still rings true to me, I always thought Camus was afflicted with what someone I once spoke with called the "colonialist blind-spot" and I cringe at the fact that he was a hypocritical apologist for French Colonialism despite the fact that he wrote The Stranger under very similar circumstances with the Nazi occupation of France.
I’m just finishing up the plague and going to start the stranger soon! The myth of Sisyphus is definitely a harder read but very well written. I recommend you check out Dostoyevsky’s Notes from underground shortbread and very well written.
Notes from underground is great. Especially the second part!
Cliff has read Notes from Underground already. His review is phenomenal
Momma’s little baby loves shortening, shortening. Momma's little baby loves shortening bread.
Camus to Dostoyevsky?
@@adasilva7784 Yep.
Dude I appreciate your reviews so much. They not only provide a meaning even simpler and easier to want to understand than most who recommend the novels on your channel, but they make me WANT to read these great works. It’s why I recommend you to everyone who is getting into reading (for the first time or again).
Thanks again, for always giving great recommendations. Keep it up. This is important shit
I read The Fall after you reviewed it years ago. Love that you posted this.
Loved the review, also loving the back to back uploads
Appreciate your thoughtful reflections on this work. Been wanting to pick this book up for a while.
I'm glad that you finally reviewed this book, which is one of my favorites. Excellent review. I also found common philosophy between Camus and Rilke.
It's so soooo cool you really hit the nail in the head with all the comparisons with other ouvres. One example: you mentioned Fellini and Mastroianni's acting. I'm saying this because it's not casual that you can find Luchino Visconti's version of 'The stranger' starring Marcello Mastroianni. This philosophical current of existentialism and absurdism took many different turns and forms in Europe during the 70s Cinema. I really suggest diving into these directors hidden gems to find more and more of this forgotten genre. Great video, I've started following you during 2020 when I was lost and now you've finally got to the book that 'saved' my mental health during that period. Thanks a lot!
Love your videos. I like the focus on classics, old books in general, and unique books. Very cool. I follow two channels that do more Fantasy, anime, and generally modern entertainment. I love classics and fantasy magic and so on. So this is a nice switch up.
That whole bit about whether or not Shakespeare felt like everything had already been done was great. My first video of yours but maybe my favorite style of any book reviewer I've listened to on youtube
Hey. I remember watching your review of Maldoror. I've since gone off that book by my third rereading of it, but I still enjoy The Stranger (or The Outsider as it was published here in the UK) and so am happy to watch your review of it.
The subtle "summer beach read" delivery in the intro of the video-👍.
This book will always hold a special place in my heart because it’s the first book I read all the way through in French!
Crime and punishment. What a monolith of a book. I really understand what u mean with comparing the two books. I acctually did the same at school, helped to grasp Crime and Punshment more. Really looking forward for your thoughts on it. I love it.
My favorite book review about this book. I love this book and it is almost impossible to tell others what it is about. Frigging fantastic job.
I had just bought a copy when you uploaded this. Guess it's finally time to read it.
This was the first of his I read , aged 16 after listening to The Cure’s “Killing an Arab” which is based on it.
I read The Stranger twice: once as a teenager (I was that kid) and then at 29. The difference was striking: as a teen I found the book terrifying and at 29 I found it very freeing. Considering re-reading it now, at 34, to see what I'm going to feel.
I've also read it twice. With anything I read twice (with a span of some years), my response was always different. I'm a literature graduate and having read his The Plague as well, I think he's rather overrated but not as overrated as Kafka. A lof of people's opinions of literature are colored today by popularity, the media or the hype, without having a proper understanding and appreciation of literary quality and merit.
@@graybow2255 It's almost like different people have different tastes or something 🤔 That being said, I think 80 years of universal praise from people with significantly greater literary bona fides than a graduate student ought to count as a point in favor of him not being overrated.
@@eric3483 I was going to write a long comment but I've dropped the idea since your criterion is simply "universal praise" while I specified literary quality and merit.
@@graybow2255 Actually, my criteria is universal praise from people with significantly more literary merit and a better understanding of literary quality than either you or I have.
You're obviously entitled to your opinion-I don't begrudge you that for a second. But don't use your graduate education as something to hold over all the plebians who have taste based on "popularity, the media or the hype" instead of your more distinguished taste based on true merit or whatever you think your opinions are based on.
@@eric3483 I mentioned my education only to support my opinion. I come from a humble background and English isn't my mother tongue. I don't care what people read, neither do I need universal praise to convince me of reading a certain book. I can distinguish between the gold and the dross. I think you missed the point I implied. What's worth reading doesn't depend solely on popularity or reviews. Rubbish of different kinds is flooding the market nowadays, while a lot of gems lie hidden or neglected by the spotlight. You need to look into the ways that make a book, or any product for that matter, popular. Besides, I didn't say the novel isn't good, only that it's rather overrated. Camus' popularity has more to do with winning the Nobel Prize, being a post-WWII French intellectual and dying young from an accident, than with literary merit. The media play an important role in shaping people's ideas and opinions, esp. of the things that they haven't experienced directly.
I randomly picked this book up at school to write a literary analysis and it’s been my favorite since. I hated reading before this book because every book I was assigned in class or saw in stores was boring and superficial. Then I discovered a new world of literature.
What other books do you recommend like this one?
nausea did it for me- the stranger i read first and enjoyed but nausea did what the stranger did for you. or it did more- i felt i was the main character of nausea it was a trip
Jean-Paul Sartré is a whole different kettle of fish
I have 36 books in my online shopping list thanks to this channel.....now 37.... Thanks for making me spend money cliff.... Jokes aside thank you so much for all of the reviews, your content and speaking skills are second to none. Phenomenal.
Go for used books if you can. It’s the same text for a fraction of the price ;)
@@gravymuztache8108 oh absolutely, I'm just running out of space in my house to hahaha
You elaborated so well. Thank you!
My first reference to this book was the series Skins, Tony was talking to some college councilor. Checked it out from my college library, didn't have much impact, but years later, here I am. How I ended up here, I have no clue, and the book has led me to some feeling of peace with it.
Finally, been waiting for this one for a long time.
I read this a while ago, you published it a while ago, but YT suggested me to watch this now and I am always up for watching a good review of my favorite book. Agree with everything you said, I feel the same! Even the Buddhism vibe, I was surprised when you mentioned, but I felt the same, I found it so Buddhist :) And the poetic language, I was savoring every word, every sentence, Even in the English translation it is superb, I envy people who can read the original. Great book from all perspectives!
LOVE the editing on this one. Get that coffee!
Amazing video Cliff. Love this
I read this in honors english class my senior year in HS. Loved it. Just loved it.
Amazing book and thanks for the review. There’s an interesting ‘sequel’ called the Mersault Investigation by Kamel Daoud looking at the story from the perspective of the victim that I’ve been meaning to read.
Ive seen this book come up a bunch of times on my current travels...maybe I should get it...thanks for the review
This was one of my favorite books in high school and I actually got the quote on the thumbnail in a tattoo on my thigh lol. Haven't read it in over a decade though; gonna have to give it another read.
Camus acknowledged 'The Postman Always Rings Twice' by James M. Cain as the model for 'The Stranger'.
Great post, review, and commentary.
Finally! A book I’ve read before your review!
You’re right, this book is not for everyone. I was really pushing myself to read the first half, it was hard to identify with the main character, but that’s not really what reading is about. However, when the murder occurred I was spell bound. Camus did a fantastic job leaving the right amounts of information in the first half that we feel the apprehension and impeding doom that the main character isn’t able to. He also read to me as a psychopath; unempathetic in a matter-of-fact way, not a “I wanna warm myself by the fire as the world burns” way.
I wanted to shake everybody in the second half of the book and say, “it’s not as bad as you think, it just looks bad”.
Great, good, fine review, really enjoyed it. Thanks
This book is great and was my introduction to existentialist and absurdist philosophy as a teenager. I remember discovering it at the school library under the Penguin’s Everyman classics. I’ve revisited it over the years, and will again. The Plague and Myth of Sisyphus and great books too.
good to see you getting some sun. and yes, camus is classic.
I read The Stranger so long ago. I'm surprised by how much I don't remember. But your review made me want to revisit his work. Thanks!
What a wonderful review of a great book.
Best review on The Stranger on youtube! :)
Would love to see a review of W.G. Sebald!
Your channel has pointed me to so many great books that I otherwise would likely never have found, thanks for that!
I'd love to see you review Camus' 'A Happy Death'. It was somewhat of a precursor to The Stranger that I found had a bit more dimension to it, albeit lacking that real directness of The Stranger.
The Outsider, L'Etranger, The Stranger... it's one of the best novels I have ever read. Crime and Punishment, too. Wahoo.
One of may fav books.. Read it twice... And I will read it over and over again. Because everytime I read it,is as if it was different book.
BRILLIANT. Thank you
this book sounds like a suspended chord. not happy, not sad, just an open, vast feeling of "mmm"
ja feel?
That’s an apt analogy. Well said.
@@estebanb7166 ty
it is my favorite book. thanks for sharing your thoughts.
One of the best books i've ever read. Transformative.
Such a great book! Still timely. When I read it last year, I happened to follow it with Convenience Store Woman, and then Earthling by Sayaka Murata and was struck how similar I found their themes to be, despite being written in different centuries and author’s country of origin.
Although I've read it twice, I wouldn't consider it really great (in the sense of great or classic literature). I'm currently reading The Setting Sun by Osamu Dazai.
I read those two books after one another by chance…. So similar
I knew I wasn't the only one who found the stranger and crime and punishment similar in so many ways, and there's definitely some inspiration taken from the latter
its such a great perspective of looking at it by relating it to Dostoevsky's crime and punishmeny😍 you have made me think about it all over again
My google name might give it away, but I’m a huge fan of Camus and this book began my love of literature, and I went on to teach this book for many years. I remember stealing library copies to give to friends when I was a poor student…
When me and my parents were moving to our new house I found an inscription of a quote on the wall of one the rooms, supposedly by one of the family members of the previous owner. He's Iranian, and my dad, who studied religion and Islam as a student, as well as being a photojournalist in the middle east for a good portion of his young adult life, thought it could be a quote from Rumi. However I was finishing reading The Outsider at the time and I eventually came to the passage: "I laid my heart open to the benign indifference of the universe...I'd been happy then and was happy still".
Coincidences can be funny sometimes
I absolutely adore this book
It was the only book to leave me completely speechless, and I am never speechless.
Mastroianni played Mersault, opposite Anna Karina, in the film directed by Visconti. Also, I’m surprised you didn’t mention ‘A Happy Death’ - written before ‘The Stranger’ but not published. It’s the same book, but the latter one was edited down.
i’m a sucker for The stranger. I even ordered one in russian and another one the same as yours in english. also, i have read everything (most popular) of what Camus has wrote. i love your videos. it’s like talking with close friend, but none of my friends like books, so it’s like having a close friend, who likes books as much as i do and talking with him.
also, i wish you could read Autobiography of red by Anne Carson and we could ‘talk’ about it here, on your channel. It’s one of my fav recently.
I saw your On The Road video it feels so different from what I usually read. My main genre is science fiction but Jack Kerouac feels like a huge adventurer who does his own thing. I’ll look out for it (Amazon, Barnes and Noble).
The audiobook read by Ethan Hawke is fantastic. I’d also recommend Dharma Bums and Big Sur.
indeed a masterpiece , love it
Referencing 7:00, while reading the book I had the feeling that Meursault was showing signs of autism, rather than being a psychopath. He gets bothered heavily by physical influences, sunlight, heat, etc. while having trouble to convey his thoughts and feelings to others. I've read a few reviews of people on the autism spectrum and quite a few seem to have found a fitting description of their own feelings and experiences in the book. While you could also argue that Meursaults peculiarities are simply due to the absurdist disconnect from norms I believe both interpretations share a lot of space.
@@lepidoptera9337 I don't know. Autistic people can certainly still be charming, which Mersault is to his girlfriend. But he also has problems interacting with her emotionally in quite the autistic way. Being "empty" in the sense that you don't feel and act like others in society can stem from both interpretations.
@@lepidoptera9337 Meursault was based on a Camus close friend Galindo. Most people on the Asperger spectrum wouldn't have been classified as mentally ill in that time, but rather go unnoticed as a bit unusual. Galindo did show behavior similar to those on the spectrum. (And people on the spectrum definitely don't have to struggle finding sexual partners)
Like many others in these comments, this was THE book that hooked me on literature as a young adult. I've read it several times since, and I think I am becoming more appreciative of it everyday. More recently, I have begun to appreciate that the 'protagonist' of the novel is arguably the people around Meursault (the Court, the old mourners, his friends etc.) - not really Meursault himself. The plot seems to really be about their response to his 'indifference' (like the indifference of the world explored in The Myth of Sisyphus), i.e., their continual attempts to impose meaning on his otherwise meaningless actions. One of the subtler brilliant devices is the victim of the crime, an otherwise 'meaningless' individual (in colonial French society), who's life is suddenly given meaning because there is no other comfortable explanation for Meursault's actions. It's semi-ironic maybe? The not crying for his mother thing is a close second in my opinion, followed by the Priest's attempt to convert an 'indifferent' being to Christianity (a coherent explanation of existnece) - a brilliant take on religion's place in human affairs I think.
In a way I think there maybe is something useful to take from the character.
By not being stuck in his mind anxieties about the past or future (for the most part) he lives in the moment and is, what seems like, satiated.
He takes it too far, but that is one lesson I have taken from this book.
I read this in french (my 2nd language) and Im so glad that I interpreted the novel similarly, glad I didnt miss anything
He's not a psychopath. Morally banal to the world around him. Without an opinion on much. Like many everywhere today You should check out the Mersault Investigation by Kamel Daoud, a retelling of the Stranger from the Arab point of view.
I always feel like this book should be read in the scorching sun.
The part that made out Mersault to be a spooky, almost non-human thinker to me was when he faked the apology/love letter. This was cruel, required some insight into a person's emotions and thought processes, and was done to help out a dumb and spiteful man that he just decided was his friend because it was the path of least resistance. And he didn't do it for amusement. He just automatically printed those words out on the page while drunk like some kind of chatGPT, again because it was the path of least resistance. A truly wacky level of apathy on display.
One of those books that I didn't want to end.
I read it for my English class and I quite like it
good job mate
Really loved this book, not a fan of Camus’ other works but this is a stand out
15:35 i think you’re spot on when you compared this to La Jetèe by Chris marker. That is exactly what first came to my mind as I was reading The stranger
The Dostoevsky connection as well.
A book that seems to have been a strange anticipation of this novel is The Seven Madmen (Los Siete Locos) by Roberto Arlt from 1929. I am unsure of the translation history of this outsize bizarro Argentinian romp but when I read it years after The Stranger it felt like Camus had cribbed a subplot for the central idea of his own book. Again, unsure if this is possible, but Arlt is excellent and The Seven Madmen a (dare I say) better and zanier approach to all of the questions Camus raises.
If it wasn’t for The Cure’s Killing An Arab i would have never read this book but I’m glad I did.
I’ve read The Plague and loved it. Which should be my next Camus book?
In your last video you talked about great Goodreads reviewers, can you recommend some of them?
I just finished The Stranger. I have a hankering to reread W Somerset Maugham’s The Razor’s Edge and compare Larry and Meursault.
Now you should read the Meursault investigation by Kamel Daoud. It will give you the second part of the story. The part which no one talks about. The book is told by the brother of the Arab who's been killed.
i think this will be one of your most popular videos
Great review. Perhaps you could, in that context, review the film Séraphine.
Good video. I appreciate your perspective. I definitely got psychopath vibes from him the entire book but not of malice as you said. More indifferent. Which can be just as dangerous.
Weird book but I enjoyed it. It all kinda clicked for me in the end.
The first time I read The Stranger, I was only 13, and, needless to say, it made a big impression on me. It changed the way I looked at life and literature. I would recommend this novel to young people, although perhaps not as young as I was when I read it. I have re-read it a few times since then and I continue to love it. It is one of my favorite novels. Camus's writing is so clear and to the point, without any stylistic flourishes, that I would even recommend people who have studied French to try and read it in the original language.
Oddly enough I would only recommend this to someone more mature, as if you are too young you may not receive the point in a constructive way. It feels a bit too dangerous for someone too young.
@@American092GPF I disagree. Reading a book like The Stranger, even at 13, could have more meaning than reading something like Steven King or any of the more commercial pablum like that.
I read it at 15, but at that age I was also reading Steinbeck and Faulkner and Joyce, among others. (Though I also read some trash like the James Bond novels of the time.)
Thanks!
Thank you very much for your kind support Cristian!
The only book I read that when I was finished . . . I started reading it again. That Camus received the Nobel Prize for The Stranger certifies just how good it is. The entire book was honest and profound without appearing to be. Simple and thought provoking at the same time. I cannot imagine anyone NOT enjoying it, but if they didn't they would NOT be worth KNOWING.
(( Question to anyone::: Who or what does the Robot Woman signify in the story ???? ))
Sarte put it best:
"The conclusions which he ( Camus ) draws are those of classical pessimism...the ABSURD springs from man's relation to the world, of his legitimate aspirations to the vanity and the futility of humans wishes."
Great review. But more importantly, where’d you get that shirt? Looks clean as hell!
Quick Sartre recommendation as someone who couldn't get through Nausea because it was boring and thought Existentialism is a Humanism is very flawed and shouldn't have been published: The Wall. It's a short collection of short stories, and it's awesome. Existential and fun.
Just finished reading The Stranger earlier today. And spent the last two times I went to the beach reading it haha. Absolutely loved it. Though, the last chapter (specifically the last few pages) didn't hit as hard as the rest. I felt like the conclusions Mersault came to were a bit rushed/unconvincing. But everyone I know that has read it has said that the ending was their favorite part, so I'm assuming that on a reread it will grow on me further. Honestly, feeling a bit dumb for the ending not resonating with me much... Like I need to analyze more. But either way, this is instantly one of my favorite books. Loved it from the beginning, and I couldn't tell if it just kept getting better, or if it was just consistently great.
I wanna read this book so bad!
Brilliant discussion of the book ! ❤️✨
I'm not a frequent watcher of your videos. If you are interested try doing collab videos of discussing books with other UA-camrs like RC Waldon or any ppl. That will be very exciting for me.
That may also bring out more interesting perspectives of a book.
Also thanks for the movies and song recommendations.