The Stranger by Albert Camus
1989
Weight: 6 oz
Method of Disposal: Donating
I reread The Stranger before donating it and am now reading The Plague, which feels quite pertinent these days.
The main character in The Stranger is not believable or even all that likeable, but he is representative of an existentialist belief about life and as a tool to show how others interpret and see what they are looking to see in someone. He is not believable because existentialism is not believable. Can we care about a character whose life has no meaning? He is so many things to so many people, but he hardly has an opinion himself except about his mortality and, even that, he lets go quickly.
I read this in English. If my French were not so rusty, I would love to read it untranslated. Regardless, I always enjoy Camus. His books read quickly, but they linger a long time.
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