The Stranger

Rating

6/10 I think I see why it’s deemed a classic, but it didn’t particularly tickle my pickle :) Still though, not a bad short story with a very weird beginning and a surprisingly philosophical end. If you honestly don’t think the main character is a proper weirdo from the start, than you are a weirdo as well. Happy reading!

Synopsis

Being suddenly confronted by a death of his mother, Meursault is rather unmoved and seems more bothered than sad. This disposition is the focus of the entire first half of the book that describes Meursault’s view on life. One can summarize it as pragmatic and unhinged. Living in the moment, but having no emotion or opinions, just being.
This narrative flips 180 degrees when by a string of bad events, he finds himself in a fight between two men. To everyone’s surprise, the fight ends up with Meursault killing one of them by 4 shots from a gun. The rest of the story is a reflection on freedom, life, and death as Meursault is tried, jailed, and eventually sentenced to death.

Notes

1st half gives you no indication about what’s going to happen. Honestly, I felt like the main character was just autistic :)

I think it’s deemed a classic for two reasons:
(i) it’s written in a peculiar style that’s persistent, unique, and kind of intriguing once you get into it (ii) it follows a story of a peculiar man that suddenly turns philosophical and makes the reader think about the value of freedom and life. As it was published during the Second World War, the narrative probably resonated with the general mood of the public, and so it stuck with everyone for a while