Customer Reviews
Brilliant! - By: Hamdia M. Shareef, 24 Nov 2007 
Book arrived 3 days late but was well worth the wait. Is an amazing book, highly reccomend!
The Outsider is a good book - By: , 29 Apr 2004 Meursault is my umost hero because he operates entirely according to hisown considerations. Most discussions of the book on the internet areawful. Meursault is not indifferent to the conventions of his society,and he has certainly made no choice to reject them. He is an impossiblecharacter, the perfect existential consciousness if you like. Theopinions, standards or ideas of anyone but himself are irrelevant to him. He has not reached this position through any thought process: he simplyhappens to be the epitome of philosophical egoism, individualism, moralrelativism. He cannot in fact be a creation in real human society. It ismeaningless to approve or disapprove of him because he is firstlyimpossible in reality, & secondly has not made himself the way he is. He is heroic because he is utterly himself, an unattainable transcendentperfection for anybody who wants to live by their own personal judgements. Analysis of the role of the sun is also poor: the ascent & power of thesun destroy the shadows which everything 'other' casts on Meursault, thatis the impositions of the world on his individualism. When Meursaultshoots, he is overcome only by the dazzling absurdity & meaninglessnessof existence & consciousness, which can be seen if alll outsideimpositions are wiped out. PS read Crime And Punishment to seeRaskolnikoff try to reach Meursault-esque individualist morality: & whathappens to someone who does this.
Didn't enjoy it at all - By: Fiona Wynn, 26 May 2003 
It could be the fact that I was forced to read it for A Level French, but I reallly disliked this book! I found it had no real story line, there was next to no characterisation, & you didn't feel anything for the main character, Mersault. It seemed to simply be someone moaning about their life, while not being prepared to do anything about it. Mersault is very antagonistic, not willing to make any effort to get along with people, & he was impossible to relate to.
All in alll, I'd recommend giving this book a wide berth!
C'est le livre le plus magnifique que j'ai jamais lu - By: , 11 Aug 1999 Meursault est un homme tres irrationel, il n'aime pas conformer avec les regles de notre societe. Peut-etre comme Albert Camus lui-meme. Le roman commence a se trouver en Algerie et Meursault est venu de perdre sa mere. Il decrivait l'enterrement mais on ne trouve aucunes emotiones. Bien que tout n'aille pas bien pour M. Meursault, le directeur de l'asile soupconnait que Meursault n'a pas de problemes avec la morte de sa mere. Il n'a pas pleure a l'enterrement mais puis il ne disait rien. Meursault retourne chez lui et il fait connaitre des amis: Raymond et sa nana Marie. On lit des petits aventures de Meursault et sa maniere de vivre, et plus important sa vue de notre societe. Camus a dit que << Meursault est peut-etre le seulement Jesus Christ qu'on merite>> et je pense que vous devez trouver pourquoi il a dit ca. J'ai lu ce roman plus que trente fois je veux le lire encore
The opening sentence that grabbed my attention!! - By: , 09 Aug 1999 I am yet to find an Engllish translation of L'Etranger which does full justice to both Camus & L'Etranger. I have read this book several times in both English & French & I still find the original french version to be much more hard hitting. Any author who can grab the reader's attention from the very first sentence through to the last word deserves respect & acknowledgement. Camus manages this spectacularly - making the reader & society feel on the outside.
The novel focuses on Meursault, a man who kills an Arab 'a cause du soleil'. Meursault is then condemned, not for the murder of the Arab, but for his lack of belief in God, not crying at his mother's funeral & for telling the truth in a country & period of time where it would have been possible for him to lie & escape without punishment. It also examines the values of society during this time.
Contrary to my fellow students last year, I found this novel to be optomisitic - Meursault lived his life the way he wanted. I only found pessimism when Meursault was taken away from the things he loved - the sun, the beach & the sky.
Try to read this in French, if you can. I still feel so much of the meaning & feeling is lost in the translation - but just read it anyway!!!!!!
