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Writer : Albert Camus
First Published in 1942
language : France (origin), English
“One always has exaggerated ideas about what one doesn’t know”
Excerpt From: Camus, Albert. “The Stranger.”
The Stranger is one of the 100 Greatest books all the time along with Great Gatsby, the Catcher in the Rye, and Great Expectation.
It is first person perspective novel that narrated by Meursault, an Algerian that domiciled in France.
The story is divided into two part, first part which told about the death of Mersault's mother, and second part is about the story after Mersault kill people.
At his mother funeral, Mersault's act expresses none of emotions of grief. He's like didn't feel lost at all, moreover being ignorant. He also refuses to see his mother body. His attitude makes his mother's friends wondering and mad. Before passed, his mother seems lived in a nursing home and Mersault barely visited her.
After attended his mother funeral, Mersault go back to his hometown and encounter his girlfriend, Marie. Marie seems fallin in love with him, but Mersault didn't feel anything. But both enjoy being together. Even to Marie, Mersault told his mother death casually, and express none of grieving
Mersault has neighbours namely Raymond and Salamano. Salamano is an old man who enjoy beating his nut dog but later when he losts his dog, he is feeling so lost. He thinks his life never be the same again.
Raymond is like a foil character of Mersault. One day, Mersault saw Raymond beating his mistress, but he didn't do anything. Later Raymond ask Mersault to set a trap to humiliate Raymond's mistress, and he is didn't mind.
That accident made Raymond being tailed with two mens, and one of them is an Arab. Raymond is being paranoid, he bring a gun and ready to kill them if they get closing in. Mersault calming his down, and ask Raymond to handed the gun to him. Mersault keeps the gun and when accidently he encounter the Arab, he is shot him 4 times.
Part two of this novel will lead to the story of Mersault's day in prison. How his vision changed after being trapped in jail, and how annoying the days when he keeps asked by the prosecutor, his lawyer and the juries.
At first, I was boring to death reading this novel. Mersault has no emotions, his mind keep stabile, and how he describe things are so descriptive. But somehow, I know this novel is very twisted. Until the last page, I still guessing what is really wrong with Mersault character.
I was pretty sure that something happened in his childhood so thats make him so less emotions. Mersault is not bad or evil. He is good and smart. When Salamano sad because of his lost dog, Mersault try to cheer him even not in a warm way. But it is just casuality, Mersault get bored right after Salamano talks too much about his dog.
When Marie asked him to marry her, Mersault seems didn't mind.
“Marie came that evening and asked me if I’d marry her. I said I didn’t mind; if she was keen on it, we’d get married.
Then she asked me again if I loved her. I replied, much as before, that her question meant nothing or next to nothing—but I supposed I didn’t.
“Suppose another girl had asked you to marry her—I mean, a girl you liked in the same way as you like me—would you have said ‘Yes’ to her, too?”
“Naturally.”
Well, from that conversation showed how Mersault character is.
What is really good about this novel, beside its well descriptive language, also how strong character Mersault is. The plot is unpredictable, and the ending? God! It is twisted.
This novel also required the reader to be smart, some paragraphs are not very explicit, we just need to inferred it.
Overall, hold your boredom and read it till the end. Page after page, I guaranteed you won't able to stop to see how it ends.
This novel itself considered as existentialism philosophy. The Character of Mersault is very famaous and oftenly mentioned in some of popular movie that refer to emotionless character of Mersault. Very suspense!
“Mother used to say that however miserable one is, there’s always something to be thankful for.”
Excerpt From: Camus, Albert. “The Stranger.”
If you want to download e-book version of the Stranger by Albert Camus, you can get it here!
You might like these books:
The Perks of being Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Less than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis
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