The Outsider by Albert Camus

(book review)

I was in a bookstore the other day looking for reading material for a trip, and noticed this book. And I thought to myself I had never read any Camus and was always curious to see if I could make any sense of him, so I decided to take the challenge and bought the book.

Like a lot of people, I have put off reading Camus because I get intimidated by words like "existentialist philosophy". But the good news is that the story in this book is very simple and easy to follow. I struggled through Joyce and Faulkner, but this simple story was a pleasure to read that took little intellectual effort to understand.

I'm talking about the narrative only you understand. I'm sure there were a lot of philosophical subtleties that went right over my head, and I'm going to look at the cliffnotes someday and think to myself, "I had no idea that was the point of the book. I'm so dense."

And yet I think I was able to catch some of the more obvious symbolism, and even follow the philosophical parts of the book that were spelled out for me (the anti-death penalty parts, and the parts about believing in God).

At any rate, it was a short little book (120 pages in my edition). I read the whole thing in two days and even enjoyed the story a little bit. I can't vouch for the rest of the Camus cannon, but if you've been avoiding this book because you think it will be a struggle there is no need to fear.

Link of the Day
How the Bush Administration's Iraqi Oil Grab Went Awry: Greenspan's Oil Claim in Context

The Outsider by Albert Camus: Book Review (Scripted)