The Stranger by Albert Camus

This is a short and sweet novel written by the french author and philospher Albert Camus, and it was released in 1942. 

The book details a man's life in the wake of his mothers death, and leads up to his conviction for the murder of a man on a beach. 

I believe that everybody should give this book a try, because it is a short read that is not impeded by this short nature and shows many interesting insights into human nature. 

The philosphy within the book is based on a theme of Absurdism. Absurdism is a view on life that the universe is irrational and chaotic, and trying to find purpose and meaning is therefore, absurd. 

The actions of the main character are ruled by his physical feelings and comfort levels, rather than his emotional state. This alienates him from others within the book because from the outside his actions seem purely emotionless and that makes him a worse person in there eyes. During his trial, the prosecuter cites that he drank tea while sitting vigil for his passed mother, when he should have been to sad to think of doing such things. This confuses the narrator because his view is "I am thirsy, why not drink the tea?", which I found myself mentally head nodding too as I was reading. 

The whole trial sequence is very interesting because we are reading it from the inside and know the motives and thought process from inside of the man on trial. Looking at it from an outside perspecitive is rather hard, because of that clear connection that the inner monolauge has woven for you throughout the story. 

I also found the views to be very similar to my own so reading and listening to the comments of the others made me rather upset. It caused me too look differently at my own interactions with others and how they viewed some of my actions that were ruled similar to those of the main character of this book. I know saying my views are similar to that of a man that killed another can be alarming, but I say most people will draw a similarty between them and the main character upon reading. 

Philosphy is very interesting to look at, especially because many of the concepts were developed thousands of years to hundreds of year before and still hold up within the confines of changing society. This book is no excpetion, and whats even more interesting is it was written during the height of WWlII by an active member of a the resistance that was located in Paris. I believe many of the thoughts and feelings that Albert Camus was experiencing and witnessing seeped into the general atmosphere of the book. The themes of life and the world being so chaotic and it being impossible to find meaning in has a direct correlation to the absurd and chaotic nature that WWII has manifested as within France specifically.