The Stranger by Albert Camus
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
One of the few books I’ve read in the original French (as well as English) since while the writing is profound, the vocabulary is quite accessible.
My thoughts have changed (evolved?) over time. I once saw this as an indictment of modern society and the sense of isolation it engenders in the individual. Now I view it more as the price you pay when your behavior does not conform to what’s expected.
The narrator is on trial for murder. And the evidence the court brings against him centers mostly around his unorthodox behavior. He didn’t cry at his mother’s funeral. The next day he went on a date and watched a comedy at the cinema. Are these the actions of an innocent man? That is the question.
As Camus put it, “In our society any man who does not weep at his mother’s funeral runs the risk of being sentenced to death.”