At the start, Meursault receives a telegram that his mother has died at an old people's home outside Algiers. He travels there, sits by the coffin, and returns to a summer of beaches, swimming and a casual romance with Marie. Through his neighbor Raymond he becomes involved in a feud, and the heat of one afternoon leads him to commit murder. The remaining chapters follow his imprisonment, his trial, in which jurors fixate on his emotional coldness, and his final reflections as he waits for execution.
For anyone who wants to understand what Camus meant by the absurd, this is the best starting point. It is very short, with a calm voice that makes the story all the more disturbing.
Deep, inward-looking, contemplative, open-ended and thought-provoking; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Wisdom Collector. Which reader are you?
- Language
- PT
Quotes by Albert Camus
More →One must imagine Sisyphus happy.
The Myth of Sisyphus
The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.
The Rebel
In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.
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