The Outsider

This book by Albert Camus probably doesn't need much of an introduction. It's a shortish novel (or longish novella) that lays out, in narrative format, one of the most enduring and harrowing portraits of absurdity in the human life committed to paper. An enormous amount of literary and philosophical commentary on this book already exists, probably in far greater depth of critique and shade of nuanced understanding than I can be bothered to lay out in this mere blogpost, so true to the spirit of the book I'm not going to write a proper post about it at all (because truly, what is the point?) and instead am going to break all my own rules by giving you, in reverse order of their probable significance to the reading experience,* a curated selection of spoilers from the story.

• The main character, Meursault, shoots a man of Arab descent five times on a beach halfway through, partly because of a complicated situation in which a group of Arabs and Meursault and his friends (including Raymond, who owns a gun) have been threatening each other, and partly because it was a very hot sunny day.
• Marie, to whom Meursault gets engaged, wears an attractive hat when speaking as a witness in his trial.
• It's only when complaining to a prison guard about the unfairness of his confinement that Meursault comes to realise that he is being deprived of freedom as punishment. While in prison, he passes the time by reconstructing memories of his room at home.
• Meursault is condemned to be decapitated, and when finally visited by a priest, he is provoked into a rage and starts roughing him up.
• Meursault is not a friendly man, but he does happily accept an invitation from a man called Raymond Sintés to drink wine and eat black pudding together. This blossoms into a friendship in which he soon finds himself writing poetic letters on behalf of to a girlfriend whom Raymond is cheating on.
• Everyone smokes cigarettes, constantly.
• And apparently Celestés is the default go-to restaurant.
• Meursault's mum dies and this causes him a great deal of awkwardness when her friends and the staff of her care-home find it odd that he doesn't seem to care.
• Salamano, an elderly man with no friends or family and only a dog that he calls names and pulls around, becomes very sad when this dog runs away or dies.

   All this in mind, this novel is not one that can be spoiled by spoilers. Camus' writing style and the atmosphere he creates both in environment and in Meursault's mindset are deeply unsettling for their stark absurdity blended effortlessly with a levity, a sensuality, which makes the protagonist sympathetic at times (usually until he says something) - and this twists your perception of the whole thing, meaning however outrageous or alien Meursault may seem at times, ultimately the strangest character in the book is the world he lives in itself, which is basically the same as reality, and all kinds of micro-frustrations and sadnesses lie beneath both surfaces.

   Basically, worth reading. Also I realise that by the addition of this final paragraph-and-a-bit I have betrayed my own previously declared intentions for this post. So what?

* Which, because significance is a subjective and arbitrary element of reality merely tacked onto anything which the ones who perceive it wish or are compelled to deem significant for whatever reason, means in no particular order.