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| The Outsider (Penguin Modern Classics) | 
 enlarge | Author: Albert Camus
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Category: Book
List Price: £5.99
Buy Used: £2.68
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New (28) from £3.64
Avg. Customer Rating:  56 reviews
Sales Rank: 4174
Media: Paperback
Edition: New edition
Pages: 128
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5 x 0.4
ISBN: 0141182504
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780141182506
ASIN: 0141182504
Publication Date: February 24, 2000
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Great literature, contentious philosophy December 13, 2006
11 out of 16 found this review helpful
The Outsider's great achievement is that it presents a narrative in which all conventional rationality is stripped away - do that to a Tolstoy novel and you would be left with nothing. Classic novels (as we usually think of them) present a range of characters with transparent, reasoned explanations for their actions. Yes, characters have "emotions", but such emotions are weighed up and acted upon in a rational way. With The Outsider, Camus rejects all of this to explore a new branch of literature. He argues: when you ignore the charade of "rationality," subjective, non-rational motives remain as powerful forces. Meursault's story is driven solely by these forces.
Camus is challenging us: Look, here's a story that makes sense despite the absence of all the factors that motivate characters in classic novels. The things people really think cannot all be put into neat, rationalised paragraphs, bounded by quotation marks, as in a Tolstoy novel. Camus asks us: "Is this you?" The story pushes at the boundaries of plausibility so as to challenge us to examine ourselves.
The Outsider asks big questions but does not give any reasonable, normative answers. It's not in any sense a philosophical text or an introduction to philosophy. Though I'm sure many readers are inspired enough to go and speed-read Nietzsche, this probably won't yield a very big net increase in your understanding of the world. Philosophy is a scary subject and most people never realise that it is based, above all else, on common sense. A book that sometimes leads readers to the conclusion that "therefore murder is okay" defies common sense (it defies mine anyway) and so, no matter how cool it is, it should be thought of as dubious.
Take it as a novel, a bold experiment and a triumph. It's a masterpiece, but that doesn't mean you have to completely buy into Camus's absurdism.
 The Observer April 6, 2006
24 out of 45 found this review helpful
This is one of the most thought-provoking books I have read. And in the 20 years since I was 16, have read it 4 times.The first time, I was impressionable enough to think it was explaining to me how I should view the world. Life-Changing? Yes ... but I was in my formative years. The second time, I was a only little older and thought that it begged more questions than it gave answers to. Insightful? Possibly ... if you're ready to read between the lines. The third time, I had just become a father, and was disappointed that my favourite literary character could not share my optimism with the world. Philosophical? Absolutely ... but it's a bleak philosophy. Last year I read it again. The prose is concise, compelling and evocative. The plot is blunt and unconvincing. The protagonist is enigmatic, but ultimately shallow & foolish. Patrice Meursault is Generation X, 50 years too soon. Read it, Read the afterword, Be inspired, But don't believe the hype. It's a thin book with little to teach you really.
critical apprasial April 5, 2006
6 out of 19 found this review helpful
camus has done a good job. mersault led his life by his own principles,irrespective of so called social , moral and religious ethics harmonising our society. being referred to as an outsider,he is considered to be unfit t0 live with the fellow citizens of his nation.it is the insecurity of the government thats leads to take a serious action aganist the carefree attitude of mersault.
All the world's a stage February 17, 2006
7 out of 9 found this review helpful
Since Nietzsche announced the death of God, few novels have expressed the absurdity of the continuing life of faith in morality and moral responsibility as this compact little novel. Meursault is the ultimate enemy of society, from the opening chapter where he fails to hide the indifference he feels at the death of his mother, to the last pages where he faces execution at the hands of the judiciary, knowing that society cannot force him to play a game that he has had the courage to recognise as absurd.
 Short But Sweet November 21, 2005
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Camuses book 'The Outsider' follows in a very vivid and simple style the life of Meursault, whilst wearing the spectacles of a society 63 years previous the book has as much significance today as it did then. Just over 100 pages of carefully crafting western society and the morals and laws that underpin everybodies lives...the legal constraints the tabloid lines taken through the eyes of one man...whether protagonist or hero young Meursault is still an 'open verdict' today. Recommended reading.
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