The Stranger by Albert Camus

The Stranger by Albert Camus
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I didn't really get from this what I read I'm supposed to get from it. I liked the story mostly because I find the protagonist captivating like he's stuck in a dream, and because the author narrates an interesting perspective. But there's an underlying issue with the protagonist that seems not directly related to existentialism. Is he depressed because his mother died? Is he fundamentally a sociopath that until now has been functional and productive? I could imagine a main character who professes to be Christian acting in much the same way. Whether or not it matters in the long run, many humans would still personally suffer from harming another thanks to empathy and sympathy. And when he's confronted by death, the main character seems to reject whatever previous apathy he suffered from which seems to somewhat run contrary to existentialism, even though he doesn't reject his atheism.

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