The genius of the Camus comes out in the last 20 or so pages maybe even just the last three or four.

Fascinating. Much more philosophical than I had imagined. The translation does a nice job of keeping the prose simple and blunt, as it must be in order to match Camus' purpose as pertaining to complexity (or lack thereof). The whole idea is that by trying to be less complex, you're betraying your own purpose. Also, that lacking complexity is a moral failure - we must be complex if we are to be capable of making morally "correct" choices. Meursault is not complex, or denies his own complexity; thus, he is confused by the day's heat and sunshine (complexity) and commits murder because of it.

Camus' ability to make the reader both pity and despise the main character is quite stunning. Also, I couldn't help but laugh at the many stylistic references to some of the American greats - Fitzgerald, Faulkner, etc. who were later mocked by Hemingway for their almost stupid simplicity in observation (i.e. "I felt it was a hot day. And, in fact, it was). Hilarious.

Well, I didn't hate it. And that's more than I thought when I picked the book up.
I had read most of it in highschool and left it alone, disgusted. My friends and I used to joke about how it was the worst book ever.
I used to think that it was a book about nothing, and I still kind of think that.
I realize now that it's just about a sad unfortunate man. He's just living his life in his own way, and that's all he's used to. When he's put on trial for killing a man, he is unable to even feel remorse.
A strange book, but again, I didn't hate it.

I read this book in 2008 and it pretty much changed my life and certain viewpoints about the world we all inhabit. Camus is amazing at capturing emotion and yet the absence of emotion as well as the concept of absurdism and a life of observance without being pretentious about it.

Blurb:
Meursault leads an apparently unremarkable bachelor life in Algiers until he commits a random act of violence. His lack of emotion and failure to show remorse only serve to increase his guilt in the eyes of the law, and challenges the fundamental values of society a set of rules so binding that any person breaking them is condemned as an outsider. For Meursault, this is an insult to his reason and a betrayal of his hopes; for Camus it encapsulates the absurdity of life. In "The Outsider" (1942), his classic existentialist novel, Camus explores the predicament of the individual who refuses to pretend and is prepared to face the indifference of the universe, courageously and alone.

"Life is a series of mishaps." -Athos

"People ask for advice only in order not to follow it; or if they do follow it, in order to have someone to blame for giving it." -Athos

Dumas knows how to write a story. This one is filled with intrigue, romance, politics, friendship, loyalty and action.