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3.48 AVERAGE
3.48 AVERAGE
I loved and didn't love this book. I loved the language, the imagery, the idea. But it was tedious to read. I loved some passages: "Arab. I never felt Arab, you know. Arab-ness is like Negro-ness, which only exists in the white man's mind." and This God--I like traveling in his direction, on foot, if necessary, but I don't want to take an organized trip." and the very much highlighted, "despite the absurdity of my condition, which consisted in pushing a corpse to the top of a hill before it rolled back down, endlessly." Beautiful, deep, insightful, with the last being an excellent summation of the main character's entire existence. But there was so much repetitiveness, I found myself just reading to get done with it.
I would read Kamel Daoud's next work, as I do like his writing, and maybe he was somewhat constrained here by his own premise of addressing the other side of the equation set forth in The Stranger.
I would read Kamel Daoud's next work, as I do like his writing, and maybe he was somewhat constrained here by his own premise of addressing the other side of the equation set forth in The Stranger.
I organically read this book for a club I was a part of back in the day and didn’t finish it. The story was difficult to get into because I hadn’t yet read The Stranger. But now that I have read the story of the murder, I found it difficult to put this book down. For me, it was such a creative idea to write a story from the perspective of the victims’ family. The author wove a great critique of the first book in with the narrative. He really captured the grief and chaos that come with the loss of a family member, but also layered in how that plays out in the context of the Algerian culture. If you’re going to read this, I would definitely start with The Stranger for more background.
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
"Mama’s still alive today, but what’s the point?"
Ever had second thoughts about picking a book reading few initial chapters and let it overwhelm, astound and swallow you completely in the end? Well, my first time.
I think this is a powerful literature considered an anti thesis, response or a companion to Albert Camus' The Stranger. Written in the narration style heavily resembling 'The Fall', the narrator Harun, the brother of Musa, the arab who was murdered by Meursault, goes on rambling and complaining about the ways in which his dead brother's identity and dignity had been put into jeopardy, which in turn affects his family and the narrator's life in ways and turn of events happening around him.
"Who knows whether Musa had a gun, a philosophy, or a sunstroke?"
Initially I thought it'd be more of the Arab's family cultural perspective yet more I continued reading, this parallel going between Meursault and Harun is well rooted with elements of cultural identity, oppression, nationality, liberation wars from imperialism, love, absurdity, contemporary political order in their society, religion and many more.
"Why the court preferred judging a man who didn’t weep over his mother’s death to judging a man who killed an Arab."
Harun refutes Meursault but in time I realised more similarities by the way both their journeys unravel. I realised Harun becomes Meursault in his own tale and by refuting Meursault, I get the feeling, he refutes himself.
There are many passages that I have highlighted that felt connected and relatable. I have added a few for love of the same.
"I think something immense, something infinite is required to balance out our human condition. I love Oran at night, despite the proliferation of rats and of all these dirty, unhealthy buildings that are constantly getting repainted; at this hour, it seems that people are entitled to something more than their routine."
"All things considered, my life has been more tragic than your hero’s. I’ve interpreted all those roles in turn."
"I killed a man, and since then, life is no longer sacred in my eyes. After what I did, the body of every woman I met quickly lost its sensuality, its possibility of giving me an illusion of the absolute."
"Indeed, my dear friend, the only verse in the Koran that resonates with me is this: 'If you kill a single person, it is as if you have killed the whole of mankind.”
"He seemed so sure of himself, didn’t he? And yet none of his certainties was worth one hair on the head of the woman I loved."
Honestly, I have not read Camus' "The Stranger", thus I think I have missed a lot of this book's potential. However, I did enjoy the book, personally I appreciate that you can really feel the emotion that the character is feeling in the way the author writes and that is very much the case here. The anger, boredom, defeat, and irritation are tangible.
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book is a perfect companion to Albert Camus’ The Stranger. It’s very heavily inspired by its syntax and narrative structure, while often quoting directly from Camus’ text, but it works as a standalone piece of literature. It addresses the largest shortcoming of The Stranger, that being its blatant positioning of the murdered “Arab” as unimportant. Daoud takes the unnamed “Arab,” gives him a name and a family, and uses that simple creation to critique pre and postcolonial Algeria.
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book is written in response to [a:Albert Camus|957894|Albert Camus|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1686463588p2/957894.jpg]' novel [b:L'Étranger|15688|L'Étranger|Albert Camus|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1332596551l/15688._SY75_.jpg|3324344]. To put it into context, [a:Kamel Daoud|4986468|Kamel Daoud|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1491751841p2/4986468.jpg] is an Algerian author unlike Camus who is Algerian of French descent.
The novel is written with poetic language and imagery. At a first glance it may look like a criticism of L’Étranger, but it uses the theme of the absurd from the original novel to comment on the original text, criticize France’s colonial project in his country, and to denounce Algerian acts and politics.
Great read. Highly recommend.
The novel is written with poetic language and imagery. At a first glance it may look like a criticism of L’Étranger, but it uses the theme of the absurd from the original novel to comment on the original text, criticize France’s colonial project in his country, and to denounce Algerian acts and politics.
Great read. Highly recommend.
Prachtig boek dat je niet meer los kunt lezen van De vreemdeling van Albert Camus, aangezien dit het antwoord erop is.