Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - The Outsider

Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The Outsider by Albert Camus

165 reviews

fabilous_books's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I will probably come back to this book again and again because I just need to understand the character's intentions and thoughts.

I don't mind boring or slow plots. But the start of this book was indeed very slow. Actually not much happens in this book except that one or two parts, if you read the book, you know. The character, I forgot the name, he is very indifferent. He sees a woman get beaten up and have no remorse, he can testify wrongly to protect a man who he doesn't even consider as his friend. He has no sadness for his recently deceased mother or the fact that he committed a heinous crime. He truly had no emotions, like a sociopath, actually a lot like a sociopath. It was chilling and scary because I can name people I know in my life that acts like him, and maybe in strenuous circumstances, they would act like him. In the beginning, he did seem like a decent guy, a normal fellow. As the book went on, as we get to dig deep into his thoughts and actions, he is scary. He has close to no sympathy or remorse.

Not a book for people who are looking for morally good characters or big character growths.

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fernash's review against another edition

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dark reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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aphrochilds's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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riozul's review against another edition

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dark reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

Content Warnings

startjpw23's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This book is set in Algeria. The time isn't specified, but it appears to be somewhere between the early and mid-20th century. Algeria is still under French rule. The featured characters are all French. The book doesn't detail any native Algerians in depth. The protagonist is a man who kind of glides through life. He doesn't really think deeply before he does things. He has a job that he does well. Co-workers and friends like him. Early on, he becomes friends with an unsavory character and aids this character in doing something I found very disturbing. From then on, I really didn't like the protagonist. About halfway through the book, a crime is committed. The remainder of the book is the aftermath of the crime. Jail. A trial. The language in the book is beautiful. Descriptions of really hot days, beaches, the sky, etc. were very vivid. I could picture them. For me, this book was just okay. I was glad I read it. It doesn't make me want to search out more books by Camus.

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emberkt's review against another edition

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challenging funny mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.0

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books_because_why_not's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This book was so-so for me. I thought the main character was very hard to understand the reasoning behind their actions or to even just relate to them. I did thing that the book had good pacing and was not a overbearingly long read. I think I just don't understand absurdism to like this book that much.

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