You know there are just some people you can't take to funerals or the beach! 
 Most jokes aside, this was a little novel that packs a big punch. Many people liked to talk Ubermensch, but Camus wanted to give us one in French-occupied Algeria and it is something else. I must first compliment Camus for being able to write a proper novel in only around 120 pages, Notes from Underground was shorter, but took me months to read while this book only took days (would have been hours, but I did not want to fly through it too quickly). Also, Meursault was much clearer and to the point in his thoughts than Underground Man though the confrontation with the chaplain at the end suggest he may be a bit unreliable as a narrator for the reader. The conflicts that emerge here: the individual vs. truth, individual vs. guilt, the individual vs. capital punishment are not skirted at all, but faced head on and without rhetorical flourish (I do not know if that is Camus or Ward the translator, but I am impressed regardless). If you do not know anything about existentialism or even if you do, Meursault's ways will seem outlandish, but this was the point. 
 The Stranger is supremely funny, like amazingly humorous. There was no interaction involving Meursault and anyone that failed to make me laugh. I always hear this book spoken about in such a serious tone, but I rarely hear people speak of the hilarity of absurdity. Maybe it is because of my background, outlook, the news or a combination, but nothing gets me laughing like the insanity of life and Camus' philosophy does as advertised as far as I am concerned. 
 This was one of those books that I picked up because it is very popular on this site. I try to avoid trendy or popular things even if they seem to be justifiably good and have earned the popularity, but I gave in and as I explored existentialism more I thought, "what the hell" and brought this book...three years ago and let it collect dust on my bookshelf. Last week I started reading it on in impulse and, after an intentional pause, I have wrapped it up. Well, that's it. 
 ...Well, actually that's not it. There is something about the ending that personally has been annoying me and until now I have not been able to put my finger on it. I was told to read closely the interaction between Mersault and the chaplain by Jeremy Davies in his review and my correspondence with him. The confrontation between Mersault and the chaplain was, to my mind, Camus' take on the final confrontation between Raskolnikov and Inspector Porfiry Petrovich in Crime and Punishment. Where as the same points and ideas are being argued in both confrontations, I still feel Dostoevsky handled it better. That may have been the only real criticism I have of this book (don't try to challenge Dostoevsky) other than that there is no reason anyone should not read this book at all (remarkably well-written and does not want to bore you with theatrics. Jeremy (and anybody else who has read this), I would love to know your opinion in the comments.