Reviews with content warning for Misogyny - The Outsider

I've been reading some reviews on this book and i think there's a lil something that people are criminally misunderstanding about this book (or maybe they aren't, and my interpretation of the book is as weird as any other, who knows?), and that is that you're supposed to loathe the way that Meursault is living his life, you're supposed to close the cover on the book and be like 'that is NOT how I want to live my life' and continue on, making a conscious effort to be as far removed from Meursaults life as you can be.
Meursaults life is a result of completely giving up your soul in the name of absurdism (or nihilism, or existentialism, I really can't remember which it is and can't be bothered at the moment to look it up) and the consequences of doing so. I'd recommend listening to Mitski's 'The Deal' from her latest album, and think of Meursault as the individual that would result from such an encounter. Meursault is criminally under-creative, there's nothing in his life that goes beyond sensual and physical sensations, his life has no meaning other than eating, having sex with Maria, sleeping, surviving, really. Meursault is not living, he's merely surviving, he has no opinion on anything at all, he chronically just does not care about anything, 'cus that's the absurdity of it all, isn't it?', 'what worth is it giving life any value when it is all so absurd?', and the book slaps you in the face saying 'you're purposefully making your life miserable and one devoid of any meaning at all, if your sole goal in this life is to survive, you're doing life itself a massive disservice'. Be creative, find a lil meaning in the stupid things of life. It's all absurd and in the grand scheme of things we're all worthless, epehemeral dots of life that'll have no impact in the fate of the universe, but what about the small scheme of things? What about your daily life? What about the life of the cat across the street? Of your neighbours? Of your colleagues, family, friends? We can give life a meaning, regardless of how small that meaning may be, so stop sabotaging your own life and take this book as a call to start enjoying the little things in life that Meursault would never have been able to enjoy.
Be a foil to Meursault, and maybe life will seem just a little bit more bearable :)

Content Warnings

jessica_rva's review against another edition

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reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

saint_eleanor's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was okay, i really liked the story actually and i can see how important it was at the time, but i kind of wish that it was longer or shorter/more concise? I like the themes of the übermensch, absurdism, and ultimate freedom from society’s norms/morals, but i think he could have gone even further with that. It reminded me a lot of Tayeb Salih’s Season of migration to the North, which i felt similarly about bc they deal with characters who kind of sit back and watch their peers assault women and kill people. I think the only reason i find these types of books to be irritating is bc the main characters are often like praised by people who are into Nietzche but all I’m seeing when I’m reading it is a man who is enabling/creating violence towards women and marginalized people and who is too spineless to have an opinion about it. Thats not really the book’s fault though, i feel like they are missing the point of the story. I also have an issue with the existentialism theme, bc it gets him off the hook for any guilt about the murder bc he embraces true nihilism. I think thats BS personally but again i think that’s the point— that nihilism is actually quite dangerous. Idk!!

Content Warnings

probablytoolate's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

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