The story is about social status, growing up, finding yourself, and rebellion.Īnyone in middle/high school can relate to this book in one way or another. The Socs are the rich, popular kids while the Greasers are the poor, bad kids. The book’s plot is about the rivalry between the Greasers and Socs (focusing on the Greasers). Overall a really enjoyable reading experience for me and I’m definitely going to read Camus’ other works.The Outsiders is a beautiful coming of age story that I would recommend for everyone in middle school and high school. The whole idea of absurdism is tricky to get your head around, but I like it, and I’m happy this book lead me on a journey of learning.⁠ His trial at the end of the novel represents the human plight to impose rationality on the irrational. He is living in complete contentedness because he is not trying to find meaning in every little thing he or others do. Mersault’s life is without meaning or rationality. To begin with I was not entirely sure what the message of this book was, but after reading a little about Camus’ philosophy of absurdism, it became clearer to see. He doesn’t conform to societies standards of thinking and being and I liked how his indifference to big things (love and death etc) meant he spent a lot of his time focusing on the little things.⁠ In some aspects I felt Mersault was strangely relatable, despite myself being very driven by emotions. I was really interested in the story of Mersault and his complete indifference to the world, love, life and death. The writing style is simple and flows well.⁠ However, I ended up really loving this one and devoured it all in one sitting.⁠ĭespite being written by a French Algerian philosopher in the 40’s, this is surprisingly easy to read. Going into this one knowing it is a modern classic and philosophy focused, I was nervous to say the least! I was certain this was going to be too intellectual for me and I wasn’t going to understand it. He is on trial for being different – an outsider. In court, it is clear that Meursault’s guilt or innocence will not be determined by what he did or did not do. Returning to Algiers after the funeral, he carries on life as usual until he becomes involved in a violent murder.

So when his mother dies and he is unmoved, he refuses to do the proper thing and grieve.

The outsider novel review