Life: Book Review- The Stranger

Hi Girlies, It’s Friday. I was supposed to do this post on Tuesday but couldn’t get to it. As some of you know (from my Instagram account)I have been reading “The Stranger” and I’m finally done!! YAY!

I have to say, I really enjoyed this book because it was an easy read and also because it was interesting to read about a person who just did not give a crap about anything. Anything.

I don’t want to go over the entire book because I would ruin it for those of you that want to read it so, I will just post 2 of my favorite quotations(which all came by the end of the book, actually) and then I will go over a little about what I think the meaning of the book is.

1. “Come now, is my client on trial for burying his mother or for killing a man?”

“I accuse this man of burying his mother with crime in his heart!”

So, yes, this book is about a man and a crime. These quotations got my attention because it was at this point that I started realizing the meaning of the book. One goes around committing acts everyday. Sometimes we do good things, sometimes we do bad ones but we never really pay attention at how coordinated and related these actions are. Here we have a man that lost his mom and did not even shed a tear, who then went on and killed a man just for the sake of it. From my point of view, this man had lost all types of emotions and did not have a care in the world or for the world. His mom dying and him killing a man are two separate actions but they both tie in together when he heads to court. Lesson: Nothing in this world goes unnoticed even if sometimes we feel it does. It is always there and in the end, our past can come back to hunt us.

2. “…All the familiar sounds of a town I loved and of a certain time of day when I used to feel happy…What awaited me back then was always a night of easy, dreamless sleep. And yet something had changed, since it was back to my cell that I went to wait for the next day…as if familiar paths traced in summer skies could lead as easily to prison as to the sleep of the innocent.”

I was drawn to this quotation because it made me sad. I think, it was the only paragraph where the main character showed some sort of feelings and vulnerability. I thought it was important because we all have comfort zones and we all have our favorite songs, places, books, people and times of the day. Those little things are what we look forward to and what really makes us happy but they are also the things that remind us of happier times. Although some things might take us back to other times, other feelings and other states of mind and emotion, I feel that we should never let go of them because when there is nothing left, memories can save us and lift us up.

The end of the book is definitely my favorite part because it’s when you start really understanding the meaning of it all and all of the characters actions. In the beginning, the book is just like a story that you can’t really figure out why the author thought of writing it. When I finished the book, I kept thinking about the meaning and came up with:

“This book is about the lack of emotion and sensitivity of the people. People go around the world doing what benefits them and some times they just act for acting without really thinking about anyone else, not even themselves. I thought this book was about the carelessness of people in the world.”

But then, I talked to my brother, the one that told me to read this book and he told me the meaning is that nothing in this world matters. That whatever we do, we are all going to die one day and there is no reason to waste time and energy on things that will sooner or later happen. We are going to die, some die at 20, some die at 70. Some die of sickness, others are on the death penalty. Death is death, we are all going to the same place. Interesting.

Well, I agree with both his and my thoughts. Have you read the book? What do you think the purpose of the story is?

I totally recommend this book is you are looking for a good read!

Thank you for reading these posts, reading your comments make my day. Enjoy your weekend 🙂

Xo, Belen