The Stranger by 
This year, I decided I wanted to start using audiobooks to read classic literature I likely would never get around to otherwise. First up, The Stranger by Albert Camus. This caught me so off-guard. I don’t know what I was expecting, but what I read definitely stayed with me and filled me with the urge to discuss and dissect.
I thought, at first, narrator Jonathan Davis was a poor choice. The inflection and tone was so flat and apathetic. I then realized that was on purpose because how else to portray Meursault’s nihilism, his absolute passivity. It was amazing to listen to as everything continued on. I think better read as an audiobook than a book for sure.
Onto the material itself, wow. The way nihilism and existentialism walk hand in hand and is hammered into everything that happens is just so amazingly well done. Through all the grotesqueries on incidents that happen, physical assault, pet abuse, murder – none of it matters enough for anyone to care because everyone is their own master. What right does Meursault have to pass judgment on anyone? What moral higher ground does he hold if everything is sacred and nothing matters? Compound this with the idea that everything happens at random and there is nothing anyone can do to mitigate this. There is no higher power or being or reasoning for anything that happens. Whether you are a good person or a bad person, none of that has any effect on your life because ultimately, everyone will die and that will be the end.
While there are some rough scenes to get through, and the first third feels a bit rough to get through, The Stranger by Albert Camus is definitely a classic for a reason. I am so glad I picked this up and definitely think if you’re looking for something to make you think critically and question the way of the world, this is it. Just, do it as an audiobook!