For the past few days, I was buried in “Shantaram” when a friend of mine asked me if I had read Stranger. I certainly had read that one and to my surprise I couldn’t remember anything about that book. For me, a book is worth a read when it has “OhMyGodIwanttomarryhim” characters or it has a philosophy that moves you in a way like Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged et al.  So after being coaxed by this friend, I read the book again and whether I will remember the story of the book even now. Really can’t say. Stranger, written by Albert Camus is a short novel that may even go unnoticed in the first read. It’s not insipid, far from being so, only the author is not trying to impose any moral beliefs and is just as indifferent in his viewpoint, as he is while narrating the story.

The book begins with “Mother died today. Or, maybe, yesterday; I can’t be sure.” It’s the story of a guy who is to attend his mother’s funeral and then how the turn of events gets him involved in a homicide of a person who he barely knew. He is then convicted of the murder and during the trail is questioned more about events related to his Mother’s funeral, which include not remembering her age, sending her to the Old Age home, smoking next to her dead body and going for a movie next day after the incident. You wonder if his crime is the murder, for which there has been no inquiry or the fact that he didn’t cry during the funeral. During the scrutiny for him being apathetic, he is well aware that such behavior is despicable in the society and makes no effort to defend himself apart from  stating the truth.

The book has quite a few quotes, which justify why he behaved the way he did, however my favourite is “I reminded myself, its common knowledge that life isn’t worth living, anyhow. And, on a wide view, I could see that it makes little difference whether one dies at the age of thirty or threescore and ten—since, in either case, other men and women will continue living, the world will go on as before”.  Another one, simpler one in fact ”when I want to get rid of someone whose conversation bores me, I pretend to agree”.

If you are looking for a book that is not too didactic on moral or social grounds, yet looks at life from a different perspective then this is one you definitely shouldn’t miss.