Review: The Fall

The Fall by Albert Camus
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

More a lesson on Camus' contribution to existentialism than an actual story, The Fall is about a man who realizes how absurd existence is, and he has a fall from his higher position because of it. The thing is, unlike other books by lesser authors, the protagonist in this book doesn't feel constrained or defeated because of his fall. He actually feels slightly liberated.

At first, the story is annoying since the protagonist spends all his time talking about how great he is, and why he felt more intelligent than everybody else. But in the end, you realize how important all that truly was so you can understand how the events that happen lead to his eventual fall. It's certainly not what you're thinking (I thought he had murdered someone or something). It's a highly perplexing book, and one that takes much thought once you wrap your head around its philosophies. I would give it a higher score, but I usually prefer a true narrative to philosophy disguised as narrative. Even so, I read it in one sitting, so that's saying something.

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