Book Review: The Fall by Albert Camus

The Fall by Albert Camus

The unnamed main character of this novel runs into a new person and tells his life story and world view over a few days. He was a lawyer in Paris; he now lives in Amsterdam. His noble life defending the innocent belied his profligate love life. While puffed up by his own importance, the narrator came to realize the emptiness of his life and the squalor of his actions. With this newfound knowledge, he did not reform his life. Rather, he adapted his attitude to see his actions as good. Now he lives as he wishes in a country foreign to his home but similar enough to be comfortable. His justifications for his lifestyle cover a broader and broader set of activities as he comes to the end of the narrative.

I've read a few other works by Camus. This novel feels very much the same: a protagonist full of his own self-importance who comes to a realization of his own flaws and evil. That realization is not the cause of improvement of character but of a search for justification. It's the sort of bleak existentialism that comes with atheism. He (the author or the character, take your pick) struggles a bit with religion but can't embrace or understand Christianity. The book has a lot of style and an interesting narrative structure. Ultimately, though, the hollow world-view and anthropology are unsatisfying.

Not recommended, unless you are a Camus fan, which I clearly am not.