Journal #18: Personal response to The Stranger + what literary value do you ascribe to the novel (what makes a book a great work of literature and does this book achieve that)
My personal response to the The Stranger is a littled mixed. Im not going to sugar-coat it, i thought the book was terrible the first time through. The plot was so dull and flat and unattractive, things happened for no reason and as i read it i wondered "What must've happened to Meursault to make him think this way?"
I think the reason i couldnt enjoy this book from just a reading perspective was because Meursault was so consistently boring and unpredictable, that it became predictable and I even expected him to do things for no reason. I guess this book is popular for its literary merit and not its leisure reading value, so Ill just go back to Eragon for that.
The second time through, I began to recognize more of the recurring elements of the book and see some patterns to Meursaults behavior. I started to put it together more and understand it from a philosophical viewpoint, especially after having class discussions. I think the book has good literary/classroom value because of the point that its making, but personally I didnt really like it.
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