The Meursault Investigation: A Novel

This is an excellent novel that, despite its brevity, packs quite a punch. It would be very difficult to appreciate The Meursault Investigation without having read The Stranger, if you are planning on reading this book do yourself a favor and read The Stranger. If you haven't read The Stranger, you can easily do so in a lesiurely afternoon at a coffee shop. And if you haven't read The Stranger since High School, read it again. It is very unlikely that you appreciated it in High School.The Meursault Investigation is the story (as told by Daoud) of one of the characters from Camus' book. Without giving anything away from either book, this character had only a brief scene in The Stranger, but was the hinge-point of that novel. Daoud takes one of the seminal works of 20th Century literature and gives us a plausible and moving backstory on one of the characters - quite a unique feat. The writing style (like with The Stranger) is easy to follow, and the story is straight-forward.Those who appreciate fiction cannot deny the importance and influence of The Stranger, and The Meursault Investigation would be of interest to anyone who read Camus. There are many books that center on characters from the Canon, and many that fail either because they don't match the mood of what the original work they are springing from or because the writing isn't even close to the writing of the original author. The Meursault Investigation is one that succeeds. And if you don't like it (and you read The Stranger), then I will send you a piece of cheese pizza and a diet coke.

this fine short novel could be read as a stand-alone, i guess, but i suspect it's best enjoyed after reading albert camus' "the stranger"(sometimes translated as "the other) whose main character is the meursault of this "investigation." the book is a widening out of the story in the french existentialist classic, narrated by the arab victim's younger brother, this beautifully observed and smartly observant novel gives family and humanity and dimension (not to mention a name!) to the anonymous arab victim whom meursault murders -- seemingly at random, the author both echoes and refracts camus' highly praised prose which, by his own admission, the author-as-narrator here can never quite match. still, it's very engaging -- though less riveting than I expected based on the reviews. there are excellent "set-pieces" and revelations throughout, though, for me, rather unevenly distributed. (one great revelation is presented very, very late.) even so, this novel is a powerful rejoinder to -- occasionally a rebuke of -- the infamously famous "the stranger."

This is a classic example of a book the critics were too kind too.It's not a bad book and you're bound to be intrigued by it if you are interested in Algeria- I am- and have read The Stranger.But notice , I've already listed two conditions, a bad omen !The style is taken from Camus' The Fall, a strange book I love.The story is , obviously, based on The Stranger.The premise is that the brother of the dead Arab in The Stranger gets to tell his story.That doesn't really make sense.I feel like laughing, This is a novel .The Stranger is a novel.Are we in a meta novel land? Is Meusault really the author of The Stranger and is it really an autobiographical account ?He didn't get executed? Well why nitpick! More important is the book is absurdly repetitive.If the author says it once , he says it five times.The dead Arab never comes to life.instead we have his sad sack brother who is a bit of a bore.Perhaps. he's a metaphor for Algeria , which sounds dull and repressed.( So sad when you think of the dynamic pop music scene that existed not that long ago, especially in Oran , where much of this novel isSo what's worthwhile here? I just said Algeria sounds dull but what a great fascinating and martyred country! So many in the third world placed so many hopes on the Algerian Revolution to see it degenerate in the hands of military oligarchs and Islamist fanatics who tore the country apart for a second time.What you see here is the massive hangover that isn't even allowed to be alcoholic.Our Virgil in this Hell is the sad narrator.He does score some points and Douad can write and is - to quote the movie Hustle and Flow- a brave mother.Read this book and I urge you to read Aziz Chouaki's powerful and brilliant The Star of Algiers and Boualem Sansal"s Harraga- not as good but perhaps necessary! You'll get a bit of an education.For that matter give a listen to Cheb Zahouani's Moul El Bar- another brave mother!