Albert Camus - the witty charmer

Now that I have read every piece published by Truman Capote, the time has come for a new favorite writer to enter my world!

You could practically spin me around in Skylight Books on Vermont Street, and at any given point of landing, I would be sure to find something interesting. And that is exactly how I came across Albert Camus and his last work of fiction, The Fall (well, minus the spinning). The Fall, or La Chute, as it originally was written in French, was published in 1956, just one year prior to Camus receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature. I read the entire monologue in one sitting; one because it is a mere 150 pages, and two because once I started it, I was completely immersed in Camus's authentic unveiling of human need, action, and thought that I couldn't put it down. The themes of death, debauchery, judgement, and failure are finely woven with threads of power, love, success, and elegance. The contrasts are further illuminated by the backdrops of powerful Parisian memories and a dark and dreary modern Amsterdam. Written in an unusual second-person, Camus uses his main character's ambiguous reflections on his own intimate life experiences to evoke the same sort of reflection in the reader. I think anyone with a pulse would be moved, if not lightly disturbed, by this brilliantly honest narrative.