August is Camus

I've recently completed reading The Fall by Albert Camus. The Fall tells the story of Jean-Baptiste Clamence, a Parisian lawyer, who now spends his days reminiscing his life in a seedy bar in Amsterdam. His once selfless life is now judged as hypocritical and self-absorbed. Many times I felt as if we were truly honest about our behaviours and actions in society, most of us would see great similarities between ours and Jean-Baptiste's life.

The basis of the story is compelling. It decrees that we are each responsible for everything that is happening around us - poverty, discrimination, corruption, war, global warming - by either through our actions or through our silence. Imagine for a minute, what that meant about you, for you. How would you, as an individual, deal with this situation? This is where The Fall comes it....

Besides the captivating story, the narrative Camus uses is also interesting. He speaks directly to the reader, as if you were the friend that Jean-Baptiste speaks to in that sordid bar.

So for this August, I'm aiming to read this 1957 Nobel Peace laureate's other two big novels: (1) The Stranger which was published in 1942; and (2) The Plague which was published in 1956.

I think Audre Lorde said it best, "It is not difference which immobilizes us, but silence. And there are so many silences to be broken".