Walking past half-emptied bookshelves of the bookstore. What it was I was looking for I wasn’t sure of yet. My choices were even more slim than with my previous two picks since I wasn’t the only one there. Others were there too. On a mission. Maybe a late Christmas present, a new years resolution they made. Their reason was as elusive as what I was going to read as opener for 2025.

Eventually I came across something, or rather someone. Camus, Albert Camus. Not in person obviously, but his books. I once again saw The Stranger laying there. A book I had already read, reviewed, but also not particularly enjoyed. Still, something in me spoke to me when I saw The Fall. A desire to give him one more shot just to see. See if maybe I was just unlucky the first time around. So, I bought it. A slim book. How bad could it be? He is a great author it is just that The Stranger wasn’t my style.

Review#

The beginning was a bit rough. there were some funny pieces sprinkled in here and there but mostly it was a very reflective book within the story but also as its main goal as a book. I believe that the goal was for us to look at our own moral flaws but also to act on them so not to become as JB.

This is definitely not a book for everyone but if you enjoy more reflective/philosophical books definitely give it a shot.

<——– SPOILER WARNING READING THIS BEFORE READING IT YOURSELF WILL ALTER YOUR FIRST READING EXPERIENCE ———->

Summary#

In The Fall we are immediately addressed by the main character of the book. Jean-Baptiste Clamence. We, the reader, are an unnamed character who we very quickly learn was having a drink in some bar somewhere in Amsterdam. Upon a short introduction from Jean (from now on referred to as JB), he takes the reigns of the conversation. So much so, that in the story our replies are not present in the text, leaving it up to us to imagine what our listener would say. If we actually ever say something is hard to determine most of the time. On some instances it could be that JB is mostly inferring what we want to say or ask him and on others it does seem most likely that we said something but it remained “of the record”

Throughout the entire story, we are basically listening to JB “confessing” his past life choices/sins to us. In this “confession” there are various points which seem innately part of the human experience. Some of these points are about helping others, generosity and its struggles, and about friends but all of these come with a twist. Fairly quickly into his confession, by his own choice but also by his way of talking, we learn that he gets a kind of twisted joy from them

JB, as we hear from his confession, gets his joy in life from exposing the moral flaws in others by acting morally good himself. The keyword of that sentence being “acting”. JB’s entire will to live basically consists of making others become aware of their own moral flaws and them then subsequently not working towards improving/resolving said flaws.

Once we learn this the entire conversation/confession does start to feel slightly different. All relatable points become critical points of self scrutiny sadly all for the joy of JB.

Memorable parts#

Netherlands mentioned!#

What’s more, this country inspires me. I like its people, swarming around on the pavements, wedged into their little space of houses and water, encircled by mists, cold earth and sea that steams like damp washing. I like them because they are double. They are both here and somewhere else.

I really liked the description of the Netherlands and also the description of the people being double. “…both here and somewhere else” is a nice way to describe how people are living their own worlds. Not in a negative sense per se but more in a way to say that everyone has their own things going on and in a “big city” like Amsterdam that is even more so the case.

Generosity#

I even felt such pleasure in giving that I hated to be obliged to do so. I was bored by precise matters of money and engaged in them with irritation. I needed to be the master of my generosity.

I thought this exact thing years ago as well. Since then, I have, however, changed my stance on it. I don’t think this is the appropriate way of being generous. I believe that once you become aware of the fact you are being generous you should do so with intention and not in the way JB described. One can be generous and also aware of it. Keeping “precise attention” of it does not make you a bad person. Acting as if you don’t realize you are being generous or to what extent you are even though you are fully aware of it only to even more show how generous you are does, in my opinion, make you a bad person.

A caricature of a generous person is blind to his own good deeds and feels indifferent towards them. Since we are humans, or at least I hope that the person reading this is, we think about our actions and have certain feelings about them. We can’t just shut those off no matter how much we would want to.

Friendship#

Friendship is not easy; it’s long and hard to win, but when it’s there, you can’t get rid of it, you have to make do.

I think this is a nice quote that I am going to take out of context so that it does not have the bitter after taste on it that JB said it. I think it makes for a nice thing to say about friendship and the robustness of genuine friendship.

Honesty#

Most of all, don’t believe your friends when they ask you to be sincere with them. All they want is for you to sustain them in the good opinion that they have of themselves and provide them with the additional assurance that they take from your promise of sincerity. How could sincerity be a condition of friendship? A liking of truth at all costs is a passion that spares nothing and that nothing can withstand. It’s a vice, and sometimes a comfort, or a form of selfishness. So if you find yourself in that situation, don’t hesitate: premise to be truthful and lie as best as you can. You will satisfy their deep desire and double prove your affection for them.

This one is kind of a lot. I have had moments where I have wanted people to be “honest” with me. Exactly like JB described and I have also had other people where I sensed that they also wanted this. You should be honest with your friends and close ones but sometimes I do enjoy if you just tell me a little white lie so I can live a bit better with myself.

Seriousness of life#

Of course, I did sometimes pretend to be taking life seriously. But the frivolity of seriousness itself very quickly became apparent to me and I merely continued to play my role as best I could.

At some point in life, I think, everyone realizes that all adults are just figuring this shit out. We act serious when we are at work and sometimes in our personal lives but I bet you that at some level they are just some kid. They are just playing their role as best as they can. I work at a liquor store. I don’t really drink that much liquor and sometimes I really don’t have a sophisticated opinion of a product and sometimes a customer still asks me what it tastes like. You can bet your ass that whenever I give some type of description with like “it taste slightly like banana and the smokiness really shines through afterwards” I am deep in my role as a liquor store attendant.