i hate to say it, but you really want to read it in french. it is a "detournement " of camus's writings, a writing back against/toward/with l'Etranger from the point of view of the brother of the arab shot on the beach, but the narrative is framed like La chute, and the voice is very much in that style.
that all misses the incredible intelligence of the voice that speaks and speaks to us, taking us into some world that was once existentialist, but also totally placed in the arab algerian world missed by camus who grew up in the poor quartier of mixed europeans.
it didn't take long for this to come out in english translation: obviously camus's l'etranger is like the biggest french novel ever for americans, and this is sure to have a large audience.
further, the novel was controversial, some accusing it of pandering to europeans. i didn't see it at all that way, but respectable algerians made the claim.
ken
The Meursault Investigation – June 2, 2015
"A tour-de-force reimagining of Camus's The Stranger, from the point of view of the mute Arab victims." —The New Yorker
He was the brother of "the Arab" killed by the infamous Meursault, the antihero of Camus's classic novel. Seventy years after that event, Harun, who has lived since childhood in the shadow of his sibling's memory, refuses to let him remain anonymous: he gives his brother a story and a name—Musa—and describes the events that led to Musa's casual murder on a dazzlingly sunny beach.
In a bar in Oran, night after night, he ruminates on his solitude, on his broken heart, on his anger with men desperate for a god, and on his disarray when faced with a country that has so disappointed him. A stranger among his own people, he wants to be granted, finally, the right to die.
The Stranger is of course central to Daoud's story, in which he both endorses and criticizes one of the most famous novels in the world. A worthy complement to its great predecessor, The Meursault Investigation is not only a profound meditation on Arab identity and the disastrous effects of colonialism in Algeria, but also a stunning work of literature in its own right, told in a unique and affecting voice.Editorial Reviews
Funmi Tofowomo OkelolaReview
"Nothing…prepared me for [Daoud's] first novel, The Meursault Investigation, a thrilling retelling of Albert Camus's 1942 classic, The Stranger, from the perspective of the brother of the Arab killed by Meursault, Camus's antihero. The novel...not only breathes new life into The Stranger; it also offers a bracing critique of postcolonial Algeria... The premise is ingenious: that The Stranger, about the murder of an unnamed Arab on an Algiers beach, was a true story…Meursault is less a critique of The Stranger than its postcolonial sequel." —The New York Times Magazine
"A tour-de-force reimagining of Camus's The Stranger, from the point of view of the mute Arab victims." —The New Yorker
"[A] retelling of Albert Camus's classic The Stranger from an Algerian perspective...[this] debut novel reaped glowing international reviews, literary honors, and then, suddenly, demands for [Daoud's] public execution." —New York Times
"Daoud has said that his novel is an homage to Albert Camus's The Stranger, but it reads more like a rebuke...Where Camus's godless prose is coolly mathematical in its ratio of words to meaning, Daoud's work conducts waves of warmth. The sand and the sea and the sky and the stars, which, for Camus, seem to negate life rather than affirm it, are, for Daoud, vital witnesses and participants in his existence." —NewYorker.com
"Kamel Daoud's remarkable debut novel isn't simply a postcolonial reimagining but an allegory of his own country and time...[The Meursault Investigation] has the magnetism of its forebear, but its themes of voicelessness and vengeance feel utterly present-day." —Vogue
"Camus's The Stranger is vividly reimagined in Daoud's intensely atmospheric novel...readers will be captivated." —Publishers Weekly (Starred review)
"The nameless Arab victim of Albert Camus's The Stranger receives a biography and a name in this thoughtful, controversial rejoinder from the other side of the colonial question...Fiction with a strong moral edge, offering a Rashomon-like response to a classic novel." —Kirkus Reviews
"[A] blazing, brilliantly conceived debut novel...An eye-opening, humbling read, splendid whether or not you know and love the original." —Library Journal
"In The Meursault Investigation, Kamel Daoud takes us to a territory that is clearly his own. I loved the unexpected depth to the restorative nature of the text, which enthralls the readers all the more, especially when they are familiar with Albert Camus's The Stranger. It is a wonderful novel and I enjoyed reading it." —Nuruddin Farah, award-winning author of Hiding in Plain Sight
"A superb novel…In the future, The Stranger and The Meursault Investigation will be read side by side." —Le Monde des livres
"Very beautiful writing, original, located between suppressed anger and bursts of elation." —Les Echos
"A breathtaking and effectively realized novel. The Stranger becomes a palindrome… The Meursault Investigation approaches the incredible, in that it reverses the perspective and point of view not without an emphatic ferociousness, all while playing with the prose and perspective of The Stranger." —La Croix
"A remarkable homage to its model." —Le Nouvel observateur
"An intense and surprising story." —La MontagneAbout the Author
Kamel Daoud is an Algerian journalist based in Oran, where he writes for the Quotidien d'Oran—the third largest French-language Algerian newspaper. He contributes a weekly column to Le Point, and his articles have appeared in Libération, Le Monde, Courrier International, and are regularly reprinted around the world. A finalist for the Prix Goncourt, The Meursault Investigation won the Prix François Mauriac and the Prix des Cinq-Continents de la francophonie. International rights to the novel have been sold in twenty countries. A dramatic adaptation of The Meursault Investigation will be performed at the 2015 Festival d'Avignon, and a feature film is slated for release in 2017.
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