I’ve never read any Camus before, so I decided to read The Fall for the 1956 Club. This I can say: after reading The Kreutzer Sonata, The Prague Cemetery, The King Without a Kingdom, and The Fall, I’ve decided I hate novels that are monologues.
An unnamed person meets Clamence, an ex-Parisian lawyer, in an Amsterdam bar. Clamence begins his monologue explaining how his life changed. He began as a successful lawyer for the defense—handsome, genial, charitable, always doing good—and a womanizer. As he talks, we see that his charitable impulses are rooted in self-regard. His discourse becomes more and more cynical until . . . .
Well, I don’t know, because 50 pages before the end, I realized I was struggling to pay attention, and I stopped reading. His “witty” discourse may have been ground-breaking in 1956, but in 2020, it just seems banal.
whatmeread 
Haha! you gave it a good shot. I haven’t read any Camus but I’ve got The Stranger coming up next, I wonder what I’ll make of it?
I may try another one that’s not a monologue. I have read several monologue-style novels, all with really detestable narrators, so I think that put me off too much.
I’ve only read on monologue novel and the narrator is also not a good person, but he’s not detestable either. It was The Author and Me and here’s my review https://tcl-bookreviews.com/2014/09/03/cauliflower-gratin-vs-trout-amandine/
Well that was an unexpected ending to the review! I have to admit that it did make me chuckle. I absolutely love Camus, but haven’t read this one.
I guess I should try another book by him.
Oh shame! I’ve only read The Outsider, which I did like.
I read The Stranger a few years ago, and didn’t know what to think of it. I’ve been curious to try another one, so i came here to see what you thought of The Fall – ha! Not much, I guess. Oh well, there are other good books to read! 🙂
Very true. I am in two minds whether to try another Camus or not.