The Stranger

I read a new book recently. It's been awhile since I did so. I have a habit of re-reading books I really like. I don't know what drove me to (firstly) buy it, online and then to read it (Yes, I've bought many books I never quite could get around to starting, let alone finish).

The book is an old one, more than half a century old, by Albert Camus. The Stranger.

 The writing is in the style of a "tough guy narrating". Sentences are not superfluous. They are structured just right, even brutally so. Much like J D Salinger's Catcher in the Rye. The protagonist is an anti-hero. Not quite a villian but not a hero. Kind of like John Irving's Owen Meany. There you have it, all my favorite (current) authors in a paragraph.

I was hooked from the very first line, "Maman died today.". Maybe I am feeling disconnected from my own family, my boy in particular. He's done so well - a good man - as I had alluded to in my last blog but sometimes I wish I had more time being his friend (rather than a dad dispensing advice). Again, Camus said it well. In fact, I didn't even know he said it but here's the quote (courtesy of etsy.com)


I do accept that our children grow up, and as they do, they will find their own space and out of that their own path. I hope that in the precious little time I had with them, I have been able to tell the all that I wanted to, the mistakes I made, the journeys I took and most of all that I love them. For sooner rather than later, the time would have past us by to travel together thus. What wisdom the poet Kahlil Gibran imparted when he said, "Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They came through you but not from you and though they are with you yet they belong not to you."

Today at dinner, I truly felt that my precious boy/good man now truly belongs to Life. And in this case, it was a too scary to be true moment when life imitated art, when J said he has signed up for the army. I had just (re)watched my favourite movie, Godfather Part 2, which ended exactly with a reminscence of such a bombshell.















https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-I4VIR5yGg&feature=player_detailpage

Both of us have been trying to walk in front of each other. I hope there is still time to walk along side. An officer and his dad. This is no time for tough guys. And certainly no time to be strangers.