The Fall

Well, at the very least it made me think. There were a few moments where I was really intrigued by a thought or something said made me go down another road of thinking.

But.

This feels very much in the category of self-important writing by ennui-filled white men. I..just... don't care. And at the end of the book? It was all about "dominating" and "feeling superior" and maybe that's just him thinking it and really it's about how his fall means none of this is true but in any case it left me with objectionable mouthfeel.

Am I glad I read it? Sure, three hours on audiobook and it was interesting, at the very least. Will I recommend it to anyone? Nah.

I'm fundamentally not down with existentialism, specifically because I reject moral relativism. For me, and admittedly this is a bit imprecise, right and wrong come from our inner sense of God- regardless of whether or not you believe in God or gods. Of course, not everyone has a robust sense of right and wrong, and if you're of the might-makes-right camp then you're Godless no matter what you profess. So a novel full of such guilty-conscience suffering strikes me as belying it's own existentialist thesis.