barely three pages in and this is the most autistic man i’ve ever seen in my life. the emotional detachment, the matter-of-fact internal dialogue, the focus on sensations & smells, thinking everybody is accusing him and criticizing him, trying to say the right thing so the conversation can be over. i knew going in this book had been labelled as potential autism rep but shit, i’m about ready to diagnose the man myself.

Since this book is coming up in the read-along and I can already foresee posts asking questions or being generally bewildered about the protagonist in this book, I'm making this post to try and give a no plot spoiler quickie post both linking to other posts in the forum to highlight them from the jump and a couple external resources. (I will likely edit this in the near-future before the read-along starts for grammar/formatting or if I realize I missed a TW for the book itself)

Disclaimer: It will contain elements that are spoiler-lite.

Nothing further than the literal summary on Pagebound (which gives a straight up spoiler) but there will be things here that will make a run no longer truly blind. If you're someone who values a blind reading experience, with a high tolerance for needing to wait before making judgement calls, I would say ignore this post!

formatting loosely based on the audio from the 'road trip' commandments gag on Family Guy

TW for suicide for resources in "Commandment Number 1: Camus is... Camus?" as Camus uses the term in his philosophy.

The 'Commandments'

Commandment zero: Trigger Warnings for the Book : Domestic Violence, Animal Abuse, Sexual violence (assault mention), Violence (including gun violence and stabbing), Death/Grief (Loss of a Parent; Mother), Racism.

Commandment Number 1: Camus is... Camus? Camus is a pied noir (meaning person of French descent from one of multiple waves of French settlement) in Algeria. Unfortunately, any bio I would link to has spoilers for this book because scholars have no chill (e.g., his bio in the Nobel website which I use for the info here!) He was an active participant in the resistance against the Nazis in France (after the poor guy was in France JUST in time for it to be invaded) around when this book is coming together. This novel is also set in Algeria (primarily in the city of Algiers, to be more precise); at the time of writing, Algeria was still a 'part' of France✨ and active colonial project where the legal system was prejudiced against those who lived there for centuries prior (Arabs and Berbers). Historically, Algiers was a hotspot for Algerian Independence activities; Camus' position was anti-independence but he was also opposed to the denial of rights and autonomy to Arabs in particular (he wanted citizenship extended alongside efforts to both eliminate economic disparity and repressive measures employed by the French). Although Camus' philosophy would coalesce in later work, we see parts of it in this novel especially in terms of the absurd. The video linked here gives a small overview of the general beats of his absurdism; this video features more animation to do a similar overview.

Commandment Number 2: There's nothing I can do about the sun. This is more a hint than anything. If you find yourself thinking that it's weird how the descriptions are constantly going back to his physical experiences (temperature, brightness, etc) without much sense of his emotions beyond like/dislike... it's notable but it's not just plain weird. It's something to keep an eye on and you'll likely see posts along the way reading into it that you can add onto!

Commandment Number 3: There are no more Maman. (They're all gone) If you're reading in French, don't worry about this note. If you're reading in English you should see the post about translations by @moski in terms of the first line; the comments in the linked post expand even further than the resources they list!

Commandment Number 4: When we pass a weird reaction to something normal, it's weird on purpose. The wording can and will be oddly detached (and there is a post discussing it further along in this forum at 15% for poking around at that by @CatherineJ). In the original French, the novel is written largely in the compound past (passé composé) which is used for actions that have a definite start/end in the past tense (it's also not typical for this time period which largely uses the literary passé simple); in English this corresponds, ironically, to the simple past rather than compound past (i.e., it's the equivalent of saying "I did" instead of "I have done" despite the meaning being more similar to the latter). For the contemporary reader, this would be a bit more jarring than it would for a reader in the present day. If you can, be on the look-out for places where he seems most (and least) connected to what he's talking about. Additionally, if you're someone who does not like characters that are generally asocial or anti-social, this book may not be to your taste whatsoever.

✨I say 'part' of France because that is what France had considered it to be and administered it as such (distinct from their other colonies). It cannot be understated that the French colonization of Algeria was particularly brutal and that it remains a hot button issue to this day. Its independence is literally the trigger/catalyst for the creation of the French Fifth Republic and the collapse of the Fourth Republic; to emphasize how important this is the other ways that a Republic in France has collapsed are Empires being declared and the Nazi invasion, they don't just do that. When Macron apologized for the colonization as a "crime contre l'humanité" (crime against humanity) it was controversial; when Algeria in 2025 criminalized the colonization, France described it as a hostile gesture.