The Stranger (originally released in French as L’Etranger) is a story about Meursault, a shipping clerk living in 1940s French Algiers, who is a detached but otherwise ordinary young man. He receives a telegram informing him of his mother’s death and attends the funeral, but surprises others with his unusual calm and detached demeanor.
This book always stuck with me after reading it in high school and I’m not really sure why.