Nausea

The book really lives up to its title, reading it is a nauseating experience of this mediocre read, the author himself is nauseating in his delusions, and the book itself is the epitome of the intellectual level of a frustrated drunk sitting at a beer stall. Those people who actually appreciated this work as something profound and intellectually meaningful - i have big doubts about their adequate perception of this world. Skip, 0/10.

Life through the eyes of a fictitious, invented man who is overwhelmed with existence. Random and somewhat idiosyncratic writing but yet immensely engaging, Sartre's work perfectly captures the loneliness and impermanence of life and existence.

I think one of my favourite things about this read was the "irrelevant/insignificant" statement Roquentin would add on, overflowing the reader with information about what's going on—it's this very overflow of detail that really brings out the Nausea. Most of the time we go about life not thinking about everything that's going on around us continuously; however, Roquentin gives a fine example of those times existence just falls on you—times when all those little "insignificances" are processed together with the "significances" and you feel it, you feel sick to the core, unnerved, and somewhat distraught.

5/5 Sartre nailed it, one of the best books I've read so far this year.

I may not have enjoyed it but I certainly appreciated a lot about this novel. Perhaps, if I had read it when I was younger, and more terrified of solitude, the descriptions of nausea would have connected with me on a more emotional level, but I found myself smiling at Sartre's writerly craft, his descriptions of a philosophical conceit, his lively scenes of dialogue, without being very touched. Not a bad way to spend 178 pages but not a book I'm going to brood over as I have with works by Camus. I think I'm fine with that.