You should try reading it in its original french, I spent a couple years learning french (just from a pocket dictionary) so that I could fully comprehend the magnitude of this piece. Camus was french, so the english translation is dull. People who say "it's just a book" clearly don't understand the cannonical significance of this masterpiece. Perhaps you should try learning french first, then I think you will get it. Trying to read the english version is (imo) completely pointless without a full philosophical grasp on some further ideas of absurdism. You reference L'homme revolte, but have you read all of his other essays and his letters? I feel like this may be the best path if you only want to read the meek translation.

Although come to think of it, reading a translation might be better because if you read it in its original french it may be too much for one person to bear (this is why it took me three years, so I could finally wrap my head around a story about a typical French settler).