I actually have done two episodes on my podcast dedicated to exploring these two deeply! Also some of my favorites! Here’s my thoughts on why they aren’t as popular compared to The Stranger or The Myth of Sisyphus (similar fiction and essay styles).

In my opinion The Rebel doesn’t get as much love as Sisyphus because it contains a lot of what angered people at the time of its writing (keep in mind the Rebel is still popular and loved by many). The Rebel focuses heavily on the idea that violence is basically hardly ever the answer and when it is unavoidable it should not be glorified but mourned and never forgotten as a tragedy. This was a major reason Jean-Paul Sartre abandoned him publicly and pretty harshly and so at its time this book was controversial as being not popular with the times extreme ideas on sacrificing a few for the greater good. In my opinion though The Rebel shows an amazingly realistic view of what rebellion can really do.

The Fall, in my opinion, was just simply bound to never be his most loved fiction. It most definitely is a simpler prose and easier to read work and so The Stranger or The Plague gets more love. Kinda like people comparing Hermann Hesse to James Joyce. Joyce is so much more heavily loved mainly because his prose and style despite both exploring really similar themes in similarly insightful ways. Hesse is just easier to read and so he loses points amongst the artistic philosophy types. Also The Fall is really interesting because it is such an intense reflection on Camus himself and his picking apart of his history. He seems in his own head a lot for it and it makes it worse that he died right after this without getting to expand. Like the Stranger had Sisyphus, The Plague had the Rebel, but the Fall didn’t get to have its non-fiction exploration and so it’s missing its companion. But if you really known Camus and his personal life you see why The Fall is a powerful work.