Context

Well that was blunt.

Leave it to Albert Camus to start off his famous novel The Stranger with a line like this.

Meet Meursault, our protagonist and sometimes narrator. We don't really know anything so far, other than the fact that his mother was living in an elderly home and is now not-living in an elderly home. 

Oh, and that Meursault likes to tell it like it is.

Yeah, Meursault gives zero hoots about anything. If that wasn't apparent in this quote, reading the rest of the novel will settle the matter.

For one thing, he appears quite unconcerned about the death of his mother. He's more distracted by the day that she died than the fact that she is dead. Sure, he assumes that it'll sink in later. But, unless you count hooking up with a new girl, befriending a pimp, and shooting someone as symptoms of grief, Meursault seems to be more detached from the world than even he knows. 

To be fair, it was really hot out and the sun was really bright. So, you know, can you blame him?

Where you've heard it

People love to quote this line to sound like they know something about existentialist literature.

Pretentious Factor

If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.

Leave the attitude to Camus.