Don't be hard on yourself. You learnt something after you watched those YT videos after reading the book; something you wouldn't have otherwise. Some background knowledge on Camus, his other works and absurdism or existentialism, etc is definitely needed to read Camus, otherwise it will be like what happened to you. imo camus is a tough read for non-avid or non-philosophy readers. Camus's books like plague or stranger are not typical stories where you put yourself in point of view of the character or try to figure out what happens next. It just won't work if you try to do either of these 2 things. In "The stranger" itself, the character is technically a sociopath. You aren't supposed to relate to that. If you try to relate from his pov, you would really go crazy. If you view the story just from third person point of view about a character who takes absurdism or nihilism to the ultimate level; a person who simply doesn't care, then the story becomes very interesting.