Written from an existentialist perspective, The Mandarins (1954) and A Woman Destroyed have been compared with another existentialist novel, Camus's The Stranger (1942). To some critics, Beauvoir's fictional works lack the concentration, the focus on one character, and the classical simplicity which made The Stranger so popular.

Like Camus's work, The Mandarins reflects modern man's, here woman's, conflicts and anguish. Her work also centers on social and political issues passionately debated by her intellectual contemporaries.