Plague - Downstairs Office

368 pages

English language

Published Aug. 8, 2020 by Penguin Books, Limited.

ISBN:: 978-0-241-45887-7
ASIN:: B00GH0XTI2

Set in a town consumed by a deadly virus, The Plague is Albert Camus's world-renowned fable of fear and courage.

The townspeople of Oran are in the grip of a deadly plague, which condemns its victims to a swift and horrifying death. Fear, isolation and claustrophobia follow as they are forced into quarantine. Each person responds in their own way to the lethal disease: some resign themselves to fate, some seek blame, and a few, like Dr Rieux, resist the terror.

An immediate triumph when it was published in 1947, The Plague is in part an allegory of France's suffering under the Nazi occupation, and a story of bravery and determination against the precariousness of human existence.

Set in a town consumed by a deadly virus, The Plague is Albert Camus's world-renowned fable of fear and courage.

The townspeople of Oran are in the grip of a deadly plague, which condemns its victims to a swift and horrifying death. Fear, isolation and claustrophobia follow as they are forced into quarantine. Each person responds in their own way to the lethal disease: some resign themselves to fate, some seek blame, and a few, like Dr Rieux, resist the terror.

An immediate triumph when it was published in 1947, The Plague is in part an allegory of France's suffering under the Nazi occupation, and a story of bravery and determination against the precariousness of human existence.

77 editions

Richard M reviewed The Plague by Albert Camus (Modern library college editions)

Perhaps too real

4 stars

I started reading this nearly a year ago and it was just moving so slowly and perhaps was too reminiscent of real quarantines that we experienced just a couple years back.

This is one of the hardest books I've fought my way through in recent memory, but I think that's largely me, and covid that have made this difficult.

It's well written and definitely conveys much of the feel of a city shut down as happened in 2020, decades after it was written.

The characters are well described and motivations, such as they exist, are also outlined well. Some people break down, perhaps not just the weak. Situations like this where control is absent, the end is unpredictable for many.

Characters die, for no particular rhyme or reason, just as happens in life.

I'm not clear on why the narrator's voice was a big secret …

I started reading this nearly a year ago and it was just moving so slowly and perhaps was too reminiscent of real quarantines that we experienced just a couple years back.

This is one of the hardest books I've fought my way through in recent memory, but I think that's largely me, and covid that have made this difficult.

It's well written and definitely conveys much of the feel of a city shut down as happened in 2020, decades after it was written.

The characters are well described and motivations, such as they exist, are also outlined well. Some people break down, perhaps not just the weak. Situations like this where control is absent, the end is unpredictable for many.

Characters die, for no particular rhyme or reason, just as happens in life.

I'm not clear on why the narrator's voice was a big secret throughout. While I didn't guess, the answer makes sense, though any other surviving character would make sense as well.