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The Plague

Albert Camus

Start date: August 1, 2020

Finish date: August 15, 2020

Discussion: Classics Corner

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Dec 19, 2021 Ken rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: finished-in-2021, world-literature

Some people read plague slash pandemic slash biological warfare books during Covid just because. And some people don't read plague slash pandemic slash biological books during Covid just because.

I belong to neither group, really. This one just so happens. And I just so happen to like Camus, though I must say it wasn't exactly ho-ho-ho timing reading it into the week before Christmas. Especially the second Christmas to be rained upon by Covid. In a big way. When there was brief hope the Greek let Some people read plague slash pandemic slash biological warfare books during Covid just because. And some people don't read plague slash pandemic slash biological books during Covid just because.

I belong to neither group, really. This one just so happens. And I just so happen to like Camus, though I must say it wasn't exactly ho-ho-ho timing reading it into the week before Christmas. Especially the second Christmas to be rained upon by Covid. In a big way. When there was brief hope the Greek letters might all go away.

Anyway, Camus' book offers similarities and differences to the front page of our newspapers. His plague is Black Death Redux complete with buboes (you'll remember them from school) and an opening act featuring rats. So that's different. And really, it seems the plague bedevils only a town in Algeria here. So it's close the gates so no one gets out and no one gets in. Read it and weep your Wuhan tears, then. And if you try to get out of Dodge, you get shot. Though I don't think there are more guns than people. That's a plague of another sort.

Still, a lot rings depressingly familiar. The reactions of people, chiefly. Depression, anger, resistance, cooperation, selfishness, empathy. Strangely, no masks or even Medieval bird beaks. How the good doctor/narrator makes so many house calls and survives is beyond me. All in the name of narration, I guess.

Some people manage to profit off of this plague. Prices go haywire, as disease puts the "in" to "inflation." People are separated, at least. Quarantine. And those who manage to flee, even illegally, Decameron-like (there's no telling if there are funny tales or not, though... as I said, it's the doctor's tale here...no Pardoner's in sight).

Camus inserts some philosophical and political flourishes, too. That's why there's a priest in the book. A priest with a sermon that doctors happen to have time to listen to. And a character who gives us a nice harangue against capital punishment, complete with the tidbit that firing squads stand two steps from their victims and fire at the heart, creating a hole for the ages (where the criminal, guilty or not, will spend a long time now).

Existential? I'll say. Men forging their own codes against a disease that will not quit. One that plays no favorites. One that can be random and fickle. One that is personified for full effect.

So edifying, yes. And keeps Camus high in my estimation. But grew a bit tough to finish, maybe because of me. Or the times. Or the un-holiday season. That I can't say. But it passes, and this Covid-19 (20, 21...), too, shall pass. Our only duty is to see it does before we do by doing as men and women do in this book -- fighting it together for the sake of all. ...more

34 likes · Like · see review

Mar 03, 2008 Laura rated it really liked it

Shelves: french-literature, fiction-20th-century, nobel-prize, 1001-books-you-must-read-before-you

The Plague is a novel published in 1947, that tells the story of a plague sweeping the French Algerian city of Oran. It asks a number of questions relating to the nature of destiny and the human condition. The characters in the book, ranging from doctors to vacationers to fugitives, all help to show the effects the plague has on a populace.

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Aug 08, 2009 Marius van Blerck rated it it was amazing

This is one of those books that you know is outstanding, but you can’t quite figure out why. The story is simple, the language uncomplicated, and the characters realistic. There is no tension, there’s no puzzle to solve, there are no intensely emotional relationships, and the circumstances are sombre … so what is it that makes it so good? I still can’t really answer the question, but I really rate the story. Maybe it’s just the sheer quality of the narrative, and the authenticity of the characte ...more

5 likes · Like · see review