The Plague

"Life amidst the culture of death, renewing and growing despite the oppressing force of absurdity and, metaphorically, fascism. I always think of this book when the rats come out."

"Camus’s best work in my humble opinion. the stranger starts off slow, but this book starts off with rats dying, then proceeds to get to people becoming afflicted, until everyone is sick. we see the mindsets of our protagonists changing, and molding to the chasm the plague has left and created in the algerian society it inhabits. 11/10. i recommend getting the modernized version if you do not have the best vocabulary knowledge, as it took me a month just because of the antique words with the stuart gilbert version. "

"Great read for the Covid19 lockdown. Amazing how far we've come and yet many of the situations described are still relevant today. We don't change much."

"I read this at the same time as the Nightingale by Kristin Hannah (HIGHLY RECOMMEND), which takes place in France during WWII. Since this book is an allegory to it, I looked at both books to see the comparisons. Overall, both books made me realize that the opposite of hope and love is isolation.<br/><br/>During the plague, although the book shows a collective suffering in the city, they are also very self-centered, burning down houses (adding another problem to people also responding to the plague) and other instances. But the plague that Camus wants us to see is that we must be united. WWII made people scared to talk with others, helping their families to survive and not be taken by the Germans. The way this plague kept others apart, people slowly lost their hope, they lost the importance that is other people. You can see how the plague ends when people buy into the hope, when they can be together.<br/><br/>Overall, I did not want to read this as a book about the pandemic, I don't need to read it, I lived it. However, Camus' writing and Marris' ability to translate the words so well is what kept me reading. In her acknowledgements, she writes "Real hope, for Camus, isn't heroic- it's quiet and necessary and it hurts (how I could on and on about this one sentence). I think her insights to this book and added research made this book a true masterpiece.<br/>"

"Eeriely relevant today"

"I’m re-reading it and gaining a whole new appreciation of it given what we are living through now with COVID-19. Unfortunately it is all too poignant for our current times. "

"This book is about a plague pandemic in the mid 1900s from the perspective of a doctor. This book captivated me for how in depth every single character was as each had their own philosophical approach to life. Themes in this are also religion, purpose, morality, and death. "

"Mandatory Covid reading"

"“…nothing is less sensational than pestilence, and by reason of their very duration great misfortunes are monotonous. In the memories of those who lived through them, the grim days of plague do not stand out…”<br/><br/>"