Reviews with content warning for Child death - Dịch Hạch

The main characters confused me quite a bit for a majority of the book. I wasn't sure who was who and mixed them up until the end. I thought the author friends died but he lived in the end so who died besides his doctor friend and the pastor??? I don't know. I do know, however, that none of the characters (remarkably all men) were really likable, so I wasn't exactly invested in their fates.
Though I think this was the right time to read this book, you know since COVID is the a thing after 2 years. The growing apathy you developed over the months of lockdown and no social interaction was exactly how I felt these past years, so that was great. I hope our pandemic ends soon and we can have the kinds of reunion like the people of Oran had in the end. The fear that it'll come back stays though.

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rld1727's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

Was very surprised by how much I loved this book, especially as it’s a bit like reading “Early COVID Response: the Novel.” It is pretty uncanny at times, but also rather cathartic. I’m not sure I would have liked it as much if I had read it pre-pandemic.

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margztgz's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Having read The Stranger last year, I was excited to pick up my third writing by Camus. However, I can't say I loved this novel as much. I greatly appreciate the absurd optimism (if it can be called that) in comparison to the emptiness that the stranger made me feel. It's like yes! Life is meaningless and any understanding of stability in your life is fragile. But hey, it's not so bad when people can love and suffer together.

I thought that his writing was very beautiful in some parts of this, and the descriptions of emotional distancing, degeneration, and plague that the citizens experienced is eerily similar to very real experiences of the pandemic. In fact, many of his descriptions were frighteningly specific and made me tear up. Most of the characters I was not very connected to which turns me off. But alas, this is Albert Camus. It is not about connection, it's about philosophy, damn it!

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farbooksventure's review against another edition

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dark reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.5

I finally read my first Camus! Really thankful for Reka with whom I buddy read the book. If not for this, I’m going to keep procrastinating for months.

This book caught my eye way back in 2020 after I watched this particular Puppet History episode. At the beginning of the pandemic, I added a lot of pandemic-related books into my TBR list. The Plague will be the first of them that I actually ~~(eventually)~~ read. The book is exactly what it says on the tin.

Told by a mysterious narrator who will reveal themself at the end, The Plague is an account of what happened when a city was swept by plague. One part at the beginning when rats dying en-masse aboveground will stay with me for a while. The story basically follows a cast of characters & how they deal with the situation. As far as a plague story goes, it was horrific & devastating, yes. It also ends on a pretty hopeful note, all things considered.

I must admit that I was intimidated by the philosophy label, at first. My worries abate when I realize that I can follow the writing (and the idea) quite well. The translation is good too. It also feels like a slow-read, but I'm not sure whether it’s due to the writing style or simply the effect of reading an account of life under a pandemic.

I found this particular passage quite apt in describing my feeling for the last 2-3 years:

“In the memories of those who lived through them, the grim days of plague do not stand out like vivid flames, ravenous and inextinguishable, beaconing a troubled sky, but rather like the slow, deliberate progress of some monstrous thing crushing out all upon its path."

All in all, The Plague is not the most ideal read when you go through one. Still, I'm curious about how my opinion would change in the following years or after I read other works by Camus. I also keep my rating in the range of three because I felt the absence of meaningful woman character(s) in the story quite acutely.

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syphoche's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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zickzackzachi's review against another edition

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challenging dark hopeful informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Es ist schon erschreckend die Parallelen zwischen der Pest Epidemie und der derzeitigen Covid-19 Pandemie festzustellen! in so vielen Dingen. Seuchen/Pandemien/Epidemien sind des Menschen ewigerer, schrecklicher Begleiter und kommt dann zum Vorschein, wenn es niemand erwartet.

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thevampiremars's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Reading The Plague in the midst of a pandemic is an odd experience. It’s hard to say whether it makes the story more impactful or less. The idea of a city going into lockdown isn’t particularly shocking to me now, but, at the same time, I can appreciate the accuracy of the depiction in a way I wouldn’t have been able to previously.

At the heart of the story is Camus’s absurdist philosophy. I’m not being hyperbolic when I say it has genuinely changed my life. I’ve often struggled with hopelessness and pessimism, so the insistence on fighting losing battles – on knowing you can’t fix the world but doing the best you can regardless – was something I took to heart. This philosophy most obviously manifests in the actions and beliefs of the protagonists (“Your victories will always be temporary, that’s all.” [...] “Always, I know that. But that is not a reason to give up the struggle.”) but there’s also something to be said about the way it intertwines with other themes. Take language, for instance. There is initially some debate over whether or not the plague should be called a plague, the citizens of Oran struggle to verbalise their anguish when the city is quarantined, and Grand is stuck writing and rewriting the first line of his novel. Words are not enough to accurately describe the human experience, but we try to communicate with them anyway. The irony of this message being conveyed through a work of literature does not escape me.

Speaking of language, my copy of The Plague features a sub-par translation, and I’m going to attribute the clunky sentence structure and wonky grammar to overly-literal translation from French to English. Nevertheless, Camus’s skill as a writer shines through. Something I picked up on was the way he set the mood through careful pacing. The book starts off slow and meandering when discussing the banality of life in Oran before the plague, then pivots to quick, urgent clauses when the plague strikes. It’s masterful.

There are some aspects of the book which deserve criticism (for example, women exist only in their relationships to men) but there’s also so much to love. I think this is the best novel I’ve ever read? I will definitely be checking out the rest of Camus’s work.

Hats off, gentlemen!

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