Reviews with content warning for Grief - Dịch Hạch

Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Dịch Hạch by Albert Camus

17 reviews

veni_vidi_legi's review against another edition

dark reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

I wish I could say something exceedingly profound about this book, but I’m not quite sure what I could say that the book itself hasn’t already said. It was rather long, but I didn’t especially mind. I liked it. It was very thoughtful and Camus had a way of portraying human emotions and behaviors extremely accurately. I feel like I’ll think back on this book for a while

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bilbili's review against another edition

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reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

No bc why didn’t anyone tell me this book’s so gay??

Kinda long but I feel like it was worth it

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musicalpopcorn's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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toffishay's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

There exploration of collective grief and suffering in this book reached into my chest, grabbed my heart and squeezed, and won't let go. I think that this will stay with me for a while. The straightforward writing perfectly and bluntly described the despair of dying and living in a plague. Simple sentences described unimaginable death and sadness.

The book is explicit that in a situation like this, there are no heroes. There are people hurting and healing and hurting all over again. Life is both paused and unending in a time of isolation and confinement. While not being heroes, the names characters that we do follow help connect with the world and give you something to hold onto in the midst of a huge collective event. Dr. Rieux especially won't get out of my head, but all of the characters are complex and layered. Through their inner thoughts and especially through their interactions with each other and their community, you see the tiny ways that people seek control, connection, or commiseration in the midst of death where everything, even the next day is uncertain.

What I have come to like about Camus, that I think could turn people away or be very polarizing, is that he offers a very particular brand of hope. His books, this one included, have a theme of the necessity of human hope. We are looking for distractions, but that can only get us so far and often alienate us from our true selves. Hope offers a window for something new and encourages you to fight for what matters, but hope doesn't always mean that things will be better. There will be pain again. There will be death again. All we can do is work through it and find what's worth fighting for.

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