wyliem's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
slow-paced
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Grief, Medical trauma, Blood, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Chronic illness, Body horror, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content
lectrixnoctis's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
2.0
Daniel Defoe was an English writer and journalist in the early Enlightenment era. His ordinal name is most likely Daniel Foe, and he was born in London in 1660. Defoe later added the more aristocratic sounding "De" to his name, and on occasion, claimed descent from the family of De Beau Faux. In his childhood, he experienced the Great Plague of London in 1665 and the Great Fire of London in the following year. Additionally, his mother died when he was only about ten years old. Nonetheless, he is probably most known for his novels, although he has many political pamphlets and satirical poems. He is most known for his book "Robinson Crusoe".
"A Journal of the Plague Years" refers to the before-mentioned Great Plague, which killed more than 100.000 people between December 1664 and February 1666 in London. The story is fictionalised based on the events that Defoe has witnessed as a young child. The author of the journal H.F. notes that Londoners believe that the plague might return to London as newspapers report cases in nearby Holland. The first cases in London appeared in December 1664. The city experiences relatively few cases at first until May 1665. The author considers fleeing the city to live with H.F.'s elder brother in the countryside. A Bible passage convinces him to stay in London. The Deaths by July reach around 1,700 per week. H.F. notices that people's temperaments and emotions are changing rather quickly. Fewer people go out, and many starts to shutter up their homes. Londoners believe as early as autumn 1664 that a calamity is coming to an end them all. They believe this because they have seen a comet over the city. Therefore, they turn to soothsayers and fortune-tellers to find out if they will survive the plague or not. Londoners buy up dubious cures and treatments. H.F. does not believe in these superstitions since he is a devout Christianity.
The plague arrives in December 1664 sets off a great panic in the city. Many Londoners, including the English royal family, flee to the countryside to save themselves. Many doctors and nurses also run. Therefore there are fewer people to treat the sick. H.F. has massive respect for the medical professionals who remain and help those suffering from the disease. After that, the reader follows the extreme damage the plague has left and found out more about the lives of the people who have to remain and their daily life in that epidemic.
The events of this book are told by a first-person narrator who lived during the Great Plague. Sometimes the journal dresses the reader directly by using the second person. The story is written in the past tense; hence, the narrator writes many years after the events.
The Thames of this book is not surprisingly quite dark, for example, the morbid curiosity of the author throughout the whole book. H.F. mentioned are plenty of disturbing facts and occurrences. He describes the inhumane suffering of the people and the monied way they found their end. Since the author wants to be as accurate as possible, he even ventures outside to track terrifying events, such as the mass graves.
Another theme is the inhumanity of the people living through this dark age. The plague has brought put the worst in Londoners. The watchman murders if only one person has remained sick in the house they are watching. Many people even broke into homes to steal from those who were either dead or ill. As mentioned, many cannot find medical care and have to die in horrible ways, leading to the cruel practice of this time. Defoe criticise many arguments for perusing the reader that people have to deal with the plague correctly and mentioned that if people had remained calm and quarantined in houses, the disease would not have this enormous chance to wrap someone's lives out.
Although many Londoners go to fortune-tellers and try to see if they will make it out of the plague, the author remains a robust Christian belief. In his opinion, only Christians can bring salvation and his faith is not proven wrong since eventually, the plague goes away.
This book was very intriguing and quite informative to read. However, reading this in the age of COVID-19 felt a little bit strange. There were many parallels in that plague with our current pandemic, and I have to say human behaviour does not change even after almost 400 years. We may not murder each other, but we still are very short-tempered out of fear. I would not recommend this book to the vast majority. However, I do believe history nerds will find it enjoyable. For me, the description was a bit too dry and unnecessary detailed at times.
"A Journal of the Plague Years" refers to the before-mentioned Great Plague, which killed more than 100.000 people between December 1664 and February 1666 in London. The story is fictionalised based on the events that Defoe has witnessed as a young child. The author of the journal H.F. notes that Londoners believe that the plague might return to London as newspapers report cases in nearby Holland. The first cases in London appeared in December 1664. The city experiences relatively few cases at first until May 1665. The author considers fleeing the city to live with H.F.'s elder brother in the countryside. A Bible passage convinces him to stay in London. The Deaths by July reach around 1,700 per week. H.F. notices that people's temperaments and emotions are changing rather quickly. Fewer people go out, and many starts to shutter up their homes. Londoners believe as early as autumn 1664 that a calamity is coming to an end them all. They believe this because they have seen a comet over the city. Therefore, they turn to soothsayers and fortune-tellers to find out if they will survive the plague or not. Londoners buy up dubious cures and treatments. H.F. does not believe in these superstitions since he is a devout Christianity.
The plague arrives in December 1664 sets off a great panic in the city. Many Londoners, including the English royal family, flee to the countryside to save themselves. Many doctors and nurses also run. Therefore there are fewer people to treat the sick. H.F. has massive respect for the medical professionals who remain and help those suffering from the disease. After that, the reader follows the extreme damage the plague has left and found out more about the lives of the people who have to remain and their daily life in that epidemic.
The events of this book are told by a first-person narrator who lived during the Great Plague. Sometimes the journal dresses the reader directly by using the second person. The story is written in the past tense; hence, the narrator writes many years after the events.
The Thames of this book is not surprisingly quite dark, for example, the morbid curiosity of the author throughout the whole book. H.F. mentioned are plenty of disturbing facts and occurrences. He describes the inhumane suffering of the people and the monied way they found their end. Since the author wants to be as accurate as possible, he even ventures outside to track terrifying events, such as the mass graves.
Another theme is the inhumanity of the people living through this dark age. The plague has brought put the worst in Londoners. The watchman murders if only one person has remained sick in the house they are watching. Many people even broke into homes to steal from those who were either dead or ill. As mentioned, many cannot find medical care and have to die in horrible ways, leading to the cruel practice of this time. Defoe criticise many arguments for perusing the reader that people have to deal with the plague correctly and mentioned that if people had remained calm and quarantined in houses, the disease would not have this enormous chance to wrap someone's lives out.
Although many Londoners go to fortune-tellers and try to see if they will make it out of the plague, the author remains a robust Christian belief. In his opinion, only Christians can bring salvation and his faith is not proven wrong since eventually, the plague goes away.
This book was very intriguing and quite informative to read. However, reading this in the age of COVID-19 felt a little bit strange. There were many parallels in that plague with our current pandemic, and I have to say human behaviour does not change even after almost 400 years. We may not murder each other, but we still are very short-tempered out of fear. I would not recommend this book to the vast majority. However, I do believe history nerds will find it enjoyable. For me, the description was a bit too dry and unnecessary detailed at times.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Terminal illness, Torture, and Violence
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