Reviews with content warning for Medical content - The Plague

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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clstrifes's review

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challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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woundedhouse's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

karin_goodreads's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense

4.0

Read it for school. I loved doctor Rieux and Tarrou the most. Their dynamic was already good, but it could've been something amazing, if explored more!! (~~I was~~ ~~kind of~~ ~~shipping them, but a bromance will do.~~) For some reason they reminded me of Hamlet and Horatio, I can't pinpoint the reason, but the thought was pretty consistent in my mind after finishing the book. I liked the other characters too, but I just loved those two. I feel like they had a connection. ☹️

It was heartbreaking to see Tarrou die 💔 Rieux basically witnessed everyone dying around him - it made me cry in the end.

I feel like I haven't read something like this in a long while, so I'm thankful to our literature teacher for having us read it. I was a bit skeptical of the story at first, but soon I was into it and ready for more :D

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