Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Plague by Albert Camus

15 reviews

musicalpopcorn's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic and Chronic illness

Moderate: Medical content, Blood, Death, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Colonisation, Terminal illness, Gore, Forced institutionalization, and Grief

toffishay's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, Grief, Confinement, Medical content, Child death, Medical trauma, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Suicide attempt, Forced institutionalization, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Body horror, and Animal death

Minor: Excrement, Death of parent, Xenophobia, War, Police brutality, Gun violence, and Mass/school shootings

woundedhouse's review against another edition

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Blood, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Pandemic/Epidemic

risemini's review

dark reflective sad medium-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Child death, Death, Grief, Medical content, Violence, and Confinement

maddalenacesco's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

French town enters its epidemic era. relatable, in a tiktokless way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Grief, and Medical content

nadir's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness and Medical content

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Body horror, Grief, and Animal death

changbineyeskz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Body horror

Moderate: Confinement, Death of parent, Mental illness, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Blood, Grief, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal death and Animal cruelty

kibiiiariii's review

dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Confinement, Ableism, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Terminal illness, Animal cruelty, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Self harm, Grief, Medical content, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

annarodriguezmrz's review against another edition

reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Medical content

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Suicide attempt

schwambibambi's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

I don't know, I didn't particularly enjoy this book. It was fine I guess but I'll probably forget it in a year.
 

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Grief, and Medical content

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Animal death, Blood, and Child death