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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
another amazing application of absurdism, there were just too many moving parts for my enjoyment despite it being a plot minimal book
Part 1:
"Rats died in the street; men in their homes. And newspapers are concerned only with the street."
"We tell ourselves that pestilence is a mere bogy of the mind, a bad dream that will pass away. But it doesn't always pass away and, from one bad dream to another, it is men who pass away."
Part 2:
"Thus, too, they came to know the incorrigible sorrow of all prisoners and exiles, which is to live in company with a memory that serves no purpose."
"Hostile to the past, impatient of the present, and cheated of the future, we were much like those whom men's justice, or hatred, forces to live behind prison bars."
"Death means nothing to men like me.”
"Invariably their epical or prize-speech verbiage jarred on the doctor. Needless to say, he knew the sympathy was genuine enough. But it could be expressed only in the conventional language with which men try to express what unites them with mankind in general; a vocabulary quite unsuited, for example, to Grand's small daily effort."
"I've seen enough people who die for an idea. I don't believe in heroism; I know it's easy and I've learnt it can be murderous. What interests me is living and dying for what one loves."
Part 3:
"The habit of despair is worse than despair itself."
Part 4:
"No, Father. I've a very different idea of love. And until my dying day, I shall refuse to love a scheme of things in which children are put to torture."
"Nobody is capable of really thinking about anyone, even in the worst calamity."
“Yes, I've been ashamed ever since; I have realized that we all have plague, and I have lost my peace."
"What's natural is the microbe. All the rest — health, integrity, purity (if you like) — is a product of the human will, of a vigilance that must never falter. The good man, the man who infects hardly anyone, is the man who has the fewest lapses of attention."
Part 5:
"Once the faintest stirring of hope became possible, the dominion of the plague was ended."
"So all a man could win in the conflict between plague and life was knowledge and memories."
"If there is one thing one can always yearn for and sometimes attain, it is human love."
"What we learn in time of pestilence: that there are more things to admire in men than to despise."
And the final paragraph of part 5 is amazing -
-
I REALLY tried to limit my self to only a few quotes but this was a reading experience i absolutely adored it. (except for the when I was at the end of part 4 and I spoiled Tarrous death for myself by google
"Rats died in the street; men in their homes. And newspapers are concerned only with the street."
"We tell ourselves that pestilence is a mere bogy of the mind, a bad dream that will pass away. But it doesn't always pass away and, from one bad dream to another, it is men who pass away."
Part 2:
"Thus, too, they came to know the incorrigible sorrow of all prisoners and exiles, which is to live in company with a memory that serves no purpose."
"Hostile to the past, impatient of the present, and cheated of the future, we were much like those whom men's justice, or hatred, forces to live behind prison bars."
"Death means nothing to men like me.”
"Invariably their epical or prize-speech verbiage jarred on the doctor. Needless to say, he knew the sympathy was genuine enough. But it could be expressed only in the conventional language with which men try to express what unites them with mankind in general; a vocabulary quite unsuited, for example, to Grand's small daily effort."
"I've seen enough people who die for an idea. I don't believe in heroism; I know it's easy and I've learnt it can be murderous. What interests me is living and dying for what one loves."
Part 3:
"The habit of despair is worse than despair itself."
Part 4:
"No, Father. I've a very different idea of love. And until my dying day, I shall refuse to love a scheme of things in which children are put to torture."
"Nobody is capable of really thinking about anyone, even in the worst calamity."
“Yes, I've been ashamed ever since; I have realized that we all have plague, and I have lost my peace."
"What's natural is the microbe. All the rest — health, integrity, purity (if you like) — is a product of the human will, of a vigilance that must never falter. The good man, the man who infects hardly anyone, is the man who has the fewest lapses of attention."
Part 5:
"Once the faintest stirring of hope became possible, the dominion of the plague was ended."
"So all a man could win in the conflict between plague and life was knowledge and memories."
"If there is one thing one can always yearn for and sometimes attain, it is human love."
"What we learn in time of pestilence: that there are more things to admire in men than to despise."
And the final paragraph of part 5 is amazing -
-
I REALLY tried to limit my self to only a few quotes but this was a reading experience i absolutely adored it. (except for the when I was at the end of part 4 and I spoiled Tarrous death for myself by google
I enjoyed the story! though i do have the feeling that im maybe missing some underlying views/story
WHY DID TARROU HAVE TO DIE OMG CAMUS I’M FINDING A WAY TO RESURRECT YOU JUST TO KILL YOU AGAIN
I didn't expect much from this book, because 1. I don't usually read classical literature or anything inside the "high culture", 2. I read the Stranger beforehand and it didn't impress me and 3. l had to read it because one of my course in uni. Maybe it was beacuse the whole Covid situation or maybe because I just genually prefer some action beside the existential crisis, but for me it was a pleasant reading. I don't say that it's my favourite book now, because obviously not, sometimes it was quite boring and the ending was not really satisfying, but all in all among the plenty "belles-lettres" which want to appear smart and new and etc The Plague was a thought-provoking reading without being too lecturing and I symphatised with the characters and was geniuelly curious about their fates.
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
reflective
tense
medium-paced
the plague by Albert Camus is a book of contradictions. it is both ahead of its time and before it. the statistics of the news are locked in battle with the individual cases in town, and the meaningless stares into the face of meaning. Camus' typical tone and values battle against some of his less explored ideas, but equally the town, painted in words, white with dust, saturated with sea smells, loud with the howl of the wind... is anything but empty, and the many dimensions of each detailed character and setting bring the atmosphere down from interesting and thoughtful, to unsettling, and provide application and overall significance to his ideas.
dark
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes