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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
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
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I came into this book with the wrong expectations. I was expecting a horror (I mean, just look at the cover), and the first fourth of the book felt like it was shaping up to be, but a lot of the grotesque details stopped there and were replaced by a more factual, philosophical narrative. I still enjoyed it, but I do wish that the plague were treated as more of an antagonist and less of a simple occurrence.
I'm aware Camus is all about philosophy, but this book had way too much useless fluff. Too much of a slog to push through.
With the Coronavirus pandemic and the return of the fascist plague this book is extremely relevant to right now. I found it rather difficult to get through as the prose is extremely terse and it just didn't grab my attention. But the ideas contained within it are extremely important and were meant to be easy to read by large amounts of people, not just intellectuals. Camus uses the plague and it's dormant spores which lay in wait to activate and spread as an allegory for fascism. The novel begins explaining that the city where it takes place is a place where people live to work and are obsessed with money and status when they begin to become consumed by the plague. Sounds familiar... It ends explaining that the plague never dies but lays dormant in spores all around, including in some books. There is no moralizing, only that there is the plague. You resist the plague through kindness and decency. I find this clear eyed view of human nature to be important and necessary in our time. Normally I would give this book probably 2 stars for enjoyment but for Camus and his ideas I cranked it up to a 4.
dark
reflective
slow-paced
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes