kurtwombat 's review for:

A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe

4.25

dark informative sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: N/A

Loveable characters: N/A

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

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This book is a bit of a marvel. JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR is at once an historical artifact, over 300 years old, and a compelling docudrama that feels immediate and lived in.  Published almost 70 years after the 1665 events depicted,  it benefits from the historical distance but reads like local newspaper accounts. The stilted language will take some getting used to (language changes every day now, it has certainly changed since 1722)—sometimes I lost track of the author’s intent and/or felt I was reading in circles but either the author or I adjusted and the sailing was much smoother after about the midway point. 

 

Reading this on the heels of our recent global pandemic—all the more fascinating to see how we really haven’t changed. Hucksters and politicians selling fear while wallowing in their own greed and stupidity. Weaponizing fear is simply part of the human condition. So is self-delusion. It can’t happen here runs rampant until it falls down dead. Only way to save yourself is to remove yourself. The rich had this advantage—and still do.  

 

JOURNAL is also filled with the mechanics of day to day life. The process of the illness and disposal of the dead, the quarantining of houses and how that was enforced—and the general overall failure of said enforcement if the sick refused to be contained. Nature will find a way—especially when ignorance is your only weapon. This book is full of reminders that a pandemic or plague is more than just a bunch of statistics. Those who died were more than numbers and those who survived would never be the same.