Welcome to the epidemic city: a place where rumors run wild, government can’t coordinate relief, religious authorities rave ineffectually, and no one knows what today, much less tomorrow, holds in store. At first the citizens of Oran panic and revolt, but before long, as if numbed by the summer sun, their alarm gives way to despondency and resignation. Bodies are piled high in the streets, neighborhoods stink of pestilential flesh, homes are burned, and citizens wander in a hopeless daze. Yet somehow life goes on. The Plague has the intensity of a medical thriller, but it’s more than that. Through his matter-of-fact narration of this book’s horrifying events and their aftermath, Camus manages to convey the lesson, as hopeful as it is simple, that he believes we are taught, not only by pestilence, but by existence itself, "that there are more things to admire in men than to despise."
Reading this after the Covid-19 shut down was lifted in my city was interesting. The Plague shares several elements we used in the shut down but goes even farther. I liked how Camus portrayed different characters some who stepped up and did more than was required of them, while others didn't.
So much to relate to during COVID, this is a powerful read. I think it'd stick with me even without living through the pandemic. It gives me hope for what the future could look like.
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