“Treeless, glamourless, soulless, the town of Oran ends by seeming restful and, after a while, you go complacently to sleep there.”
The Plague is set in Oran, a city in Algeria that experiences a breakout of the Bubonic plague, and is soon placed under quarantine. We witness the changes among this community as they are cut off from the outside world; they experience all manners of emotions from hysteria, despondency, avarice, uncertainty,self-reflection and fear.
The Plague is definitely a depressing book, it couldn’t be otherwise with the subject matter discussed. I am ,in general, a squeamish person so some of the plague descriptions were hard to take, but I have to say, they made me even more impressed by Camus’ writing style.
I liked the structure of the book. The story was told by an anonymous narrator, who promised to reveal himself at the end of the book. I think the fact that he used another plague-witness’ diary in this story definitely added richness to the narrative.
One of the most exciting parts in the book for me was when the narrator mentioned the court case from “The Stranger” in passing!
So, once again, I am very impressed by Camus. Definitely not an easy read but a rewarding one
When was this book set? I’m in love with medieval stories that center around the plague.
Unfortunately it’s not medieval:( It was set maybe 100 years ago?