Book: The Plague

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The Plague
Albert Camus
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A haunting tale of human resilience and hope in the face of unrelieved horror, Albert Camus' iconic novel about an epidemic ravaging the people of a North African coastal town is a classic of twentieth-century literature. The townspeople of Oran are in the grip of a deadly plague, which condemns its victims to a swift and horrifying death. Fear, isolation and claustrophobia follow as they are forced into quarantine. Each person responds in their own way to the lethal disease: some resign themselves to fate, some seek blame, and a few, like Dr. Rieux, resist the terror. An immediate triumph when it was published in 1947, The Plague is in part an allegory of France's suffering under the Nazi occupation, and a timeless story of bravery and determination against the precariousness of human existence.

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Book Club read. I thought I would like the book better as I’m pretty appreciative of Albert Camus’ quotes (even got one tattoo of it), but I found the 20-45% (mostly book 2) to drag a little on too long - I read all that but nothing really stuck. Then books 3, 4, and 5 got better.

Some of the characters were predictable; I saw through Cottard, and the priest, coming to think of it. I even instinctively knew what would happen to the Doctor’s wife.

There were some lines that I really resonated with, but I just started to use Koreader so wasn’t sure how to go about highlighting or jotting stuff down… I’ve lost the location and can’t find those parts.