Rating: 
Summary: Satisfaction For The Insurgence-Craved
Review: Saramago cannot help but to be compared to Camus, because human nature in extremis is also a strong concern in The Plague. The main character: a doctor by the name of Rieux, experiences the plague first-hand in his hometown. Rieux, like his neighbors, is ignorant to his surroundings. Throughout his experiences, it is obvious that he never looks into the eyes of reality until it is shoved in his face forcefully. He walks out of his door to step on a bloody rat, and instead of blaming infection he questions the waste management of the town. François Mauriac, upon exchange of editorials with Camus commented on the history behind the novel as an allegory for the German occupation of France: Controversy has put me up with one among you-certainly not the least formidable. The fever of your novel has reminded me of the pain of those years, the painful memories of my murdered friends, are what led me to the position I took: the Nazis, like rats are they! (30 November 1946) Camus, like Mauriac, took the same position , for he had actually been in the town of Oran when the German invasion took place, and his ties were severed from his wife and child. When he wrote his novel, The Plague, he portrayed himself as a essayist trying to reunite with his family: who is trying to fit in amongst a population who refutes his ideas as a rallyist, and an existentialist. His character: Rambert is a star shining amongst the haphazard and banal of his surroundings. His concerns are valid, and he is a little impatient at times, but as Camus writes: "you can get through the days there without trouble, once you have formed habits. And since habits are precisely what our town encourages, all is for the best" Rambert's first contact in the town is the concierge: M. Michel, the know-it-all of the town, the closest thing the town has to a mayor. M. Michel, as providence would have it is the first victim of the plague, very fitting that this metaphor for Nazist evil has cut the head off the town's leadership, and installed its reign of terror. A major component of this moving book is the longing for the outside world, and the people that live there, that the inhabitants of the stricken city experience. As a result of these feelings, the inhabitants find themselves understanding each other better, as does the reader. And when one day Rambert told him that he liked waking up at four in the morning and thinking of his beloved Paris, the doctor guessed easily enough, basing this on his own experience, that this was his favorite time for conjuring up pictures of the woman from whom he was now parted. This was, indeed, the hour when he could feel surest she was wholly his. Till four in the morning one is seldom doing anything and at that hour, even if the night has been a night of betrayal, one is asleep . Yes, everyone sleeps at that hour, and this is reassuring, since the great longing of an unquiet heart is to possess constantly and consciously the loved one, or, failing that, to be able to plunge the loved one, when a time of absence intervenes, into a dreamless sleep timed to last unbroken until the day they meet again." this novel has been beautifully translated and it was enjoyable to the end.
Rating:
Summary: Depressing, painful, slow moving...Excellent!
Review: Everthing written about how wonderful this book is is true. This book is hard core. But one thing I don't see is that this book shows that Camus could possibly rank as if not the greatest but one of the most talented writers of the 20th century. I read a lot of books, and I can't think of anyone besides Dostoyevsky that writes more powerful than Camus.
Rating: 
Summary: For those who wish to stare into the abyss....
Review: In a perfect world, I would have given this book 3 & a half stars, However, Amazon only allows full star increments. The novel was better than 3 stars, but not quite 4 stars.This is a story about a horrifying plague that takes place at a large city in Northern Africa. It does deliver on all of the advertised scenes of human anguish in their defenseless struggle against an enemy they cannot see. One can easily identify with the main character of the book, an overworked doctor who does his best to grapple with a microscopic foe that is intent on defeating his every effort to suppress the plague. As expected with Camus, it is also an existentialist novel. It explores how the "problem" of natural evil is apparently no longer answered satisfactorily by the Judeo-Christian tradition. It also toys with the thought of a possibility for sainthood for those who wish to be magnanimous in this life, but do not believe in God. The one serious issue I have with this book is with the ethics of the doctor. Throughout the book, there is a journalist from France who believes that it is "unfair" for him to be quarantined with the rest of the locals when he was, after all, just passing thru. This is a very human and understandable plight. However, the fellow not only devises plans of escaping from the city (and thus breaking quarantine) but even divulges these plans to the doctor. Instead of having him incarcerated for his intentions, the doctor actually encourages him to escape. That would be such a blatantly irresponsible course of action for a doctor to take that it goes well beyond the normal "suspension of disbelief" that we should have when engaging literature. The whole point of a quarantine is to isolate a disease so that it does not spread to other cities and countries. For a physician to go along with the aim of a person to break the isolation is nothing short of despicable. Other than that criticism, however, the book is everything it's cracked up to be. An important postmodern work.
Rating: 
Summary: Life is a Plague
Review: We have witnessed a resurrection. The inhabitants of Oran were the living dead. They were not living, they were existing. The plague taught them how to live. The clergy referred to it as a purge for sin. It was a purge but not in terms of good and evil. The plague purged the human spirit. After the nine month gestation period of the plague, there was the essence of a live worth living.
Rating:
Summary: ..then they came for us, and no one was left to say anything
Review: The plague by Albert Camus can be a very difficult piece to read. The most common complaint I have heard about it is how long the descriptions are. To appreciate this book you need to read it while thinking about what a brilliant allegory it is to the holocaust. Albert Camus identifies civilizations biggest problem, our omnipresent ego. It reminds me of a poem I read once, I don't remember it word for word but I will do my best. First they came for the Jews, but we were not Jews so we said nothing Then they came for the homosexuals, but we were not homosexual so we said nothing Then they came for the gypsies and the blacks and the Asians and the old and the handicapped, but we were none of these so we said nothing Then one day they came for us, and no one was left to say anything I definatly recommend this book. By the way, if anyone who reads this knows who the author is or the exact words please email me.
Rating:
Summary: Remarkable
Review: This book was remarkable. Readers who think the descriptions are 'too slow' need to have some patience and tolerance while reading it. It answers some of the fundamental questions of human existence and should give all readers some new questions to ask themselves.
Rating:
Summary: The Plague is about a gloomy town destined for change.
Review: The Plague by Albert Camus is about a gloomy town destined for change. The protagonist Dr. Rieux finds rats dying all over town, which ultimately results into an outbreak of bubonic plague. Being quarantined from the rest of the world, the people of Oran feel trapped, doomed to die. I enjoyed reading this novel, however I felt it went along slow. The author really made me feel the characters and their sorrow. It is a book I'd like to read again to fully understand some of the smaller issues.
Rating:
Summary: Good points, but overly descripted and elongated
Review: I found some of Camus' ideas very interesting, but the book could be compacted to under 100 pages. Also, the art in writing a book also includes the art of storytelling, which Camus is not a master of like Jack London. The book also does not possess the depth as those of Faulkner or Joyce, and I found it quite boring. The book is like the town: lifeless.
Rating:
Summary: Quintessential Existentialism
Review: "The Plague" is the archetypal piece of existentialism. Camus touches upon the human condition which in turn makes us ponder our own existence. Although the book is a trifle long, we as readers must be aware that a key characteristic of existentialism is attention to the mundane, this provides us with long descriptions of seemingly ungermane concepts. However, this book is a must for anyone who is interested in questioning man's existence, the belief in god, and the absurd. This book was translated from French, so at times, the book's sentence structure may seem akward. But the real importance lies in the extended metaphors that do not unfold immediately.
Rating:
Summary: It was AWESOME!!!!!
Review: This book may be one of the best books you'll ever read! It gave me chills as I read it the first time. As soon as I was done I turned right back to the first page and read it again. I love all of Camus work (The Stranger is another good one)! This book left me awestruck!!!!!
|
