THE PLAGUE by ALBERT CAMUS

"Everybody knows that pestilences have a way of recurring in the world; yet somehow we find it hard to believe in ones that crash down on our heads from a blue sky. There have been as many plagues as wars in history; yet always plagues and wars take people equally by surprise.

What's natural is the microbe. All the rest — health, integrity, purity (if you like) — is a product of the human will, of a vigilance that must never falter. The good man, the man who infects hardly anyone, is the man who has the fewest lapses of attention."

Personal rating: 8.6/10

Whatever can be said about this novel, will never truly be enough.

Its a part of a tragic human history that we are all we aware of. Yes, The Plague, the Black Death, the "pandemic", sounds relatable right, the word pandemic?

No doubt this novel became a silent best seller during the time of COVID-19 Pandemic.

The story, or rather should I say, the incident takes place in the city of Oran, Algiers, when it still used to be a part of France, that all of a sudden a very queer, unnatural outburst of rats was witnessed. People couldn't understand what was happening. All they knew was for some cause, the rats from the sewers, attics, undergrounds, factories were coming out of their holes and pathetically dying in the open. Streets were filled with dead rats, all over the city.

Yet people had absolutely no idea what was to come. Almost after sometime after the incident with the rats, people started getting deadly sick.

The story accounts on the description of the doctor who was a part of this huge tragic epidemic, Dr. Bernard Rieux.

Deaths after deaths were happening and people were parted not only from their lovers or families, but from the outside world itself.

It was as if like they were home-prisoned. The streets were empty, the beaches were gray and the every mouth silent; only a wail of agony then and now. Death was in the air, and The Plague was the grim repear.

Rieux lost many people amongst whom were Father Paneloux, Cottard and even his own wife.

The death of Father Paneloux, a Jesuit in the part of the Oran, and many other renowned people proved that The Plague wasn't being biased. It didn't care who you were or what you were, social standing didn't matter, it grasped and crushed everyone that came its way. And death, sweet and silent death was the only way out of the grotesque suffering.

It is true that pestilences have a way of occurring, time and time its been proved and even now in 21st century, humans face what forced the whole world to halt: the deadly Corona Virus.

Reading this novel was too relatable and there was so much just so much in common. The pain, the suffering, the fear, the solitude, the restlessness, everything again and again, was what grasped people and once again, people were helpless, hopeless and under the mercy of a mere virus. Be it a microbe, or a virus or anything, humanity time and again have always known the worse, and yet everything surprises him.

Camus narrates the story through Rieux.

A must read!

Thank you for reading!!