On my shelf for a long time, but little seemed more appropriate than reading this in the current COVID-19 environment. That said, my reading of the novel was influenced by current news. I kept looking for, and finding, parallels, and also wondering how it would all end. Any work such as this naturally fuses elements of fact and fiction to suggest that how the townsfolk of Oran, where the novel is set, manage through the plague is in some way allegorical in reference to the French resistance versus Nazi Germany, however, seemed far-fetched to me. More, what intrigues me about The Plague is how Camus uses it as a vehicle to explain the human condition. Naturally all of the novel's protagonists are forced to consider their own existence/meaning of life. One (Tarrou) even wonders if a metaphorical ‘plague’ (an inability to do unambiguous good — without wanting to consider any moral relativism) lives within all of us. Naturally, from fear and isolation courage and determination do show through. However absurd human existence, or its conditions may be, life goes on. 8/10.
By Albert Camus