The Plague by Albert Camus

“Rats die, plague comes, existential crisis sets in, plague vanishes”

Overview: The Plague is a novel by Albert Camus, published in 1947, that tells the story of a plague sweeping the French Algerian city of Oran. It asks a number of questions relating to the nature of destiny and the human condition. The characters in the book, ranging from doctors to vacationers to fugitives, all help to show the effects the plague has on a populace.

I liked and simultaneously disliked this book. Super cool concept and interesting how things played out, but I didn’t like the way it was written. Camus, at least in this novel, uses very colorful language and while there are some good lines, like “Plague had killed all colors, vetoed pleasure,” a lot of the writing is very philosophical and sometimes I had to go back and reread things to make sure I was understanding. I found myself thinking "huh? what did the narrator just say? What did he mean?"

In general, this book is about human resilience in the face of horror/sickness/plague and it definitely took me a few weeks to get through it. Yes, it was a novel, with a plot and central characters, but it also felt like a a social, political, philosophical commentary.

One thing to note, the vocabulary used in this novel was extensive. Here are some of my favorites:

Slake - Turgid - Excoriate - Irascible - Imperturbable - Pique - Deprecate - Desultory

The Outsider by Albert Camus

“If you can’t handle heat, don’t go to the beach”

The story is about a man who kills an Arab in French Algiers during a conflict with a friend. He is tried and sentenced to death. The story is divided into two parts, presenting the main character’s first-person narrative view before and after the murder.

This was a Christmas gift, so although I don’t like first person novels, I powered through this 116 page classic in a day or two. Overall, it was interesting, but I wouldn’t read it again. At one point in the story, I wondered if the main character was mentally handicapped or a psychopath, someone born without empathy towards people or animals. In the end, I just realized he was pragmatic, and that instead of feeling guilty for the murder, I can understand why he states he simply feels annoyed by the legal proceedings.

The book had some good lines mixed in with the plain descriptions of his surroundings. One quote that stuck out to me was, “According to the priest, human justice was nothing and divine justice was everything. I pointed out that it was the former which had condemned me.”

I also don’t know if I agree with the quote on the cover, because I’m not sure how much this book marked my life, and certainly not ‘indelibly’.