In the morning of April 16th, Doctor Bernard Rieux stepped out of his consulting room and came across a dead rat. What could this be? You don't really feel like laughing. Something is not right...

The port of Oran in Algeria is unexpectedly hit by an epidemic of bubonic plague. The epidemic will last almost a year (from April to February of the following year). Doctor Castel prepares a vaccine, Doctor Rieux tries to help the patients, organizes sanitary teams, visits and takes care of all of them, without making any distinction between patients. He is a kind of modern Zénon Ligre - the hero from Marguerite Yourcenar's The Philosophical Stone.

I would also quote the famous sentence in which the narrator reveals his identity towards the end of the book: "This chronicle is drawing to a close. It is time for Doctor Bernard Rieux to state that he is its author" (p.314).

Interpretations tend to link Camus' novel to the moment in which it was written. And the author himself, in a discussion with Roland Barthes in 1955, legitimized such a reading. Camus states that he proceeded allegorically and described, in reality, the "brown plague" and the way in which a harmful ideology "infects" an entire community. I would prefer, as usual, a literal interpretation. In The Plague, the French writer presents the way in which a group of people reacts to a mortal danger, in this case "the plague".

I cannot conclude my review without mentioning the civil servant Joseph Grand. He is working hard on a novel. But he manages to write and rewrite only one and the same sentence (absolutely memorable!): "On a beautiful May morning, a slender amazon, riding a magnificent sorrel horse, was crossing, in the midst of the flowers, the avenues of Boulogne..." (p.274).

Read Camus' novel... It seems that this is the right moment.

A novel like the one expected from someone like Albert Camus expresses his beliefs, views, and philosophy while telling a story that gives you the incentive to pursue various topics. Maybe in some places the dialogues might tire you, but truly for expressing the author's philosophy, these dialogues are necessary; otherwise, we would have a simple story without much substance. The story is told in the language of someone whose identity we don't know from the beginning. It starts with a doctor facing a dead mouse in a house, something that has no precedent. Over the course of several days, the statistics of these mice increase in the city, and gradually the people also get sick. This book was probably strange and fascinating for those who read it five or six years ago. But for us who started reading this book after experiencing the conditions of Corona, it's no longer strange, although it's still fascinating. If you have read Camus' books, you are familiar with his philosophy, and this book also delves into similar issues such as death, love, passion, anxiety, and social relationships in different conditions.

Ah, death; it's always there, isn't it? It is a terrible fate that looms over us all, doomed to occur at any moment, in countless different ways. The Jews who endured the horror of the Holocaust are all too aware of this. The people of Haiti, too, know the harsh reality of death. And the mother who lost her only child in a tragic car accident feels its sting deeply. Most individuals and groups of individuals spend their days in a futile fight against the fact of death, lying to themselves, using clever means to avoid its ever-present reality. Looking death in its cold, unforgiving eye is perhaps the most arduous task one can undertake. But the result, when given time, is a clear-eyed perception of the world we inhabit; the outcome of which is an inner strength known to only a few. For those who have courageously looked into the eye of death and kept its hard reality within their awareness, there is a wisdom and depth that radiates.

The people of Camus' Oran, once thoughtless and happy citizens, much like many of us today, going about their lives merrily, oblivious to how truly fortunate they were, suddenly find themselves stricken by the plague. It is a vile disease, filled with physical agony, spreading rapidly and ceaselessly, causing the town's inhabitants to be quarantined within its boundaries. There is no escape. There they must carry on, trying to cope and survive, some separated from their loved ones who are outside Oran's walls, all while surrounded by the constant specter of death among their peers.

The Plague is not just about death; it is also about how we choose to live. Do we live like the people of Oran, going through each day without truly thinking, taking things for granted, going through the motions in an ignorant, numbed state? Or do we look death - and by extension, life - in the eye, taking nothing for granted, noticing and appreciating our complexities and gifts, striving for truth, and endeavoring to be good people? No matter how painful and difficult, do we face reality with courage? Do we overcome? Are we striving to be true heroes to others and to ourselves?

There are indeed fates worse than death. Like living life half-heartedly, without truth, without passion, without conviction, without sacrifice, and without love.