The Stranger and The Meursault Investigation – June CC Book Club Selection

[ignatius]

I started Camus’ The Plague a couple days ago and so far, good. The bubonic plague has reared its ugly head in Orun in 194-. @Mary13 - with her love of apocalyptic novels - would enjoy this one. Camus sets the scene well. The Plague starts with an overabundance of dying rats, progresses to deaths in the human population. Now doctors are trying to decide whether or not to admit to the citizenry (and themselves) the name of the disease that’s hit their city. Panic, anyone?

[ignatius]

The Plague - really really good and … unexpected. Unexpected? This review in The Guardian states it better than I can:

Far from being a study in existential disaffection … The Plague is about courage, about engagement, about paltriness and generosity, about small heroism and large cowardice, and about all kinds of profoundly humanist problems, such as love and goodness, happiness and mutual connection. Camus published the novel in 1947 and his town’s sealed city gates embody the borders imposed by the Nazi occupation, while the ethical choices of its inhabitants build a dramatic representation of the different positions taken by the French. To be a man | Books | The Guardian

Existential disaffection not allowed and so unexpected after reading The Stranger. I plan to read The Plague again. Highly recommend.

(I meant to add there’s a nod to The Stranger in it - townsfolk briefly mention a news article about an Arab shot on the beach in Algiers.)

[mathmom]

The Plague was my mother’s favorite book. It also was the book that pushed her to being an atheist. (I read it, liked it, but it was not a life-changing book for me. ) I so remember that nod to The Stranger. I like it when authors do that.