The Plague: Book Review

Published in 1947.

Albert Camus wrote The Plague, a novel about a plague occurring during the 1940s in Oran, an Algerian town.

I decided to spend the month of April 2020 reading this novel, given the way that COVID-19 aka coronavirus has dominated the attention in most venues--from international news to dinner table conversations.

The book has 30 chapters, so I was able to focus on a chapter a day.

Reading a fictional account gave me the opportunity to gain a little distance from my own experience. 

The two main narrators of the novel--Dr. Rieux and Mr. Tarrou--record their response to Oran's plague.

Camus' novel does not strive for historical or scientific accuracy. Instead, it is an exploration of the meaning of suffering, the meaning of life, and how people create purpose.

For a more detailed summary, see my Goodreads Review, which is more about describing each "tree" (chapter summaries) and not so much about "the forest." Also, the GR review contains over two dozen direct quotes. 

Risk Factors for Severe Cases of COVID-19

Image by Pariswestren via Creative Commons

I have been hesitant about posting, because I feel as though all interest is about COVID-19 aka the coronavirus, but I'm not an infectious disease specialist, an epidemiologist, or a community health expert. But I am reading about this every day.

Travel and contact with an infected people are chief risk factors, but what other risk factors are emerging?