I find it kind of ironic that I am reading The Plague right now amidst all this panic about the swine flu. This book was originally written in French during the 1940s, so it makes references to places that I am not familiar with. I think the story is interesting, but particularly because the author is not talking about a physical illness, even though that can be assumed. It seems to me that the plague can actually be viewed as a way that people act towards things that are unusual. At first the townspeople don't really care about the disease, even though it killed many people. Later on they began to realize it was severe, but most didn't really care about being sick, what they hated the most was being separated from their loved ones. As the death toll mounts the lovers still feel optimistic that they will be together again soon.
The plague itself is described gruesomely and it seems to resemble the bubonic plague, but it is never referred to it as that. The government didn't acknowledge the disease until it had killed hundreds of people, which shows how oblivious people can be to things they don't want to see.
So far I like this book and am about halfway through. Hopefully I can finish it this weekend then start Moll Flanders next.
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