Albert Camus, "The Plague"
Wow. That was really good. I read The Stranger before and thought it was pretty good, but this was ... Well, it was just really good. This could be bad though, as I don't have any other novels by Camus, and now I'm gonna want to check out other things buy him. Must ... resist ... buying ... more ... books!
Two things, however: I didn't like Rambert, the journalist character. Here he is, in the middle of the biggest story of his life, and he's trying to figure out how to get out of town after it's quarantined. I know Camus did some journalism work, so you figure it would be more realistic, meaning he'd be in the thick of it all, writing like mad. As it progresses, Rambert doesn't write a damn thing. Maybe it's a French thing.
Second, as a fan of rats, they get a raw deal at the beginning. The scenes in the first hundred pages are so grotesque it makes you think twice about ever wanting to own a rat as a pet. Enough with the rat-bashing! Pigeons would be a more susceptible carrier of disease, or maybe Alan's cat, since it's started this whole shit-eating kick.
