I really enjoyed this book The Plague by Albert Camus. The reason why I enjoyed this book is because it is a very deep book that functions on several different levels. On a surface level it serves as a historical recount of the events that happened during the plague. However on a deeper level it serves as a looking glass into World War II and it illustrates existentialism and the point the author was trying to make. Before we go on into this book in a deeper level we must first deal with the surface layer of the main story.
             The book starts out in the ugly city of Oran in Algeria. The main character Dr. Rieux's, is a doctor and he is the author of this account of the plague. Dr. Rieux is seeing his sickly wife off to a sanitarium where hopefully she will recover from her mystery illness. While this is happening, rats are coming out and dying in the streets in mass numbers, the public beginnings to get concerned with this but right before mass hysteria erupts the rats stop coming out and dying. During all of this, we are introduced to a few more characters that become more important as the book goes on. Grand is introduced, as a civil servant trapped in a low end job, and also we meet Cottard, who may be a criminal and is making a living off the black market. We also meet Tarrou, who is a tourist who becomes trapped when the city goes into quarantine. The last person we meet is Rambert; he is a journalist who becomes trapped in the city when the plague breaks out. These people become important characters in the story as well.
             As the story progresses we discover that the reason why the rats have died is because of a plague that has swept through Oran. As a result, the city is quarantined and the inhabitants begin to yearn for life outside of Oran. Once the Plague is in full swing, Father Paneloux gives a stirring sermon on how the citizen's of Oran are at fault for why the plague has descended on this town. The whole town ...