nekokat reviewed Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe
Review of 'Journal of the Plague Year' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
This is written as a memoir but (this took me awhile to realize) it's not REALLY a memoir. It's a fictionalized account based on firsthand reports.
It was interesting to read just because so many bits were hauntingly familiar -- social distancing, asymptomatic spread, people downplaying the virus early on, locking infected families in their houses, the plague disproportionately affecting the working poor (who couldn't afford to not go to work or stock up on a month's worth of food)... etc. There's something kind of comforting about the knowledge that we as a society have been in situations like this before.
However it has no coherent structure and is rambling and full of pointless repetitions and digressions... I guess I can't blame the guy 'cause he hadn't yet invented the novel, I mean, he tried... still it was in practice kind of tedious to read.
