The Plague: First Impressions ?

Honestly, I wasn't sure what to expect before reading the first couple chapters of The Plague, but I will say that it starts off in an interesting manner. First of all, we don't know who the narrator is yet (it is stated in the book that it will be revealed "in due course"), adding a bit of mystery to the story. I also found the part when Dr. Rieux just kicked aside a dead rat a little weird. He didn't seem to be shocked when he discovered the dead rat and didn't even find it peculiar until he "...noticed old M. Michel's reaction to the news..." (Camus 7). 

I find it interesting how people are just brushing off the situation with the rats and denying that its anything significant: "'The rats?' he said. 'It's nothing'"(Camus 11) -- reminds me of the ignorance of many people when covid first started to spread in the U.S. (still a problem now too). The narrator later states that "...a wave of something like panic swept the town" (Camus 12). Comparing to the sudden rush of people buying toilet paper towards the start of quarantine, you can start to see how similar the situation in the book is compared to current reality. It's weird reading about this during an on-going pandemic because of the possible connections the reader could make with the story and reality--and this is just the beginning of the book. I think this book could get even more interesting as we go on and I am so far enjoying it!