Daniel Defoe

by A Journal of the Plague Year

Genres: Medical

Paperback

Published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[Left Coast Justin]

My GR buddy Nataliya has recommended Ian Mortimer's books to me about what day-to-day life in England during different time periods was actually like, but they are always checked out of the library. I was hoping for some of the same feeling from this book that was actually written just over 300 years ago.

I didn't realize this was written by the author of Robinson Crusoe, either. But this, unfortunately, was rather dull to modern eyes. DNF about eighty pages in. And although I've listed it as nonfiction, it actually is a fictionalized account of his uncle's journal, who actually lived through this plague year. (The author lived through it too, but was only five years old at the time.)

[Margaret Holbrook · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was written by Daniel Defoe but he was only aged 6 or thereabouts when the plague struck London, so, the suggested 'author' of the journal is Daniels' Uncle who lived there throughout the plague. The things people were doing to try and keep themselves safe were akin to 2020 in the UK. It was all done before, passing wide on the street, being kept in your home if you or any member of your family had the 'dystemper'. Only going out for essentials and the killing of domestic cats and dogs as they might carry the plague on their fur. An interesting read and good to know how others, in an age before ours, coped. The language is slightly difficult, but you get into it. and when people died of 'TEETH' I suspected it was babies teething. It is not!

[Lorraine McCleary · Rating 3 out of 5]

An account of the last plague year 1664 in London written from a diary and published in 1722. It provides a detailed account of the spread of the disease, how London handled it and, even more fascinating to me, describing the three variants of the disease ( bite, septicemic and pneumatic), all without knowing what caused the Bubonic plague. To read the day by day account, to see people's reactions and the city attempts to care for the poor and dead was eye opening.

[Lisa Arnold · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wow did you have to plough through this one.Took me forever to read it but I was amazed by how little protocols had changed, put on a mask, lock up the houses of those who are infected and stop people from moving around on the street. I guess we can be glad we were not under house arrest and that most stores these days do deliveries.