Plague

I read this book at a very tender age and while it was depressing, it's story haunts me to this day. Jean Ure does a wonderful job creating a world in which a plague has overtaken and killed almost everything, including the media. It reminds me of that fabulous quote, "The revolution will not be televised." In this book Ure paints a fine picture of what could happen to three very different people - the weak go mad, the strong survive. The main character is Fran, who must learn to live without her parents and struggles to hold her best friend, Harriet, together through the crisis. Along the way she meets up with a young man, Shahid, from school who she would never normally be friends with - his family is a group of working class immigrants from India while her family is a white, middle class suburban family. Their fight to survive not only the plague but the fallout of society that comes along with this major catastrophe is frightening in its realism, as well as its sincerity. One of the most heart-wrenching moments in the book comes near the beginning, when Fran returns to her house to discover that everything is neat as a pin and dead as a tomb. A letter from her mother sits on the kitchen table, and we huddle over her words as she tells Fran about the plague, tells her that her father and she have contracted it, and begs her not to go upstairs to their bedroom, for that is where they remain. And we can only look on, like the sickening need to witness a car crash, as Fran mounts the stairs to the second floor. Though not uplifting, the fact that Fran keeps her head and pulls together the pieces of a broken life leads readers to believe that no matter what catastrophes attack humanity, it will continue onward. A steller novel.

I think this is a great book it decribes everything so well that I feel like I am in the book.

I read this book a few years ago, after meeting the author Jean Ure at my school. She could possibly be one of the nicest and most interesting people I have ever met, making time for everyone and making sure we were all happy with the way she treated us. This has to be one of the best of her books, and I feel almost like I understand just how these characters are feeling and why she put them in that position. The story is most noticeable because of the story, there is not predictable plot and you find yourself sittin gon the edge of your seat waiting for what will happen next, yet crying with upset for what is happening to the characters at the same time. Definitely worth reading, BUY IT! PS....it's late at night, I apologise to my school for making it look like I am making great grammatical errors!

Jean Ure has successfully created a sense of loneliness, morbidness and a pervasive feeling of helplessness in this novel about a girl Fran who goes off to a survival camp for a month and finds everything wracked by this plague she doesn't know much about. Her friend Harriet - went bonkers. She gets to know Shahid, who was with her throughout the most torturous days of the plague. This is a perfect book for the exploration of the innate psychology of youngsters when they are under pressure. It also gives an insight into the lives of British kids under a 'pop-diesel' culture. A book worth reading, especially when you feel that you have nothing to read. This book has the ability to give you a creepy feeling, because it is so sci-fi and is mainly a foray into a genre yet unsaturated.

I thought this book was kind of freaky. The thought of everyone I knew dying kind of struck me I guess! And because it freaked me a little, I didn't like reading it at night, so I could never really sit down and get into the book. But I can say, I was into the book enough to know these facts: *The book is very clear, and each person and scene is drawn well in your head. *The story is very flowing, but the pace and amount of excitement varies a lot! * This is a good book and I highly recommend you to read it!! -Katharine Manning, American School In Japan, 6th Grade