11th Plague Blog post 2

When I first picked up The Eleventh Plague, by Jeff Hirsch, I thought it would be a great read. The cover was cool and intriguing, with a foil effect over the art; the characters seemed tough; and as I mentioned in my last blog post, the characters' friendship was interesting to me. But now, having finished the book, I have to say I am disappointed in it.

The Eleventh Plague didn't really have a lesson, or an ultimate meaning, or moral. This is a quality that most books usually have—something to think about, or learn from. There were opportunities the author had to give the characters deep revelations from the experiences they lived through. Stephen could have described or explained the respect he gained for the people of the town, who had previously turned against him. For example (spoiler alert), after the town of Settlers' Landing is attacked and the townspeople are rescuing their lost ones, the author could have had Stephen say something like:

"At that moment, I could feel all of the people around me, almost electrically. I knew that we were all a community. We were all one. I knew that I could stay in Settlers' Landing forever."

Another opportunity Hirsch had to give meaning to the book and to Stephen's character was when (another spoiler alert) Stephen's father dies after falling into a coma. Stephen wasn't as shocked or as sad as I would expect him to be. Even though he's lived all his life with his father and grandfather, and relied on his dad as his best friend, when his father dies, Stephen hardly gets upset and never describes his feelings about that. 

Thoughts and details like this could have been added to give the book a sense of meaning or moral, but there was none in the end. It's almost like the author summed up the book too quickly, as if he were on a deadline. 

I liked the general concept of the book—a war with China caused the entire earth to be infected with the plague, the electricity is out, and people have to scavenge for food—but overall the lack of a message made the book dissatisfying.

I don't think I would recommend this book to many people I know, and I think my friends would have similar opinions to mine.