Reviews

The book is essentially short stories under the main plot of tenants of a building in NYC sharing them on the roof of their building during the COVID lockdown. The writing is excellent, but short stories aren’t my favorite and by page 250 it was a slog for me to get through another 100 pages of 3-5 pages unrelated stories.

lysippos's review

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emotional hopeful sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

jenmat1197's review

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emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This is the story of a group of people stuck in a high rise building during the beginning of Covid 19. The residents gather on the roof each night for an hour or two to tell each other stories to pass the time. As they talk, they get to know each other and become real neighbors. For 14 days they rely on each other to get through the pandemic. Most have lost someone, have tragic love stories, or general worries. Telling their stories they hope to get some peace.

This was an interesting book. Each chapter is a different day and a different story told by a tenant. The main character is the super of the building who comes to the nightly ritual, but stays on the outside - recording the stories for posterity. Some of the stories got a little boring, but for the most part they held my interest. There are a ton of authors that contributed to the writing of this book. The ending I did not see coming and so I gave it another 1/2 star for that.

Stars: 3.5

shadypinesma's review

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reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

I enjoyed the framing structure of this novel and I am a fan of many of the contributing writers. I also loved the (interesting, if unoriginal) ending. But this book was a bust for me. Most of the stories were numbingly boring and the wokeness grated as it seemed more gratuitous, smug, and obligatory than earnest and additive to the narrative and its themes. I am glad I read it, though, as I think it cemented that I do not like books about Covid, which are likely to proliferate in the near future.

claire1044's review

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dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

debsd's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.75

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