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Reviews tagging 'Pandemic/Epidemic'
Fourteen Days: A Collaborative Novel by Douglas Preston, Margaret Atwood, The Authors Guild
7 reviews
stargirlmolly's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Racism, Suicide, Sexual assault, and Death of parent
Minor: Homophobia and Transphobia
jenabest's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
This was absolutely fascinating. I've never read anything like this - a collaborative novel with 36 different authors? And what an experience it was.
This ABSOLUTELY will not be for everyone. It's weird. It's experimental. It's NOT plot driven. It's completely in the COVID trenches in early days pandemic lockdown in NYC.
I really liked the format of the different tenants coming together on the rooftop to do nothing but share stories when no one could come and go freely due to the absolute explosion of COVID cases. I think a lot of the negative-to-luke-warm reviews of this book stem from the capturing of the feeling of those early lockdown days. It's in very recent memory and people don't want to think about it again right now. But I think the lack of a driving/cohesive plot and just the existence of people sharing seemingly random stories and hobbies really does capture what those early weeks were like. I also liked how you don't know who wrote what pieces until you finish - though I did have 2 that pulled me completely out of the story ... And unfortunately was disappointed at which 2 authors those were.
This ABSOLUTELY will not be for everyone. It's weird. It's experimental. It's NOT plot driven. It's completely in the COVID trenches in early days pandemic lockdown in NYC.
I really liked the format of the different tenants coming together on the rooftop to do nothing but share stories when no one could come and go freely due to the absolute explosion of COVID cases. I think a lot of the negative-to-luke-warm reviews of this book stem from the capturing of the feeling of those early lockdown days. It's in very recent memory and people don't want to think about it again right now. But I think the lack of a driving/cohesive plot and just the existence of people sharing seemingly random stories and hobbies really does capture what those early weeks were like. I also liked how you don't know who wrote what pieces until you finish - though I did have 2 that pulled me completely out of the story ... And unfortunately was disappointed at which 2 authors those were.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Animal death, Sexual assault, Racism, and Death
mandyherbet's review
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Fourteen Days is a collaborative novel set over the course of two weeks in April 2020 in New York. It tells the story of a group of tenants in a run-down apartment block in New York who congregate every night to celebrate the essential works and tell stories as the pandemic rages around them. Every chapter is written by a different author. It's funded by the American Society of Authors and features some big names - Margaret Atwood, Celeste Ng among them.
And it reads like a bad writing school project. It's self-indulgent and inconsistent. Some chapters are tight and interesting and engaging and others don't work for me because the authors are too disparate in their styles. It could have been so good but because each author wants to write in THEIR style, it feels cheap and, yes, I'll say it again, self-indulgent. I enjoyed the parts written by Douglas Preston as he set up and closed the story and I thought the ending was clever but the rest of it was bad. And Margaret Atwood's chapter? As much as it pains me to say it, it was one of the worst.
Maybe it's too soon for me to read Covid narratives. Maybe the collaborative novel isn't for me. Or maybe someone should have gently told these authors and the American Society of Authors that this was a nice idea but best left in the classroom or on a blog.
And it reads like a bad writing school project. It's self-indulgent and inconsistent. Some chapters are tight and interesting and engaging and others don't work for me because the authors are too disparate in their styles. It could have been so good but because each author wants to write in THEIR style, it feels cheap and, yes, I'll say it again, self-indulgent. I enjoyed the parts written by Douglas Preston as he set up and closed the story and I thought the ending was clever but the rest of it was bad. And Margaret Atwood's chapter? As much as it pains me to say it, it was one of the worst.
Maybe it's too soon for me to read Covid narratives. Maybe the collaborative novel isn't for me. Or maybe someone should have gently told these authors and the American Society of Authors that this was a nice idea but best left in the classroom or on a blog.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Pandemic/Epidemic
apersonfromflorida's review
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Body horror, Animal cruelty, and Chronic illness
Minor: Drug abuse and Death of parent
aseel_reads's review
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.5
I only finished this because it was the bookclub read. Otherwise, I disliked this a lot. The ending was just so odd and out of place. Few stories were okay but a lot felt super problematic and just icky to read
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Pandemic/Epidemic, Racial slurs, Alcohol, and Colonisation
annaavian's review
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Just like many other short story collections I have come across, this book features a mix of stronger and weaker stories. Some captivated my attention, while others faded from memory quickly.
The stories here are related through the fact that they are spoken aloud to a group. While some authors adapted well to this format, others overwhelmed with excessive details or overly strange elements that felt disconnected from real-life speech. I also found the chitchat and setup between stories somewhat boring and tiresome. The constant need for the narrator to introduce each new day, scene, and character before diving into the next tale seemed like unnecessary padding.
Overall, this experimental approach fell short for me. The abundance of stories, characters, and narrative voices resulted in a disjointed and inconsistent reading experience. The ending left much to be desired as well.
The stories here are related through the fact that they are spoken aloud to a group. While some authors adapted well to this format, others overwhelmed with excessive details or overly strange elements that felt disconnected from real-life speech. I also found the chitchat and setup between stories somewhat boring and tiresome. The constant need for the narrator to introduce each new day, scene, and character before diving into the next tale seemed like unnecessary padding.
Overall, this experimental approach fell short for me. The abundance of stories, characters, and narrative voices resulted in a disjointed and inconsistent reading experience. The ending left much to be desired as well.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body horror, and Chronic illness
Minor: Drug abuse and Death of parent
gabbyreadstoomuch's review
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Drug abuse and Death of parent
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