Set in a Lower East Side tenement in the early days of the COVID-19 lockdowns, Fourteen Days is an irresistibly propulsive collaborative novel from the Authors Guild, with an unusual twist: each character in this diverse, eccentric cast of New York neighbors has been secretly written by a different, major literary voice—from Margaret Atwood and John Grisham to Tommy Orange and Celeste Ng.
One week into the COVID-19 shutdown, tenants of a Lower East Side apartment building in Manhattan have begun to gather on the rooftop and tell stories. With each passing night, more and more neighbors gather, bringing chairs and milk crates and overturned pails. Gradually the tenants—some of whom have barely spoken to each other—become real neighbors. In this Decameron-like serial novel, general editors Margaret Atwood and Douglas Preston and a star-studded list of contributors create a beautiful ode to the people who couldn't escape when the pandemic hit. A dazzling, heartwarming, and ultimately surprising narrative, Fourteen Days reveals how beneath the horrible loss and suffering, some communities managed to become stronger.
Includes writing from: Charlie Jane Anders, Margaret Atwood, Jennine Capó Crucet, Joseph Cassara, Angie Cruz, Pat Cummings, Sylvia Day, Emma Donoghue, Dave Eggers, Diana Gabaldon, Tess Gerritsen, John Grisham, Maria Hinojosa, Mira Jacob, Erica Jong, CJ Lyons, Celeste Ng, Tommy Orange, Mary Pope Osborne, Douglas Preston, Alice Randall, Ishmael Reed, Roxana Robinson, Nelly Rosario, James Shapiro, Hampton Sides, R.L. Stine, Nafissa Thompson-Spires, Monique Truong, Scott Turow, Luis Alberto Urrea, Rachel Vail, Weike Wang, Caroline Randall Williams, De'Shawn Charles Winslow, and Meg Wolitzer!
Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.
Set in a Lower East Side tenement in the early days of the COVID-19 lockdowns, Fourteen Days is an irresistibly propulsive collaborative novel from the Authors Guild, with an unusual twist: each character in this diverse, eccentric cast of New York neighbors has been secretly written by a different, major literary voice—from Margaret Atwood and John Grisham to Tommy Orange and Celeste Ng.
One week into the COVID-19 shutdown, tenants of a Lower East Side apartment building in Manhattan have begun to gather on the rooftop and tell stories. With each passing night, more and more neighbors gather, bringing chairs and milk crates and overturned pails. Gradually the tenants—some of whom have barely spoken to each other—become real neighbors. In this Decameron-like serial novel, general editors Margaret Atwood and Douglas Preston and a star-studded list of contributors create a beautiful ode to the people who couldn't escape when the pandemic hit. A dazzling, heartwarming, and ultimately surprising narrative, Fourteen Days reveals how beneath the horrible loss and suffering, some communities managed to become stronger.
Includes writing from: Charlie Jane Anders, Margaret Atwood, Jennine Capó Crucet, Joseph Cassara, Angie Cruz, Pat Cummings, Sylvia Day, Emma Donoghue, Dave Eggers, Diana Gabaldon, Tess Gerritsen, John Grisham, Maria Hinojosa, Mira Jacob, Erica Jong, CJ Lyons, Celeste Ng, Tommy Orange, Mary Pope Osborne, Douglas Preston, Alice Randall, Ishmael Reed, Roxana Robinson, Nelly Rosario, James Shapiro, Hampton Sides, R.L. Stine, Nafissa Thompson-Spires, Monique Truong, Scott Turow, Luis Alberto Urrea, Rachel Vail, Weike Wang, Caroline Randall Williams, De'Shawn Charles Winslow, and Meg Wolitzer!
Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.
Critiques-
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December 18, 2023
This beguiling novel of the Covid-19 pandemic was coauthored by 36 members of the Authors Guild, including Atwood, Preston, John Grisham, and Celeste Ng. The loosely connected narrative portrays a group of tenants who regularly convene on the rooftop of their New York City apartment building during the lockdown to share stories with one another. It begins on Mar. 31, 2020, with the arrival of a new unnamed super, who inherits a handbook from her predecessor with a list of the current tenants identified by their nicknames. They include “Whitney,” a librarian who works at the Whitney Museum and tells a ghost story about a fallen soldier at the Alamo. There’s also “Maine,” an ER doctor who’s visiting from Maine to help with the overload of Covid cases, and who shares a story about a nun’s ability to predict patients’ time of death at the doctor’s Maine hospital. As the weeks go by, the super declines to share a story of her own until the final evening on April 13, when her revelation casts the tenants’ situation in a new light. Though the authors’ contributions aren’t identified until the end notes, the reader senses various shifts in style and voice, which can be welcome or jarring, depending on one’s taste. Still, fans of literary puzzles will find this worthwhile. -
Shayna Small delivers a variety of accents as a group of New Yorkers gather on the rooftop of their dilapidated building during the COVID-19 pandemic, telling stories to pass the time. The audiobook features a "pots-and-pans symphony" that applauds the healthcare workers who risk their lives to treat the sick. Small shines in this reboot of another plague novel, Boccaccio's DECAMERON, written in the fourteenth century as bubonic plague raced across Europe. The Authors Guild, the nation's longest-running organization for writers, brought together 36 authors whose names grace the audiobook's jacket; they include Margaret Atwood, Dave Eggers, Celeste Ng, Scott Turow, Mira Jacob, Tommy Orange, Tess Gerritsen, R.L. Stine, Weike Wang, and Ishmael Reed. Each author was assigned a separate part of the story. R.O. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine
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Starred review from June 1, 2024
New York City is locked down during the pandemic. In one run-down apartment building, an eclectic collection of pandemic refugees are toughing it out. The building's new super finds a way to access the large rooftop and decides to make it her own. One by one, other tenants join her, keeping their distance as they begin to tell stories, both true and false, about themselves and others. Non-tenants mysteriously appear and disappear, even though the doors to the building are locked. When the super's father, who was last seen in a care facility, shows up, listeners learn more about why these individuals came together in the first place. Shayna Small provides a layered narration of this collaborative novel, edited by Atwood and Douglas Preston and featuring contributions from 36 illustrious authors, including Celeste Ng, Dave Eggers, and Tommy Orange; the identity of each story's author remains concealed. Small uses vocal variations of register and accent to provide voices for the numerous characters while also serving as a grounding presence to bring the multitude of stories together. VERDICT A unique and absorbing literary endeavor, skillfully realized in audio.--Joanna M. Burkhardt
Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
