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Fourteen Days: A Collaborative Novel by The…
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Fourteen Days: A Collaborative Novel (original 2022; edition 2024)

by The Authors Guild (Author), Margaret Atwood (Author), Douglas Preston (Author)

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2881197,643 (3.54)15
FOURTEEN DAYS: A COLLABORATIVE NOVEL
Created by The Authors Guild for their foundation funding the book is collectively written by 36 American and Canadian authors whose work spans a variety of literary genres. This isn't a cohesive story unless the parameter is coping with the shutdown. Worth the read for a modern example of a “frame” narrative, for anyone that loves stories and storytelling. ( )
  MM_Jones | Feb 26, 2024 |
Showing 11 of 11
I believe the Covid pandemic is going to provide much fodder for literature, just as the world wars have. It makes sense since these events affected so many and changed life as we knew it.

This book is a series of interconnected stories set in an apartment block in New York City during the pandemic lockdown. I listened to the audiobook and my one regret is that there was no additional information about which author wrote which piece. In all as there was in the printed edition, 36 authors contributed to the book so, obviously, more than one person created each tale. Maybe it doesn't matter but it would just provide a finishing touch.

The residents of the Fernsby Arms gather on the roof of the building each night in order to take part in the nightly ritual of noisemaking to show appreciation for health care workers. They linger on after that outburst, all carefully social distanced, and tell stories. The building's superintendant covertly records the stories and then transcribes them into a scrapbook left behind by her predecessor. Her predecessor kept notes about all the tenants and gave them all nicknames. They are a diverse group so their stories are quite different. Many deal with death and/or ghosts as may be expected given the time they are experiencing. No one seems to have contact with anyone outside the building. The superintendant's father is in a nursing home and she hasn't been able to reach anyone there. A doctor staying in the building while she helps out in the emergency ward of a local hospital (although she's on leave right now) also can't get through. Residents, including the super, hear strange noises in an apartment that is supposed to be vacant. Occasionally, strangers show up on the roof top when the super knows the door to the outside is locked tight. It's all a little spooky but also very interesting. And the ending absolutely threw me for a loop. I didn't see that coming.

The Decameron, a similar book of stories supposedly written by a group of people who fled Florence during the Black Death, is referenced several times. Obviously, this provided a starting point for this collective of writers but they gave it a twenty-first century spin. One obvious difference is that the people in The Decameron left the city whereas these people were the ones left behind when the well-off fled the city. ( )
  gypsysmom | Dec 28, 2024 |
This collaboration written by members of the American Writers Guild had a lot of potential, but fell a little flat. Disjointed stories that seemed to go nowhere, and all a bit depressing. Like the concept, though, and the unexpected twist at the end. ( )
  elifra | Dec 10, 2024 |
Let me start by saying that I listened to this book on audio, which I often find a good choice for short stories. I think I would have preferred to read it on my kindle. The narrator was OK, but she put on some annoying accents and read very quickly. I'm sure that influenced my overall opinion of the book. As you can see, I kept putting it down for extended periods of time.

The premise is terrific: a group of tenants are locked in during COVID and begin meeting on the rooftop in the evenings. Like Boccaccio's Decameron Nights or Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, each one is designated to tell a story. They are held together by the narrator, a young woman who is the building super. I found a lot of her commentary rather annoying, and the stories themselves are varied--some good, some meandering, some not so good. Underneath it all is the story of a group of strangers in a time of fear coming together and learning to trust and care about one another. The ending came as quite a surprise.

The collection was edited by Margaret Atwood and Douglas Preston, and we aren't told which of the well-known members of The Authors Guild contributed to each story. Here is the list: Charlie Jane Anders, Margaret Atwood, Joseph Cassara, Jennine Capó Crucet, 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. ( )
  Cariola | Jun 20, 2024 |
An ambitious collaborative novel - not a collection of linked stories - set in New York in late March and early April 2020, at the beginning of the global pandemic, as COVID-19 infections and deaths skyrocket in the city and state, and everyone is in lockdown. At the Fernsby Arms, a decrepit old apartment building ignored by the landlord, a new super, Romanian-American Yessie, and the various tenants make their way up to the roof each night, banging pots and pans to support essential healthcare workers, and telling stories, a la the Canterbury Tales, while they wait. Preconceptions and prejudices they hold about and against each other fall away as they learn more about one another. Various genres are employed, and the ending answers many questions.

Quotes

"And you know what all this solitude has made me realize, that I've been lying to myself. When the shit hits the fan, we're alone. And that people will kill each other for the last roll of toilet paper." (Day Three, p. 50)

This world - to what may I liken it?
To autumn fields darkening at dust,
dimply lit by lightning flashes. (Day Five, p. 103)

"Progress is really just the fiction every generation tells itself to justify the current fashion in ignorance, fear, and prejudice." (Day Six, p. 133)

"It was hard to argue about assimilation, a process that was inevitable and that required you to erase large parts of yourself. I didn't know if I had been erased yet..." (Day Nine, 200)

*Spoiler*
Everyone on the roof is a ghost, dead of COVID. ( )
  JennyArch | Apr 23, 2024 |
So many books coming out referencing the pandemic -- this one fascinated me. Collectively written by 36 authors, many genres, many of whom I have read. Set in a rundown tenement house in NYC in the first 14 days. The individuals quarantined in the building end up gathering nightly on the roof, to cheer for the essential workers in the city, and to share stories. Oral history in a pandemic. Go figure. The stories weave around. The characters are diverse, yet stuck in the same situation. 2024 read. ( )
1 vote bookczuk | Mar 23, 2024 |
This is a confusing audiobook. Without words, there is no way to consistently identify each narrator of rooftop tales rendered by tenants cloistered by the early days of Covid in a derelict tenement in lower Manhattan. They assemble every evening to celebrate the first responders and to swap mostly sad and some truly gruesome stories. I did not find any of them particularly memorable, though the roster of authors involved in this Decameron-like project (in fact, one of the more amusing stories is one where the white professors teaching a literature course are severely criticized by each of their students, for choosing The Decameron as the subject of the course) includes almost every renowned contemporary writer you've ever read, ie Tommy Orange, Margaret Atwood (editor), Celeste Ng, and De'Shawn Charles Winslow. The ending is one I did not see coming, though I'm sure that many readers of horror and fantasy did, and I liked it the best of all the stories. There's a big clue at the very beginning, but who could remember it twelve discs later? The author of each tale is revealed to anyone who buys the audio, but not to a reader who borrowed it from the library. At this point, I'm not too bothered by missing the ownership. If the Author's Guild makes bank from it, that's fine. ( )
  froxgirl | Mar 19, 2024 |
... 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 Celeste Ng to Tommy Orange and John Grisham.

... 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
.. Joseph Cassara
.. Jennine Capó Crucet
.. 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
.. Meg Wolitzer!
  bcbcmarianna | Mar 3, 2024 |
I liked the premise of this book. 30 different authors contributed to people telling stories on the roof of an apartment building in NYC during the initial days of the pandemic. The profits from the book are for the benefit of the Authors Guild of America. At some points the stories dragged for me but as I finished a chapter I consulted the back of the book to see who wrote. It almost always made sense! ( )
  kayanelson | Feb 29, 2024 |
FOURTEEN DAYS: A COLLABORATIVE NOVEL
Created by The Authors Guild for their foundation funding the book is collectively written by 36 American and Canadian authors whose work spans a variety of literary genres. This isn't a cohesive story unless the parameter is coping with the shutdown. Worth the read for a modern example of a “frame” narrative, for anyone that loves stories and storytelling. ( )
  MM_Jones | Feb 26, 2024 |
The idea for this book was somewhat unique, albeit a cheap rip-off of both The Canterbury Tales and The Decameron. Thirty six authors under the guidance of Margaret Atwood, the general editor, and Douglas Preston, wrote one or more stories for the book, which is a collaborative novel.

Overall, I felt it a failed attempt for many reason. There were inconsistencies from one story to another. In one story a character mentions that it is getting light earlier each night. In a subsequent story, a character comments on how early it is getting dark. Since the stories were written by different authors, there was little corroboration between them, and Preston, who set the framework for the novel and arranged the stories, should have seen they were more consistent.

The book is set in March of 2020 at the start of the pandemic. The residents of a shabby four story apartment building gather on the roof each night for fourteen days to cheer on the first responders at 7 pm and then swap stories. They disban an hour later at dark.

The book is divided into each of the 14 days. One or more characters tells a story each day. The stories are written by one of the 36 authors of the book.

As I said, a somewhat unique idea, that being a collaborative novel, but the idea of a group of stories being told by a group of people is not new. Some of the stories were interesting and some horribly boring. The author of each story is not given until the end of the book in a short biography of the author and the identity of the story they wrote. The book had a few bright spots in which it flew by and other spots so dull I dreaded picking up the book again.

Some of the authors were pushing their own personal liberal beliefs through the characters and that was not necessary. There was too much pushing of a liberal, BLM, and anti-Trump agenda. I do not care what the author’s personal beliefs are, but leave them out of the story. Just tell me a good story without pushing an agenda.

Overall, I give it two stars for the interesting parts, but some of the stories were so dull and boring, they should have not been included. The ending, written by Atwood was ridiculous. It felt like a cheap way to suddenly end the book once the stories were finished. The reader is led to believe one thing, when in fact that is not correct. ( )
  dwcofer | Feb 23, 2024 |
NYC during the onset of the COVID-19 shutdown, the tenants of a Lower East Side apartment building congregate on the roof top and tell stories or not. Written by numerous well-known authors, the Authors Guild has put together a story that flows with different points of view and voices. Some were better than others, but overall quite fascinating. I wondered how it all tied together and the ending was satisfying to me. ( )
1 vote grumpydan | Jan 5, 2024 |
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