Fourteen Days: A Collaborative Novel
Written by The Authors Guild, Margaret Atwood and Douglas Preston
Narrated by Shayna Small
4/5
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About this 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.
Editor's Note
An ode to collaboration…
This is the COVID-19 book we want and need, with a surprising twist. Amid quarantine, residents of a Manhattan apartment building convene on their shared roof, slowly transforming from strangers to neighbors. This remarkable story of how community offers hope in times of sorrow is brought to you by a slew of literary legends, including Margaret Atwood (“The Handmaid's Tale”), Neil Gaiman (“American Gods”), Tommy Orange (“There, There”), Celeste Ng (“Our Missing Hearts”), and more, each of whom writes a different chapter.
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34 ratings4 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Nov 21, 2024
This is a great work! The writers did an excellent job. Each story describes an aspect of the modern USA. The narrator is very good! She impersonates the characters with perfection! - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Aug 16, 2024
Enjoyable! It is slow in some parts, but the ending makes up for it. - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Mar 2, 2024
I found it hard to follow and quite a depressing book. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Jul 14, 2024
This is exactly what I imagined the Pandemic would bring: creativity, inspiration, artistic collaboration. 36 writers of all genres working on a book. A craziness? Yes, a wonderful craziness.
I thought a multitude of writers, poets, directors, screenwriters, musicians, painters... would be in the midst of creative effervescence during the Pandemic. It is obvious that I am naturally optimistic. Unfortunately, I have seen little of that so far. But this novel indeed draws from that special magic.
The neighbors of a building in New York during Lockdown gather on the rooftop and tell their memories just as if they were stories.
This book is a celebration of the power of stories. I imagine that long before writing was invented, humans have faced our fears through tales. We tell ourselves stories to understand the world, the incomprehensible, to cope with what seems unbearable, to heal invisible wounds. There is something healing about being told a story. You find comfort, peace, hope.
Here, the characters and their stories are perfectly fitted together; it would not be an easy task, but the result is a surprising work.
It deals a lot with racial differences in the U.S., the adaptation of newcomers to the country, loneliness, survival, the weight of our guilt.
There will be people who will have a different opinion, but I loved the ending.
P.S.: I loved the story of the spider that one day woke up human (either by the mischief of the Gods or perhaps the government). It is told by the spider herself re-embodied ???. I later discovered that it was written by Margaret Atwood. (Translated from Spanish)
