I was very intrigued by the concept of the book and I was looking forward to reading from some favourite authors and some I’ve not encountered before. The first couple of chapters read well and I was interested to continue. However, I did DNF this at 47%. I just found the whole thing quite boring and I had no will to want to carry on. I thought that my problem was the fact that I was reading this on Kindle (I prefer physical books), but I’ve since picked up another ARC on Kindle and I’m flying through it. Unfortunately, not for me. Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers.

The concept behind this is really interesting. Rather than a single author this book has been written by 36 different authors in collaboration, with each author tackling a different character and telling their story. At the end of the book there are notes to explain who wrote which character and there is a whole mix of authors from all different genres in there.

I was drawn to this for a few reasons; it’s set in New York, which is one of my favourite cities in the world, some incredible writers that I love like Margaret Atwood, Emma Donoghue, John Grisham and Tess Gerritsen were involved, and, finally, the concept sounded so different and I love trying new things.

There were some parts that didn’t really land for me. The linking parts, between the characters gathering on the roof and telling their stories, is told by the super of the apartment building and instead of the characters having names they are referred to by the nicknames given to them in the notebook left by the previous super. We also get very little information about the characters outside of the stories they share, and these two elements together did make it a little difficult for me to form any real attachments to any of the characters.

The format of the book almost makes it feel like a short story collection rather than a traditional novel but, as you’d probably expect with the calibre of authors involved, very good quality short stories on the whole. I also loved the mix of genres hit across these stories thanks again to the use of different authors.

The apartment building itself almost becomes another character with some mysterious noises in the vacant apartment above the super and I loved the running theme of the artwork being added to on the roof. The pandemic setting also worked really well at isolating these characters in their lockdown and it brought back a lot of memories of that time!

It’s a decent length book but the ending felt a little rushed for me and I was left with quite a lot of questions, I would have liked just a little more closure.

Overall, a really interesting concept that was generally very well executed. There was something for everyone here.

It is March 2020 and the tenants in the Fernsby Arms block of flats are locked down as the covid pandemic ravages New York. A new caretaker has just taken the reigns and discovers a key to the roof terrace, where she can escape from the oppressive walls of this rundown building. Gradually the tenants discover the caretaker’s haven and gather in the evenings where they each tell a story to keep everyone entertained. Some of these stories were really entertaining, others were deeply disturbing, others were quite dull and one or two seemed to go nowhere.

I started this book full of enthusiasm and excitement but by the time I was about halfway through and had been disturbed by one story in particular, my enthusiasm had waned and I started putting off reading it. After a few weeks, I took the bull by the horns and powered through it and finished it off. It picked up marginally towards the end and there was a twist that saved it a bit but overall I struggled with this. Interestingly, when I read the biogs of the contributors' at the end of the book, I realized there were several authors there that I avoid because their material is too gritty for me. For me, this book has too much darkness in it which overshadowed the good.

Thanks to NetGalley for the arc in return for an honest review.

When I first heard about this book, I admit I was more than a little intrigued. There were some names amongst the authors that I’d heard of, many more that I hadn’t, but, much like with a short story anthology, I figured it was a great way to experience the different authors in a very unique way. For this is, and isn’t, a short story collection. Is, because it is a book set at the very start of the pandemic in which each of the residents of a New York apartment building passes away their hours in lockdown by sharing a story of some kind, be it theirs, or that of a close friend. In some cases they may even be a complete work of fiction. As each author gives voice to a different resident, effectively what you are getting is a series of short stories, linked by a kind of central narrator, in this case the Superintendent for the building. New to the apartments herself, she provides a kind of introduction to each resident by way of a diary left by the previous Super, shared carefully in snippets with us as readers.

What makes this different from a standard short story collection is that, unless you read the end of the book first, you won’t know whose work you are reading and which author has given voice to which character. I must admit, I didn’t go hunting down that information until the end of the book, more interested in reading the flow of the book, getting to understand the characters and the links between them. I had no idea if I was reading Sylvia Day or John Grisham, Celeste Ng or Scott Turow, and it really didn’t matter. The Super, Yessie, also provides a kind of running update on the progression of Covid and how quickly and widely it took over the city, and the country, a stark reminder of those early days of the pandemic and our blind journey into the unknown. There is that underlying fear and distrust amongst the residents, the lacklustre compliance over things like wearing of masks, and the tongue in cheek memories of the rush for that last carton of toilet roll that became such a talking point in those early days.

Much like any other short story collection, there are stories which resonated and intrigued more than others, one that will linger longer in the mind. Stories that made me laugh and ones which made me a little sad. It is perhaps only now that we are some four years on from that initial wave that reading a book so clearly focused on the pandemic is a little easier to read. It almost feels like it never really happened, like it was a lifetime ago, even though the legacy of the virus is still very much with us. The stories are very clevely brought together, some of the interlinking scenes providing a kind of indication of where this is leading us all. Set over just fourteen days of lockdown, there are many stories to be told so some chapters, and stories, are longer than others, but that sense of trying to find something good in an overwhelming sense of hopelessness and lack of control really rings true and, for those who lost people during the pandemic, may make this an uncomfortable read at times.

The ending of the book is actually quite poignant, and without going into spoiler territory, the only fitting end. I like the variety of character, liked the way in which they were all brought to life and how easy it was to relate to them, in all their eccentricities and character quirks. It’s a very interesting experiment and one I think they pulled of really well. It won’t be for everyone – for some the wounds of covid are still very raw. But if you can look beyond the setting of the pandemic, there are some wonderful stories which speak to the very diversity of humanity, and how a situation which by definition created great isolation, also had the effect of unifying strangers, if only for often very tragic reasons.

Fourteen days: the period over which our novel unfolds, as the tenants of one run-down New York apartment block gather (with social distancing!) each evening on the rooftop, in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, to cheer on the frontline workers and then share, and listen to, stories drawn from their own experience. We aren’t given forenames but each tenant is referred to by a nickname designated by the previous superintendent: Tango, Hello Kitty, La Cocinera, Eurovision and so on… making them at once defined by something in their life, but also somehow anonymous. There are love stories, stories involving crimes, simple stories, outrageous stories, humorous stories, strange stories, surreal stories, deeply sad stories, and everything in between. Are they all even real stories? Does it matter? At a time of uncertainty, fear, mistrust, and isolation, this novel embodies the power of storytelling to both unite and transport; to provide a form of escapism when it’s needed; to see existence through the plights of others at a time of universal struggle; to assert the vitality of humanity in the face of an unpredictable virus; and together to make sense of what it is to be human when nothing around us makes much sense anymore.

There is a lot going on in this book. There are a lot of characters, a lot of voices, a lot of stories within the story, a lot of evolving exchanges between the characters on the rooftop in between the stories; and add to this our narrator, the building’s superintendent, who reflects on her own backstory and expresses the worry she is feeling about being separated from her elderly father, cocooned elsewhere in a nursing home. Here’s the unique twist: this novel is brought to you through a collaboration of 36 American and Canadian authors, who have each contributed to give us one of the tenants’ stories; but we don’t know who wrote which story until the end. With highly recognisable names such as Margaret Atwood (co-editor of the book along with Douglas Preston), Celeste Ng, John Grisham, Emma Donoghue and Tommy Orange amongst the contributors, this all comes together as an expansive tapestry of stories within a story, reaching far and wide from one contained rooftop space. If the stories jump wildly from one kind of story to another, from one time, place and culture to another, creating a meandering and at times disjointed feeling, this is countered and centred to a certain extent as one story is often inspired in some way by the story that preceded it, or the conversation sparked between the tenants by the last story. We also see an evolution in the dynamic between the tenants as they begin to open up and get to know each other better, which adds an element of fluidity and progression to the novel.

As said, this book is a lot - how could it not be with such a diverse mix of voices behind it - but it does all come together in the end in quite the finale. A literary exquisite corpse of sorts, and a unique capture of the early pandemic, as I progressed through it I found my rhythm with it and enjoyed it overall. Would rate 3.5 stars if I could.

Set in a Lower East Side tenement in the early days of the COVID-19 lockdowns, Fourteen Days is a collaborative novel from the Authors Guild, with an unusual twist: each character in this diverse, eccentric cast of New York neighbours has been 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 begin to gather on the rooftop and tell stories. With each passing night, more and more of them gather, bringing chairs and milk crates and overturned pails. Gradually the tenants--some of whom have barely spoken to each other--become real neighbours.

I was excited to start reading this book with its impressive cast list of authors. But, despite its promising pedigree, it reads like what it is, a collection of short stories by different authors, and I found some much less interesting and compelling than others.

If the idea was trying to replicate the tradition of spoken stories, some succeed better than others. Many phrases just don't sound like the way people speak - as if some authors had forgotten the premise of the storytelling. Unfortunately, I started to find this a long hard read which didn't really start picking up the pace until quite near the end.

I enjoyed the twist at the end, and there are some really good stories in the mix, but it was just too long and too varied in quality for me to give it more than 3 stars.

With thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for an ARC for an honest review.

Fourteen Days is an intriguing concept - a collaborative novel involving thirty six well known authors ranging from Margaret Atwood to Meg Wolizer and including names like John Grisham, Douglas Preston, Celeste Ng, Diana Gabaldon, Tommy Orange and Charlie Jane Anders. Set in a New York apartment building in the early days of the Covid 19 pandemic, the book tells the stories of the residents through their own eyes and the eyes of the new building superintendent. Each of the characters is written by a different author or combination of authors, and as they gather nightly on the rooftop of the building they share their stories, becoming real neighbours rather than just a collection of tenants who happen to share the same building.
The book does capture the sense of fear and unknowing that the world shared in the early days of the pandemic, especially since one of the characters keeps a tally of the case numbers and deaths as part of a diary within the book, and reading it really did take me back to that uncertain and in many ways terrifying time.
I really liked the idea of this book and I have read and enjoyed works by many of the featured authors yet somehow I felt like this book was less than the sum of its parts. There were so many characters introduced using a mix of nick names or references to their apartment numbers that it was difficult to keep them all straight in my mind and as a reader I sometimes struggled to remember which character was telling their story. The actual telling of the stories was also something that didn't quite work for me in several cases, the flow just didn't feel natural for a story that was supposedly being told orally and recorded. While I can appreciate that it must have been difficult to come up with a way to connect so many diverse writing styles and authors, the way it was handled here was also something I struggled with especially as the book went on and to cap it all off the ending seemed cliched and rushed.
Overall a very hit and miss collection
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

The book focuses on a group of residents in a condominium in New York, during the first few weeks and months of the Covid pandemic in 2020. The meta narrative is about the residents, their relationships with each other, and the nightly ritual they establish of going to the building's roof and telling stories.

The main draw of this book is that each part (essentially, a "story" told by our protagonists) is written by a different North American author, some of who are very famous (Atwood, Ng Grisham), and other a bit more unknown (at least to me).

I was able to finish the book, and some of the stories within in resonated. I liked in particular the stories about the immigrant experience in America, and the two told in the last few days by the super and Darrow.

That being said, there are several reasons I would give this book a strong pass (and yes, I considered stopping multiple times). First, and perhaps as expected, it is very uneven. Some stories are absolutely great (minority), while others are bad, and yet others are terrible. The connecting scenes start off being passable, but by the 2nd half of the book devolve into ignorable gap fillers.

Second, many (perhaps more than half?) of the stories had a strong supernatural component to them (I don't mean fantasy - I rather mean ghosts, angels, or god), or were way too "woke" in my view (especially the critique of Decameron). The former is a literary genre I neither comprehend nor can tolerate. Can't really explain it - but it's easier for me to read about zombies and vampires and aliens, than people believing in ghosts and acting like this is ok. The latter is fine when dealt with thoughtfully and systematically, but this collection, more often than not, it digressed to lazy stereotypes and bashing of Western Culture (no reason why the genius of Boccaccio cannot be respected while highlighting its flaws via a contemporary reading, and drawing attention to literature written outside of the West historically and today).

Third, I found the final twist in the book lazy and corny. It just didn't resonate and reminded me too much of another lazy twist in a famous film by a famous director, which I won't mention so as not to err on the side of spoilers.

Finally, there is really no reason for this book to exist. It conveys no deep message, it doesn't entertain well, and it doesn't really communicate the nuances of the Covid experience with enough sensitivity and multi dimensionality. I barely remember the stories now, and I finished the book 1hr ago. In a week I'll barely remember reading it. So what did I waste my time on? Fooled into buying into it by some great names on the cover, to my shame.

Overall, a very strong pass.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an early copy of this book in return for an honest review.

I was drawn to the book by the interesting premise of multiple writers writing one book, but unfortunately I think multiple writers writing one book is what let it down in the end. Ultimately, "Fourteen Days", set in an apartment building in New York over a period of fourteen days in the early Covid pandemic, is a series of very different short stories loosely tied together by filler. Some of the stories were gripping, but others were instantly forgettable, and indeed I found myself skim reading a lot of the very wordy latter ones.

However, I did like the idea of the book of residents left by the previous super, describing the inhabitants and never actually giving any of them their real names, and somehow I didn't see the ending coming - although now of course it makes perfect sense!

This was more or less exactly what I expected.

Fourteen Days is essentially a short story collection with a twist-- all the stories are fed to us via characters in a New York apartment building, and each one is written by a different author. Set during the COVID lockdown, the cast of characters gather on the roof of their building to exchange stories.

Like virtually every single short story collection I have read, this book has its stronger stories and weaker stories. Some kept my eyes glued to the page, while others I have already forgotten. The stories are all spoken aloud to a group and while some authors adapted well to this, other stories contained too much detail or were so overly weird that they did not feel realistically like spoken word.

Ironically, some of the big names that most attracted me to the book did not write the best characters. I guess this project may have been pretty low priority for them. Atwood's short contribution, for example, showcases one of my favourite authors at her weirdest (and not in a good way). They tried to give her an odd character to accommodate her eccentricities but, even so, it felt totally bizarre and unbelievable to me.

Also, I found the chitchat and set-up between the stories quite tedious. Because they chose this specific framing, it made it necessary for the narrator to introduce each day, scene and character before launching into the next story. It was mostly filler.

An ambitious experiment that didn't quite work, in my opinion. So many stories, characters and voices led to a book that was uneven and incohesive. And I didn't like the ending.

This book feels such a good idea that it's difficult to believe it hasn't been done before, although I can only imagine it was a bit of a logistical nightmare!
As with any collection of short stories, I preferred some to others and most of the "better" ones for me were nearer the beginning. It managed to hold together as a whole relating to COVID, lockdown and people's relationships. Not living in the US or Canada I did miss some of the references, but was interested to read the way other countries coped with the pandemic
Thank you to netgalley and Random House for an advance copy of this book

Set during the first COVID lockdown in New York city I really enjoyed the clever format of this book. The tenants of a run down city tenement meet each evening for 14 days to clap for care workers on the rooftop of their building. For an hour each night they tell stories. Some personal some historical. All meaning something to the teller. Some of the stories I found easier to understand than others and I think this was because they were very American and being English I didn't understand the references. That said, it didn't take from the enjoyment of the book as a whole. I especially enjoyed the twist at the end. Unexpected and very welcome. A book that is much more than a collection of stories.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy. All opinions are my own.

𝗙𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗧𝗘𝗘𝗡 𝗗𝗔𝗬𝗦 | 𝟯.𝟮𝟱🌟
—𝘃𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘀 & 𝗲𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘆 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘁 𝗮𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗼𝗱

“𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘩𝘺𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘯𝘦𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘳 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥,” 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘰𝘦𝘵, 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘥. “𝘚𝘰 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦, 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦. 𝘏𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘯, 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘯, 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳—𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘴.”

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲:
✨Great writing
✨So many author contributions
✨Powerful multilayered stories
✨Emotional thematic explorations

𝗦𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗦𝘆𝗻𝗼𝗽𝘀𝗶𝘀:
In this collaboration, 𝟯𝟲 𝗔𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘀 ranging from their thirties to their mid-eighties amalgamate a collection of stories in this literary event. Each story is set during lockdown using the same residents and celebrates the 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 in hard times.

𝗧𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀:
I love that each of the stories are unbylined so you go in to each story with no preconceived notions whatsoever, and they are edited to simulate a continuation of the story before and provoke a number of emotions within the reader using deep thematic explorations.

This book briefly explores: belief systems, denial, retribution, rumours, ghosts, poverty, hope, birth, loss, love, pain, honesty, lies, coming of age, trauma, war, pandemics, rejection, loneliness, overcoming adversity, and guilt. I’ve rated each story as so:

* 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝗢𝗻𝗲 | 𝟰🌟
* 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝗧𝘄𝗼 | 𝟯🌟
* 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 | 𝟰🌟
* 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗿 | 𝟰🌟
* 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝗙𝗶𝘃𝗲 | 𝟯🌟
* 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝗦𝗶𝘅 | 𝟯.𝟱🌟
* 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝗦𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 | 𝟰.𝟱🌟
* 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝗘𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 | 𝟯.𝟳𝟱🌟
* 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝗡𝗶𝗻𝗲 | 𝟯🌟
* 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝗧𝗲𝗻 | 𝟯.𝟱🌟
* 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝗘𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 | 𝟮🌟
* 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝗧𝘄𝗲𝗹𝘃𝗲 | 𝟮🌟
* 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗲𝗻 | 𝟰🌟
* 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗲𝗻 | 𝟮.𝟱🌟

As you can see, this starts off great, and I felt really 𝗶𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗱, I found it so incredibly 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗳𝘂𝗹 and 𝗿𝗮𝘄. However, I began to struggle after the halfway point and begin to lose interest until the Day Thirteen which were surrounding confessions and I was, of course, delightedly rubbing my hands together and felt gripped, until it got to the anticlimactic ending.

I do think it’s worth the read for anyone who enjoys the sound of this 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀.

𝗞𝗮𝘆𝗹𝗲𝗶𝗴𝗵 | 𝗪𝗲𝗹𝘀𝗵 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗙𝗮𝗶𝗿𝘆

Oh, I so wanted to love this book as much as I loved the premise!

In the first days of the Covid pandemic, a couple of people living in a New York apartment building start using their building's rooftop as an outdoor space. Before long, other residents have joined them, taking a rare opportunity to be with other people. And, as they gather, they start to tell stories...

Reminiscent of a Covid Canterbury Tales, I found the stories a bit hit and miss in how they kept my attention and interest. The central thread holding the narrative together - which centres the building super, a young woman whose dad is in a care home on Long Island that she is unable to visit - was the main thing spurring me to read on.

I gave this book an overall 3*. The residents of a New York apartment are under lockdown, unable to leave the building and so meet each evening on the roof where they begin to swap tales.Each tale is written by a different author.
Some sections were excellent; 5*, but others felt like someone had been rambling into a voice recorder after a night of heavy drinking.
The ending became pretty obvious with about 120 pages to go.
It must have been quite a feat to organise; many different writers penning unrelated-and occasionally incomprehensible- short stories, but Yassie, the building superintendent is the voice which links each day and progresses the overall tale. I was very much enjoying it till about 2/3 in.
But there were just so many stories and so many different characters, some who only appeared once, that it became very confusing. Yassie does at one point give us a list of all the characters, their nicknames, and cryptic comments about them, but in an e-book it’s not easy to continually flip back to remind myself who’s who.
I also felt that the stories did not read as if they were being spoken; even the weirdest ones read like planned, descriptive WRITTEN monologues, rather than the musings of a bunch of people chatting and socialising (albeit at a suitable distance). And there were a lot of references that I might have understood better if I was American, I think.

Fourteen Days is a collaborative novel with an incredible list of participating authors. Each lends their voice to one character from an eclectic range of apartment building residents in New York at the beginning of the first Covid-19 lockdown. It is not exactly a traditional collection of short stories, but instead a cleverly compiled story with blurry boundaries between one author and the next. The residents of this building gather nightly on the rooftop to find connection amidst the fear and isolation of Covid and all the uncertainty the early days brought. They are sharing stories. Some are sweet heartwarming tales, others are shocking or somber confessions, but all are weaved together skillfully.

At the beginning I was engrossed. Each story was easy to sink into, and I was enjoying this unusual cast of characters finding ways to relate to each other. Later on, however, the stories start to get a little bit weirder, the premise a bit wilder, and some of them started to lose my interest. The first half was a solid 4 stars and a very enjoyable read, but by the end I was speeding through some of the more bizarre passages that just did not interest me. In that way, I guess it was like a classic short story collection as there are always some that don't hit the spot; it's just that these are all parts of a whole.

Whilst this may not have been entirely for me, it is skillfully put together and I am glad to have read it. Fourteen Days isn't for everyone, but I think it will be an absolute smash hit with some people, who love anthologies, fiction with a speculative tint to it, and books that take the reader on a winding, ambling journey.

Cleverly constructed project with the joy of multiple writers working together to weave a thoughtful and memorable narrative. We learn snippet stories from different characters, all collected together in an over-arching story holding them all together. So, it can be read in parts with each inner story like a different short story each time, or in one big go like a novel. It's the kind of book which stays with you long after reading it. I'm so intrigued as to who wrote which bit, but it sort of works within the story, that I will never know. I love the main message of the book - that we all have stories to tell. Every life has a story to tell, and they're important and have their own perspective. Very inspiring!

Where to begin with this intriguing, mesmerising book…

The premise is fairly simple in that a group of residents meet on the roof top of an apartment block and recount stories to one another; in the early days of the Covid outbreak in New York.
Over a period of fourteen days the group meets each evening
The caretaker discreetly records and writes the tales delivered by the eclectic entourage.

This could be described as a book of short stories but the interweaving of tales against the backdrop of disaster and the interaction between the group make this book even more profound as their inner fears and anxieties surface during the time of isolation.

The stories are varied - emotional, humorous, ethereal, urgent, unsettling but the key is that they are told with heart. The final denouement was a surprise and added a huge twist

The fact the book was written by over thirty of North America’s leading writers during the Covid period - as a writing project -adds another fascinating dimension to the novel - don’t look at the final pages to find out which author created which story.

In future years this book may well be regarded as a literary milestone / epitaph from the intensity of the extreme period of Covid.

Fourteen Days is set amidst the COVID-19 lockdown where the residents of a Manhattan apartment building have begun to gather on the rooftop every night to tell stories. There are several tales; some are uplifting and heartwarming and others are dark and confessional. Each evening, new neighbours join, more anecdotes are shared and neighbours who had never spoken before, start to find a sense of community in a city fighting the loss and suffering of the pandemic.

This was a unique premise and all the contributions were weaved together well - if I didn’t know it was written by several people, I would never have guessed! As is always the case with short stories, I enjoyed some more than others and my favourites were definitely in the first half.

The parts of the book that focussed on the interactions amongst the characters on the roof were my favourite, as I felt like I was up there with them, sat in the circle and listening intently.

The reason it’s a 3 stars for me is because there was the odd story where I became disinterested and found myself skimming the pages until we rejoined the characters on the roof, and also, the ending was completely lost on me and a tad disappointing.

Overall, I think those who are a lover of short stories will really enjoy this. However, those who prefer intricate plot lines and well-developed characters may be drawn in by the big names, but will ultimately find themselves disappointed. In all honesty, I’m somewhere in the middle; I enjoyed the journey, but won’t be recommending it in years to come.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the arc.

When I read the description of "Fourteen Days", I was hooked. This novel felt like such a great writing project, gathering authors from US and Canada, to create the world in which in the midst of COVID-pandemic, tenants of one shabby building come together to share stories from their lives.

Despite efforts of Margaret Atwood and Douglas Preston, this novel lacked coherence and proper editing. It is a challenge to follow one's peers with very distinctive writing styles and voices, and many of the contributors probably couldn't execute their parts well.

In terms of world-building, confessions lacked consequences and characters' reactions, even in such a context, just didn't seem probable. Seasoned readers would also quite quickly grasp what the ending it's going to be, so the level of surprise was quite low.