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.

Stories from tenants stuck together in lockdown during the pandemic , intriguing, poignant, unbelievable, inspiring. Couldn’t guess who had written which part but an enjoyable read.

This unique collaborative story brings 14 distinct voices, different characters together each with their own story but slowly each one weaves together to create one tale of neighbours, friends and people living through a crisis.

Some people really don’t like references to the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns in literature, but it is a part of our history now and something that changed so many of us that it can’t be ignored - and this is done with grace and care.

It is a story of survival but so much more, it’s about the intrinsic need we have for connection, for the love we can give to strangers and the strength we can find in others. Although told in a time of great loss and suffering, it finds those beautiful human inclinations that allow us to survive and live through the hardest times. And of course, it is a love letter to the timeless power of storytelling.

The storytelling was dynamic, changing and evolving from each character but with an overarching theme that flowed throughout. It was quiet, focused on the minutiae of life, all set within a single isolated building but instead of a linear, busy plot it offers a subtle and evocative snapshot into a moment in time that all the people found hope and comfort in strangers. We watch relationships grow and change, people learn and evolve, stories being shared, and life moving forwards. Of course the mixed voices give a delicate and multi-dimensional aspect to the storytelling, some chapters reeling me in and some leaving me unsure if I’ve fully connected with the character.

And in the spirit of the story, this book comes from thirty six of the greatest modern writers including Margaret Atwood, Celeste Ng and John Grisham - all of them lending their voices and raising each others, not giving away who created what and bringing a new perspective of life, fresh eyes and different life experiences this is a dazzlingly warm, tender and surprising story of being human.

Fourteen Days has been written by a range of well-known authors and takes place during the early days of the pandemic in New York City. Every evening just before 7pm a group of residents from the Fernsby Arms apartments, who have barely spoken to each other beforehand start to meet on the roof to applaud the medical workers and afterwards tell stories about either themselves or other people to one another.
Whilst some of the residents stories were better than others, on the whole I found it to be an engaging and worthwhile read.

A fascinating premise with a number of fantastic stories (and a couple that were a bit off the scale for me).
Gathering on the roof of their poorly maintained apartment block during Covid lockdown, a disparate group of neighbours gather and gradually begin to tell each other stories and confessions from their lives.
With authors penning one or two days of story the voices are very different in each chapter but are tied together well by the overarching narrator voice.
The ending was such that it made me think back through all the stories looking for clues!
Overall a good read.

This book is about the ramblings of bored tenants during the very first couple of weeks of Lockdown. They gather (socially distanced) on the rooftop of their run-down apartment building in NYC every evening and tell stories about either themselves or other people. Some of these stories held my interest and some of them just dragged needlessly. Some stories were just plain weird (I'm looking at you Spider Girl). I'm still unsure of what to make of the ending.

The stories were extremely detailed; the conversations within them were so thorough and precise that it felt odd and unnatural that all these words were being spoken out aloud.

Fourteen Days was written by a powerhouse of authors. Each 'Day' was written by a different author and it was only at the end where the reader learnt who had written what.

When I read the premise that immerses us into the frightening days of Covid 19 in early lockdown in a dilapidated New York lower East Side tenement, Fernsby Arms, set over a period of 14 days, I was thrilled because the diverse, offbeat voices of people, who were unable to leave, are each written by an incredible cast of big authors, that include the likes of Margaret Atwood, Tommy Orange, Celeste Ng, Louise Erdich, and Meg Wolitzer. It forms the structure of a loose collection of short stories told by the residents, many of whom barely knew each other at all, told on the rooftop with its magnificent views, with everyone suitably socially distanced. This lockdown gathering offers the opportunities and means for a real community and neighbourly relations to develop amidst a background and experience of devastating loss and grief.

The global nature of the pandemic crisis and the isolating lockdowns ensure that there is much that will resonate with the reader, and lets face it, Covid remains with us, with the vulnerable remaining at risk. As might be expected from such a loosely wide selection of stories, some were more interesting, thoughtful and fascinating to me than others, there a sense of the chaotic and it does not always feel cohesive when it comes to the links between the different narratives. I think there are likely to be stories that appeal to a variety of readers, whilst simultaneously there is the possibility of coming across and being exposed to authors you have never previously encountered, so I can definitely recommend this, even if it is not perfect. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

Fantastic, like a well practised choir this project for me brings together individual voices in perfect harmony. It touched a nerve with what we all experienced during Covid and actually brought me to tears at the end.

This is possibly my book of 2024, it will take some beating.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to read Fourteen Days.

Such an interesting concept- I had in the back of my mind the list of contributors and part of the fun was trying to guess who wrote which parts, but also imagining the process behind this coming together as the characters really do leap off the page and the setting of pandemic New York really comes across. An interesting read.

The list of authors involved in this project is very impressive so I was excited to get reading. Some of the stories were fully self contained tales and these worked well. Others just seem to be a ramble and I couldn’t work out where they were going. In some cases a story would be interrupted, another story would start and there was never a return to the original tale in which I was interested.
About two thirds through I realised I was doing other things rather than read, I was frustrated by the jumble sale of stories which was the original attraction of the book. I cut my losses and moved onto another book.

Ideal for fans of storytelling set in the lockdown years and written by a collaboration of well-known authors. Lots of scene setting, character description and social commentary.
With thanks to the authors, publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.

The premise of this was really interesting to me but unfortunately the resultant novel was a let down. Whilst I respect the idea, and hat offs to Margaret Atwood for bringing all the authors together, the book was a bit of a disjointed mish mash and I actually failed to finish it.

Thanks to a netgalley,   I was able to read this unusual, terrific,  collaborative novel,  written during lockdown of the pandemic by a whole cast of well known authors such as Celeste Ng, John Grisham, Tess Gerritsen, Erica Jong, Dave Eggers, Sylvia Day, Tommy Orange , Margaret Atwood to name just a few. 

 The story lends itself perfectly to the project: set in New York during the pandemic,  the tenants of a run down building gather each evening for fourteen days on the roof top, equipped with booze and other provisions, taking turns in telling each other stories, viewing each other suspiciously. . No one knows whether the stories are real or made up by the narrator. The chief protagonist is the super of the building, a young woman who finds notes left by her predecessor about the peculiarities of aĺl the tenants, inclusive imaginative names and apartment numbers. The book reminded me a little of a kinkier version of 1001 nights, it is great fun to read, not at all bleak even if some stories are on the darker side. 

The epilogue provides the names of the authors who has written which chapter.

On paper, this looked like a good idea but, somehow, the delivery lets it down. The premise is that the fourteen days of the title cover the worst days of the Covid pandemic in New York, when the residents of a building on the Lower East Side come together on the roof to bang pots and pans in support of health workers and tell each other stories.

Over thirty modern American writers were involved in this project which was organised by the Authors Guild of America and you couldn’t find better editors for a modern day Decameron or Canterbury Tales either.

The central character is the building Superintendent and she narrates the events and, allegedly, records the stories told by the different residents of the building. As in Chaucer’s stories, the residents comment on each other’s contributions and the discussion goes off at a tangent.

There are stories about ghosts, death and relationships and much, much more. Some are well developed and others more fragmentary but what is missing in them is a distinctive voice or, perhaps, that voice is hard to find because it comes from a character who has been quickly introduced. It’s hard to say exactly what the problem is but the individual stories don’t stand out and the structure becomes almost repetitive towards the end.

At the same time, is only fair to say that the book does strikingly recall the strange habits and practices of the pandemic while the gradual unravelling of the different residents is interesting, possibly more interesting than some of the stories.

Students of modern American writing will also enjoy linking the stories to the writers but, somehow, the project got too big and too important, and lost something along the way.

This is an interesting approach to novel writing and one that (mostly) works pretty well. As the title tells us, the novel takes place over the course of 14 days. At the beginning of COVID lockdowns in New York, a group of people are living in a run-down apartment building. The landlord cannot be reached. The super is new and stressed as her father, a Romanian immigrant, has had to go into a nursing home due to his dementia and she cannot get in touch with anyone there. Her mother is long gone. Upon her arrival, she is dismayed to find that the first floor apartment which comes with the job is actually a dark and depressing basement apartment. The previous super has left a cupboard full of booze and a 'bible,' which is a binder with information about the tenants, along with their nicknames. She takes full advantage of both. One day she discovers the roof and starts to go up there every evening to get some fresh air. Soon, some of the other tenants start to go up there, too, even though they're not supposed to and the door is usually locked--at least at first. Everyone stays socially distanced and in their own world, clapping and banging pots with others in the city to salute the care workers, and gathering up their things and going back inside when the bells of St Patrick's Cathedral chime each night. Then one of them, Eurovision, suggests that to pass the time they each tell a story. They begin to do exactly that and continue for 14 days. 3 1/2 stars

The twist in this book is that each character is written by a different author and readers don't know which author wrote which character until and unless they consult the list in the back of the book. The stories each character tells are, unsurprisingly, very different in style and subject. As each person tells their story and the tenants begin to interact with one another more and in different ways, their attitudes towards one another change and they begin to relate to each other differently.

For the most part, I enjoyed the book. I thought it was a clever way to create a novel. The fact that the 36 US and Canadian authors come from widely different backgrounds and write in very different genres means that the book is varied and wide ranging in scope, even as the main setting is so contained--the roof isn't that big. I also like the fact that it's a charitable project with the proceeds going to The Author's Guild--a group that supports writers. Where it fell down for me was at the end. Honestly, I thought the ending was really disappointing and even a bit annoying. It seemed pretty unoriginal. That said, the rest of the book was a good, if not spectacular, read. I'm glad I read it, even if I wish the ending had been done better.

Fourteen Days has an interesting premise - a collaborative novel isn't something you come across too often! It reads more like a collection of short stories which all exist within one universe. While the individual stories are varied and well-told, there didn't seem to be any central thread driving the plot forwards which is something I really missed from the narrative.

I appreciated the chance to discover new authors through this unique literary endeavour and if you are a fan of thought-provoking short story collections then this might be for you, it just wasn't really for me!