The power of storytelling and human bonds
A collaborative novel that captures and contests the notions of belonging, isolation, and survival from the point of view of various writers
What happens when three dozen authors write their works of fiction in the backdrop of the pandemic lockdown? Well, you get a fictional masterpiece of Fourteen Days. The book does not follow a single point of view as various writers like Celeste Ng, John Grisham, and Emma Donoghue are woven into the story.
Fourteen Days: as narrated by Margaret Atwood and Douglas Preston, is an interesting anthology, but it focuses on individual writers’ work towards creating a collective narrative. This narrative unfolds during the initial quarantine when the author focuses on a New York tenement. COVID-19 prompted such growth within individuals: as the lockdown deprived everyone of outside contact, the many stories hidden inside the different people residing inside the building erupted one by one.
A feature of this work which was notably impressive is in the context of how the book was written. They chronicle each event from a particular character's point of view and it's like having a million poems in one.
The general effect is a huge array of writings, which one way or another interpret the emotional and psychological effects of the pandemic.
Every urban structure embodies a society within its walls and through the residents in the case of Fourteen Days, it interrogates and contests the notions of belonging, isolation, and survival.
The sense of confinement is intensified by the presence of lockdowns, which also helps to cultivate a curious sense of solidarity with those inside the building.
It must have been a wonderfully difficult job to thread together, and Atwood and Preston as editors do it with admirable cohesion.
There are times when the book feels somewhat in balance, not because all the writers would be good if taken out, but because of the variety in writing styles.
However, the experiment works very well as a snapshot of a particular moment in history. Fourteen Days is a meditation on solitude and a tribute to the power of storytelling to bind us as we stand before the great god of chaos.