What does 2020 mean to you??

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Well… I’m not a fan of anthologies… or any type of short stories collection for that matter. It’s unusual for me to find time and/or interest in anything that isn’t a big fat cohesive story. It’s not like I haven’t given them a try. But I find the disjointed nature of a collection of stories, a little… unsatisfactory. Very few short stories manage to create an attachment in my head. I guess that was a reason why I picked up Fourteen Days. It also helped that the names associated with this, were ALL BIG WIGS…

Fourteen Days is a unique experiment in the literary world. 36 authors from US and Canada got together to get this book made. And the names on the list included stalwarts like… John Grisham, R. L. Stine, Margaret Atwood and Celeste Ng. And the writeup on the book said… Set in a New York apartment building, Fourteen Days is an irresistibly propulsive novel with an unusual twist: each character in this diverse, eccentric cast of neighbours has been secretly written by a different, major literary voice - from Margaret Atwood and John Grisham to Emma Donoghue and Celeste Ng.

Now, 2020 is a year, I don’t think anyone is likely to forget. It’s a year that will be etched in the memories of all who lived it. We all have our own…personal hellish stories of the year. Me.. I was stuck in a hotel room in a city that’s some 900kms away from the city…for 3 whole months, when the world got locked down. It took a lot of mental strength to deal with that situation. Away from home, from my kid, stuck in a strange city, alone in a hotel room… But I wasn’t alone. The whole world went through a lot more than what I went through. People lost life n limb… 2020 showed the world what it means to be human. I believe we all came out changed… touched by things that happened…

 

Fourteen Days is a reflection of that time. It is supposed to show you, facets of life through a different lense. What drew me to the book was the fact that it is designed around one theme… a single tenement and it’s tenants, during the lockdown. The fact that there are some really great authors associated with this project was another push. I expected great stories, from some great storytellers…

 

The collection isn’t what I expected from it though. Yes, it is woven around a single theme. Yes, it has some great names associated with it… but it didn’t matter in the end. The stories in themselves, were their own reward. Of course, it has some obvious drawbacks… the whole connecting each story to a common narrative… sometimes it felt stretched… like it was strain to do it… you feel the forced nature of it. Some stories are really brilliant. Some not so much. Each comes with it’s own … zing, I suppose, you can call it. They all don’t always fit into the narrative tone. But you learn to ignore it. My problem was, if I was reading it… I might just have given up… the audiobook format, worked in my favour this time. I especially didn’t see the end curveball. That I think was a good way to end this small collection of stories.

 

Fourteen Days is a good way to spend a Sunday. You can take a break if need be. But you will be drawn back to these strangers who are bound together by their circumstances. If you are looking to try something different … I think Fourteen Days will be a great choice.