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Fourteen Days

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Fourteen Days

By: Margaret Atwood - editor, Douglas Preston - editor
Narrated by: Shayna Small
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

A BBC, Financial Times and Cosmopolitan What to Read in 2024 pick

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.

One week into lockdown, the tenants of a run-down apartment building in Manhattan have begun to gather on the rooftop each evening and tell stories. With each passing night, more and more neighbours gather, bringing chairs and milk crates and overturned pails. Gradually the tenants – some of whom have barely spoken to each other before now – become real neighbours.

A dazzling, heartwarming and ultimately surprising narrative, Fourteen Days is an ode to the power of storytelling and human connection.

Includes writing from: Charlie Jane Anders, Margaret Atwood, Jennine Capo Crucet, Pat Cummings, Joseph Cassara, Angie Cruz, 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, Doug Preston, Alice Randall, Caroline 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, DeShawn Charles Winslow, Meg Wolitzer

© ed. Margaret Atwood 2023 (P)2023 Penguin Audio

 City Life Fiction Friendship Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Urban New York Heartfelt

Critic reviews

An immensely enjoyable product of an immensely unenjoyable time, Fourteen Days is lively, freewheeling and…an impressive achievement
Fourteen Days serves as a valuable reminder that stories can teach, console, provide a place of acceptance and perhaps even change their readers (or listeners)
We like a bit of fun with our fiction, of the sort you get with Fourteen Days, a new collaborative novel set in a New York tenement in the early days of the pandemic in which a crew of acclaimed writers — including Margaret Atwood, John Grisham and Emma Donoghue — each tell a different character’s story.
A fascinating story of the ‘left-behinds’… a literary event not quite like any other
A rather intriguing puzzle box of a book… enjoyable, and has a dip-into-able quality
If you want to feel well read in double-quick time, try Fourteen Days, which is set in a New York city tenement in the early days of the pandemic. It has a novel twist (pardon the pun) - each character has been secretly written by a different author from Margaret Atwood and John Grisham to Dave Eggers and Celeste Ng
A fun, compelling game of literary who’s who
This “collaborative novel” unites writers including Celeste Ng, John Grisham and Emma Donoghue for a story set in a New York apartment building during — surprise! — Covid-19. Framed as an ode to the people who couldn’t escape the city, there’s a twist: it’s deliberately unclear who wrote what
While we're really not in a rush to think about the pandemic again, we'll make an exception for Margaret Atwood. Fourteen Days is a collaborative novel edited by Atwood and Douglas Preston, and includes writing from Celeste NG and John Grisham, amongst others. In the novel, the inhabitants of a Manhattan apartment block gather on the roof and tell stories, as more neighbours join people start to form real bonds
The novel works brilliantly, partly because of the simplicity of its premise… this is a bold, imaginative idea, superbly executed
All stars
Most relevant
it's an interesting idea to have multiple writers write a story together, but you couldn't really tell that that was the case - until you got to a story that wasn't as good/appealing. I found Vinegar's "I am Jennifer" speech too unrealistic, it sounded like something someone would say in a movie but not in real life. The retelling of William Shakespeare's life didn't interest me, and highlights the risk in this book of including a range of genres. Some of the writing is quite grating and some characters are annoying, which is where reading this physically would probably be preferable as it would be easier to skip/skim read sections you weren't interested in/enjoying without losing track of your place. Overall I've enjoyed it enough but I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend it.

varied quality

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This book is about stories different people are telling to each other over a period of 14 days and each story is written by a different author. Therefore to me, some stories were very good and others seemed self indulgent nonsense. We are not told who penned which story. There is a twist in the tale at the end. At some points I almost gave up on the book and did skip one particularly tedious chapter but other chapters made up for the boring ones and I ploughed on. I’m not sure it was worth the effort though!

Varied quality of storytelling

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Unfortunately, I was very disappointed in this book which is a rare occurrence when Atwood is involved. The idea of the multi author writing was brilliant but it meant that some authors excelled and others just weren’t up to standard.
Some of the character’s stories were pointless and so poorly written, I wanted to fast forward. I’ve tried to analyse the story and go back over parts to see if there was anything I missed but I hadn’t.
Unfortunately I wouldn’t advise you waste your credits or time on this book, sorry!

Innovative concept but chaotic structure.

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Interesting listen with a twist at the end of the book. Worth hearing the stories and doesn’t feel disjointed

Great

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I had never heard of this book until I saw a post online social media and a review.
Have so many writers create a novel that all links and combines so many different people is outstanding. So much is covered and talked out. The nicknames are the personality of each resident. So a brilliant idea that works so well!
Definitely worth a read or in the case a listen to.
Had me hooked from the first chapter.

Plus as a bonus, you hear about the writers guild more

Recommend online. Such a wide mind opening listen

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