Reviews

The Decameron Project: 29 New Stories from the Pandemic by The New York Times

katerina_rae's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.0

venirr's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

ninafroms's review against another edition

2.0

Big miss for me. I really liked the concept behind it but it felt gimmicky and also I was not motivated to continue reading because every story felt so different.

menacebibliotheque's review against another edition

medium-paced

3.75

There were a few gems in this collection that definitely stuck with me. Particularly the stories by Rivers Solomon, Margaret Atwood, David Mitchell, Charles Yu, and Leila Slimani. Others were alright, some seemed rushed and incomplete, like the authors had a short deadline and threw something together.

booksandpipes's review against another edition

3.0

Fun collection.
Avg. ⭐3.655172414

bail33's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

Incredible collection of stories from around the world to document people’s experience during lockdown. I feel like there should be another publication of stories from writers “post-pandemic,” when the world is open in full-swing but the stress of illness and death still surrounds us the same amount, if not more, than during lockdown.

dzana's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

lilopalu's review against another edition

emotional reflective fast-paced

3.5

An interesting collection of stories about really strange times. I read this at a time when things started to get back to normal (hopefully for real this time) and some of the stories were a real throw-back to two years ago. Others showed aspects of the pandemic that I didn't experience in the same way and were therefor interesting. 
Since the essays were so short, it was a quick read. I would have prefered if they were a little bit longer. 

samsam123's review against another edition

4.0

This is going down as one of my top reads of the year! What a collection! This is not a collection of just American or British authors, but has prominent authors from around the world. Each story engages with pandemic in its own and unique way.

savvyrosereads's review against another edition

3.0

Actual average rating was 2.9 stars, but I’m rounding up because I did genuinely enjoy a small number of these, and found the writing good (albeit the plots lacking) in a bunch of others. Overall, I love the idea behind this project but was deeply disappointed that it didn’t live up to its promise: these stories, unlike the original Decameron—and unlike the Preface and Introduction would lead you to believe about this Project—are not escapist dramas meant to let the reader forget about the pandemic. Instead, the pandemic is central to nearly every story, which dives deep into the varying hardships (and, occasionally, unexpected joys) faced by so many during the past year. Perhaps that, too, is a worthy accomplishment, but it’s not the one I was led to expect, and frankly not one I was fully ready for while I’m still living through this time.

Individual Ratings:

“Recognition” by Victor LaValle: 5 stars
“A Blue Sky Like This” by Mona Awad: 3 stars
“The Walk” by Kamila Shamsie: 2.5 stars
“Tales from the LA River” by Colm Tóibín: 2.5 stars
“Clinical Notes” by Liz Moore: 3 stars
“The Team” by Tommy Orange: 3 stars
“The Rock” by Leila Slimani: 3 stars
“Impatient Griselda” by Margaret Atwood: 5 stars
“Under the Magnolia” by Yiyun Li: 2 stars
“Outside” by Etgar Keret: 2 stars
“Keepsakes” by Andrew O’Hagan: 2 stars
“The Girl with the Big Red Suitcase” by Rachel Kushner: 3.5 stars
“The Morningside” by Téa Obreht: 4 stars
“Screen Time” by Alejandro Zambra: 2.5 stars
“How We Used to Play” by Dinaw Mengestu: 2 stars
“Line 19 Woodstock/Glisan” by Karen Russell: 3 stars
“If Wishes Was Horses” by David Mitchell: 3.5 stars
“Systems” by Charles Yu: 4 stars
“The Perfect Travel Buddy” by Paolo Giordano: 2 stars
“An Obliging Robber” by Mia Couto: 3 stars
“Sleep” by Uzodinma Iweala: 2 stars
“Prudent Girls” by Rivers Solomon: 5 stars
“That Time at My Brother’s Wedding” by Laila Lalami: 2 stars
“A Time of Death, The Death of Time” by Julián Fuks: 2 stars
“The Cellar” by Dina Nayeri: 2.5 stars
“Origin Story” by Matthew Baker: 3 stars
“To the Wall” by Esi Edugyan: 2 stars
“Barcelona: Open City” by John Wray: 3 stars
“One Thing” by Edwidge Danticat: 3.5 stars