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melinda_and_her_books's review
4.0
Thank you Netgalley for my gifted copy. It was interesting to hear other people's stories and how they are dealing with life during this pandemic.
lostmymindinbooks's review
Just couldn't keepmy attention - maybe its been too long since we were in lockdown to be in the right place to read it?
emkreads's review
5.0
* Received an arc through NetGalley*
To summarize my thoughts on this book:
• amazing
• highly relevant
• IMPORTANT
• feels good
• most definitely helped me feel better about the whole Covide situation and realize I was NOT alone
• helps raise funds for an amazing cause
• there's something for everyone
To summarize my thoughts on this book:
• amazing
• highly relevant
• IMPORTANT
• feels good
• most definitely helped me feel better about the whole Covide situation and realize I was NOT alone
• helps raise funds for an amazing cause
• there's something for everyone
heyitsmeg777's review
5.0
This book is definitely a MUST READ!
It is a very timely anthology of people around the US depicting their experiences with the pandemic. For us, in this new era, the pandemic hit us all in many different ways. Some people were scared on how would they survive, how their families would continue standing, or even how to pay the bills. For older people, it was threat, a bigger one since many seniors were dying and many died because of the pandemic. Many people blamed old people for this pandemic and weren't kind to them, by blaming it on them and by prioritizing medical equipment for others. For kids, it was a time where they couldn't see their friends, school was now online and presented new challenges and precious events like graduations were all done virtually marking all the graduating classes this year as a unique one. Being from a graduating class myself, I spent a lot of time frustrated towards the pandemic, but this book served as a relief, because it allows you to immerse yourself in other people's shoes. It shows us to be kinder with others and ourselves. It helps others understand how we're all going through this pandemic. Together, and even if sometimes it doesn't feel this way... with this book, it allows us to be in the moment and to understand and learn of how others are doing. It is relatable because we are living through it, it is for a good cause because this book not only is helping a local charity, but this book will go down in history years after this pandemic ends...
Thank Netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this book
It is a very timely anthology of people around the US depicting their experiences with the pandemic. For us, in this new era, the pandemic hit us all in many different ways. Some people were scared on how would they survive, how their families would continue standing, or even how to pay the bills. For older people, it was threat, a bigger one since many seniors were dying and many died because of the pandemic. Many people blamed old people for this pandemic and weren't kind to them, by blaming it on them and by prioritizing medical equipment for others. For kids, it was a time where they couldn't see their friends, school was now online and presented new challenges and precious events like graduations were all done virtually marking all the graduating classes this year as a unique one. Being from a graduating class myself, I spent a lot of time frustrated towards the pandemic, but this book served as a relief, because it allows you to immerse yourself in other people's shoes. It shows us to be kinder with others and ourselves. It helps others understand how we're all going through this pandemic. Together, and even if sometimes it doesn't feel this way... with this book, it allows us to be in the moment and to understand and learn of how others are doing. It is relatable because we are living through it, it is for a good cause because this book not only is helping a local charity, but this book will go down in history years after this pandemic ends...
Thank Netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this book
dame_samara's review against another edition
5.0
At the halfway point of this book, I was already on the search to see if I could get a physical copy of it locally. Because I know I will be coming back to it time and time again.
This book has stories that made me laugh, and made me nearly cry. It feels like the touch of humanity that we all need in a time like this. But also it has the kinds of stories that you find yourself turning to time and time again.
Paired with the beautiful variation of narrators this audiobook has, I can't recommend this enough no matter what version you choose.
This book has stories that made me laugh, and made me nearly cry. It feels like the touch of humanity that we all need in a time like this. But also it has the kinds of stories that you find yourself turning to time and time again.
Paired with the beautiful variation of narrators this audiobook has, I can't recommend this enough no matter what version you choose.
theshaggyshepherd's review
3.0
Alone Together // edited by Jennifer Haupt
I've always struggled with short story collections but wanted to give it another try. This one just sounded perfect for our pandemic year with short stories, poems, and interviews all mixed together. There was a great variety of authors from diverse cultures and backgrounds as well as varying narrators. In the print book, 69 authors contributed to this work that includes their collective pain and dreams during this time. While I loved learning how everyone perceived this period in their lives both differently and the same, I did struggle to connect to more than just a few. It generally takes a while for me to get invested in a story and whenever I felt close to doing so, I had to move on to a different person or set of people. This isn't necessarily an issue with the book itself and probably has more to do with me as a reader. Sometimes I struggled to understand why a certain piece was included in this collection, but overall it was really interesting to see how people took something from their lives and connected it to the pandemic in some way or another that I wouldn't have thought of like that at all. While I probably won't pick up another book like this anytime soon, I am still happy I was able to read and experience this.
Thank you to the authors, editor, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
I've always struggled with short story collections but wanted to give it another try. This one just sounded perfect for our pandemic year with short stories, poems, and interviews all mixed together. There was a great variety of authors from diverse cultures and backgrounds as well as varying narrators. In the print book, 69 authors contributed to this work that includes their collective pain and dreams during this time. While I loved learning how everyone perceived this period in their lives both differently and the same, I did struggle to connect to more than just a few. It generally takes a while for me to get invested in a story and whenever I felt close to doing so, I had to move on to a different person or set of people. This isn't necessarily an issue with the book itself and probably has more to do with me as a reader. Sometimes I struggled to understand why a certain piece was included in this collection, but overall it was really interesting to see how people took something from their lives and connected it to the pandemic in some way or another that I wouldn't have thought of like that at all. While I probably won't pick up another book like this anytime soon, I am still happy I was able to read and experience this.
Thank you to the authors, editor, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
gayathiri_rajendran's review
4.0
Thanks to NetGalley and Central Avenue Publishing for the review copy. The below opinions are mine.
Alone Together is a collection of writings by various authors and other collaborators about living in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some are essays, some are poems and there is also some poetry. I'm not a huge fan of poetry and I couldn't connect with them much. This anthology touches upon several important topics such as feeling lonely, struggling to move forward while grieving and after experiencing loss, how the pandemic impacts each of us differently etc.
I really enjoyed reading the essays and it was interesting to read how other people are coping in this pandemic. We are also able to get some pointers. This book has introduced me to several authors whose books I will be checking out in the future. Many thanks to Jennifer Haupt for compiling this anthology. This book really helped me to observe the pandemic from different points of view.
Such a thought provoking collection!
Alone Together is a collection of writings by various authors and other collaborators about living in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some are essays, some are poems and there is also some poetry. I'm not a huge fan of poetry and I couldn't connect with them much. This anthology touches upon several important topics such as feeling lonely, struggling to move forward while grieving and after experiencing loss, how the pandemic impacts each of us differently etc.
I really enjoyed reading the essays and it was interesting to read how other people are coping in this pandemic. We are also able to get some pointers. This book has introduced me to several authors whose books I will be checking out in the future. Many thanks to Jennifer Haupt for compiling this anthology. This book really helped me to observe the pandemic from different points of view.
Such a thought provoking collection!
beastreader's review
4.0
This collection of short stories and poems are touching, filled with tons of emotions, and all together moving. The way this book is formatted is that it is broken out into sections...love, grief, and comfort. There were several stories and or poems that I connected towards better then others. Yet no matter whether I "loved" or "liked" a story or poem is besides the point.
The overall importance of this collection is that it showed that no matter what walk of life we come from; we are all connected. If you are an introvert or extrovert, during this pandemic you realize that family, friends, and human interaction are very much needed. Just a smile or to have a conversation with someone in person can make some one's day. This book is worth your time to read. If anything I think this book is very appropriate for present times.
The overall importance of this collection is that it showed that no matter what walk of life we come from; we are all connected. If you are an introvert or extrovert, during this pandemic you realize that family, friends, and human interaction are very much needed. Just a smile or to have a conversation with someone in person can make some one's day. This book is worth your time to read. If anything I think this book is very appropriate for present times.
veecaswell's review against another edition
4.0
Alone Together: Love, Grief, and Comfort During the Time of COVID-19 is a collection of essays, poems, and interviews to serve as a lifeline for negotiating how to connect and thrive during this stressful time of isolation as well as a historical perspective that will remain relevant for years to come. All contributing authors and business partners are donating their share to The Book Industry Charitable Foundation, a nonprofit organization that coordinates charitable programs to strengthen the bookselling community.
This book is put together really wonderfully, and Haupt has assembled an incredible array of essayists, poets and writers in this book that really allow you to empathise, care and appreciate the people this pandemic is affecting. From those staying at home to those who still have people on the frontline, this book really does allow you to see every perspective and makes for sometimes sad, sometimes funny, sometimes tender moments.
Beginning with the poems that are included in this anthology, there are so many highlights. ‘I Kind Of Want To Love The World But I Have No Idea How To Hold It’ by Kelli Russell Agodon and Melissa Studdard is a short but brilliant poem of comfort in this collection. One of the many highlights of the Connect section, ‘Dear O’ by Ching-In Chen is beautifully done and the words are just so beautifully put together moments in the book.
Accompanying these poems are interviews, personal writings and essays which are true gems. Devi S Laskar’s ‘State Of The Union, State Of The Art’ is poetic and brilliantly put together in this book and ‘Recipe For Connection’by Jennifer Rosner is a really lovely piece of writing that talks of family and food, something that during this for me has been something important and really brought my home together. What I love about these pieces is there honesty and how the authors share a sliver of their lives with the world within this collection.
Anthologies are hard to perfect and of course some things are going to call the reader more than others, and that is true for me here, with the connecting and funny moments really calling to me, ‘Pandemic Date Night’ by Sommer Browning and David Shields being one I especially loved in this collection. A time capsule of the time we’ve spent alone together this book memorialises a very strange time, but also a time where people for the most part worked together for the greater good and that deserves a book as good as this.
cstark's review
2.0
Okay… so this books is hard. Parts of it are fabulous, parts are SO SLOW, and ultimately I think it’s just too much, too long. Not unlike COVID itself. I did a mix of reading and listening… but more than once found myself completely checked out, rereading the same page. It’s a cool idea with a great cause and some really brilliant moments. It’s also some 90 different people, more than half of whom are just describing what it’s like to not do anything in their own way.
I’d pick and choose the authors you like. Wish I had.
I’d pick and choose the authors you like. Wish I had.