A review by hdcamp
Together, Apart by Auriane Desombre, Jennifer Yen, Sajni Patel, Rachel Lippincott, Brittney Morris, Erin A. Craig, Natasha Preston, Bill Konigsberg, Erin Hahn

2.0

Overall it was a decent collection of stories. They were engaging and the characters were fun. Some of them didn't vibe with me, but I suspect that has more to do with me being old and bitter, and less to do with the quality of the storytelling (which was just fine). Also, I don't think a book that dredges up all the politics of the pandemic is something I'll ever enjoy reading - that wasn't it's goal, but every time someone mentioned social distancing or masking up or sanitizing their groceries it added tension in my shoulders (which were probably already very tense tbf). There was a bit I really liked, where one character got upset about the front desk lady's comment about covid, calling it "callous and cruel." I was all salty at the character, because this was exactly the kind of instant judgement I'm tired of in our current society; then on the very next page the other character got to narrate, and he mentioned how the front desk lady (who he knew personally) was intensely anxious about the virus, and how she had been anxious about germs before this happened and everything had amped up for her. That was a nice little reminder to the reader to be more gracious with strangers instead of making assumptions about them, but it was the only moment of that nature that I liked. Also the moment didn't endear me to the first character, who I was already struggling to connect with.

Anywho, enough rambling. What's more irritating than reading a book rife with covid commentary? Reading a review rife with commentary on the covid commentary