Ive been quoted how fun!! thank you for including me in this one. I get so fascinated by the idea civilzation could fall apart at any time, and pandemics seem to be a great equalizer. I am really looking forward to getting to Severance!
When I think of books about pandemics, the first one that comes to mind is Boccaccio’s The Decameron. It is a classic, entertainingly escapist approach to the topic. Ten young women and men who sought safety in a secluded villa outside of Florence to escape the Black Death entertain each other with colorful tales.
This is so timely for me! I was just talking about the book 'Our Country Friends' by Gary Shteyngart with a friend of mine. It was the first pandemic novel I read during the pandemic — it came out in November 2021. It's the story of eight friends who retreat to a country house in upstate New York for six months, presumably in 2020... so before vaccines, etc. Although the pandemic is the things that took them there, the book doesn't spend a lot of time addressing the illness and consequences. It's more about how everyone goes a little bit crazy in this isolated environment. I thought it was really well done. Blackly funny, excellent characterization, and a weird sense of comfort reading it: 'Hey, look! These people are acting in weird ways, too.'
Like you, I have no desire to remember too many of graphic specifics of 2020 and 2021. But I *think* I'm interested in stories that address the emotional impact of that time because I'm still feeling it. My family Went Through It in a variety of ways, as did so many others, and it would feel weird to me for fiction to ignore our collective experience. Having said that, I only want pandemic stories in small doses :-)
Ive been quoted how fun!! thank you for including me in this one. I get so fascinated by the idea civilzation could fall apart at any time, and pandemics seem to be a great equalizer. I am really looking forward to getting to Severance!
When I think of books about pandemics, the first one that comes to mind is Boccaccio’s The Decameron. It is a classic, entertainingly escapist approach to the topic. Ten young women and men who sought safety in a secluded villa outside of Florence to escape the Black Death entertain each other with colorful tales.
This is so timely for me! I was just talking about the book 'Our Country Friends' by Gary Shteyngart with a friend of mine. It was the first pandemic novel I read during the pandemic — it came out in November 2021. It's the story of eight friends who retreat to a country house in upstate New York for six months, presumably in 2020... so before vaccines, etc. Although the pandemic is the things that took them there, the book doesn't spend a lot of time addressing the illness and consequences. It's more about how everyone goes a little bit crazy in this isolated environment. I thought it was really well done. Blackly funny, excellent characterization, and a weird sense of comfort reading it: 'Hey, look! These people are acting in weird ways, too.'
Like you, I have no desire to remember too many of graphic specifics of 2020 and 2021. But I *think* I'm interested in stories that address the emotional impact of that time because I'm still feeling it. My family Went Through It in a variety of ways, as did so many others, and it would feel weird to me for fiction to ignore our collective experience. Having said that, I only want pandemic stories in small doses :-)
This sounds so interesting! Using the setting to create challenges for the characters definitely has lots of potential - adding this book to our TBR!