Alone Together is a collection of short stories, essays, poems etc expressing what others are going through in what I like to call the “Covid Era”. First off I am surprised but relieved to have a book like this out while we are still in the middle of the pandemic. So the reader can read and relate to what’s going on in real time.
This book reminded me that I’m not alone, that my thoughts in this time aren’t all crazy since so many others are feeling the same.
With being short stories it’s the perfect fix for a few stories a night. Some will make you laugh, some will make you cry and some will make you think. A perfect book for what we are going through now and a great account for those who will want to look back on history.

* I received Alone Together through NetGalley and Central Avenue Publishing, in exchange for an honest review*

Reading 'Alone Together' brought me comfort. Living through this pandemic is a true struggle for many people. I myself have feelings of sadness and restlessness upon being away from family and close friends for months. While reading 'Alone Together', I felt like there was a support system of poets and writers saying 'I understand your fear. I'm experiencing this also'.

My heart went out to those unable hug their loved ones for comfort. I felt sadness for those watching funeral processions through Zoom, due to social distancing guidelines. I feel that many people will gain an awareness of the struggles we're experiencing as we're moving through this COVID-19 pandemic. This book provides comfort during a time where we need it most!

Though we are indoors we are still united and this book is just a perfect remainder for this unprecedented and unpredictable time we are in.
The stories are moving and beautiful and a book i can't recommend enough

An amazing collection of writings —heartbreaking, soul-searching, inspiring —about living amid the COVID-19 epidemic. How blessed we are to have resources such as ALONE TOGETHER that capture history-in-the-making so movingly!

The essays, poems and interviews with luminaries such as Nikki Giovanni and Garth Stein, plus a host of talented emerging writers, resonated deeply with me and made me feel less alone.

All proceeds support indie bookstores, hit hard financially by the epidemic, through The Book Industry Charitable Foundation. A worthy endeavor, a splendid read!

5 of 5 Stars

Pub Date 01 Sep 2020

Thanks to editor Jennifer Haupt, the authors, Central Avenue Publishing, and NetGalley for the review copy. Opinions are mine.

#AloneTogether #NetGalley

Many thanks to Netgalley and Central Avenue Publishing for my copy. This is a delightful little anthology of heartfelt real-life stories, anecdotes and poems on the subject of the Covid-19 pandemic. There is something for everyone to relate to here, no matter your background, lifestyle, age, ethnicity or nationality. Despite being British and living in the UK, I could still relate to many of the honest, emotional stories told here. I hope this book gains the success it deserves.

Description Summary:A scrapbook of stories from the various people who give life to the literature world, heart wrenching in it's brutal storytelling.

Score: 3/5

I would like to thank Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions shared are my own personal thoughts.

I love the idea and concept behind this book, and I think it’s a wonderful movement to help support the literature world that provides us with the much needed escapism we desperately need during these troubling times. So grateful and in awe that Haupt decided to donate the proceeds of this book to aid indie bookstores and booksellers.

Book Summary: Haupt presents a series of short stories and poems that make up this aching real anthology about the raw truths that we individuals face in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gathered from multiple figures in the literary world, Haupt presents the collection of stories in 4 different parts titled:
What now?
Grieve
Comfort
Connect

We are whisked away to hear tales of bustling cities coming to halt, Zoom funerals and weddings, reunions and goodbyes, protests and change, and the comfort a yellow canary can bring us with its song.

Truthfully this book hides nothing. It’s like tentacles and claws ripping out open your darkest fears and worries about the pandemic and putting them on paper. Albeit few pages are not so bleak but for the most part this book is intense. It is not an easy read but I feel some people (especially those who think this whole pandemic is a “hoax”) need to see this.

I am sure many connected and shared in the many grievances presented in the book but to me personally it didn’t help. I feel like the book enabled hidden anxieties and worries to spring back up full force, and at one point I had to put the book down because it was overwhelming. This was why I took such a long time to read this. This is why I am saying that to anyone who easily becomes anxious:This is a warning: this book may be triggering. And I do not want anyone else to go through what I went through.

I liked how the stories were divided into four parts, I liked how we had a diverse range of authors and writings. Additionally, adding small bio of the author after every piece is a nice add-on

Do I recommend? Only if you are able to emotionally and mentally handle the stories in the book.

We are experiencing an unprecedented time. A time, a trial of so many things out of our control. Yet, as this book makes very clear, we are not experiencing it alone.

Interviews, poems, essays by some favored authors, as well as some new to me authors, describe their own experiences, feeling of this time. All the things we feel, not knowing what day it is, yearning for the chance to hug, see a loved one, fear of what will be left when, if this is ever over, are all things we share. There are humorous things, one authors husband who was a germophobe before Covid, now is thrilled that he can use as much bleach as he wants. There are sad things, things to comfort, things to ponder, honest, feelings expressed.

Positive things, such as the beneficial effect on the environment. Using nature as a solace, a way to heal connect. It's what I've been using, that and occasional family visits. The book did leave me with a feeling of connection and showed me that even the funky feeling I can't shake, is normal and I'm not alone.

ARC from Netgalley.

A great collection of stories, poems, and interviews regarding COVID-19 and how to deal with our new-normal. I found myself relating to multiple stories in ways I had not thought of before. This is a great read to help cope with COVID and self-quarantine.

This book was so hard to read, probably because we are still living this horrific history. I loved the diverse authors and new writers I found here. Some of the genres and styles were so creative and compelling.

'Alone Together' is a collection of poetry, stories, interviews and more, all based around people lives and the impact that Covid-19 has had on them.

Many of these pieces provide such raw and heartfelt emotion as I read, with the personal connection and experience of each author in mind I was continually pushed by myself to read on about how others have been dealing and living in the pandemic which led to me almost crying many, many times when reading some of the stories.

I personally liked reading the poetry the most out of the collection which helped me feel a connection between myself and the writers'.

This book truly reminds us that we are not alone although we may have to be alone physically due to the pandemic. It was such an eye-opening collection and it was even more bizarre to be reading it as the pandemic goes on.

Great timely collection of essays and stories to help us through these tough times with the pandemic! It will also be helpful after this time is over to look back on these themes and see how we as a society can improve based on our experiences. Highly recommend for anyone looking for help or just needing to fill some time while home alone during this crisis.

I really found this uplifting, being given peoples experiences of lock down and what a strange time were living in made me realise that we really are in this all together! It was perfect to dip in and out of as the mood struck me Thanks for letting me read.

Seldom do you get to read a book that surrounds events that you are currently living through. While the formatting was off on my e-reader which made reading some of the stories difficult, and a few were missing in the current/advanced copy - this was such a lovely read. This book is all of us as COVID has truly not left a single person in the US untouched.

This is a nice, engaging collection of stories, letters and interviews that share experiences during quarantine and te COVID-19 pandemic. However, it isn't clear from the synopsis that the stories are all from writers. Not a bad thing, but I thought I was getting stories from all sorts of different people from various vocations.

Vhat a perfect book at the perfect time!
This book is all about 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. I was instantly drawn to the title and the beautiful idea around this book. It is a comforting and reassuring book in these tough times.

Loved the cover, essays and the thoughts behind this book.

3/5

Thank you @NetGalley and Jennifer Haupt and all the wonderful people who have given their voice and words to this book for giving me an opportunity to read this book.

Thank you for advanced copy.

This was a really well written book of stories and poems. Some I really loved and others not so much. I think it is ideal for the current pandemic.

I really enjoyed a whole book on people joining together during these hardships. The collection of stories and poems were lovely. It's a very relatable book and makes you feel less alone as well. I really loved some of these poems a lot! Thanks so much for the advanced copy, I think everyone should read this if they've been struggling with the recent crisis' of the world.

it was okay, I thought it would be more poetry than essays so I was a little disappointed but the poems were well written.

2.5/5
This was a complex read for me. Some of the stories/poems were incredible and deserve 5/5 stars. However, I found some to be repetitive.

The Good:
-I love that we are hearing from a plethora or people in different places and situations. Everyone’s quarantine experience is determined by where they are, who they are with, what their financial/employment status is......and much more. So hearing from such a diverse group of people, in different circumstances, was enlightening.

The Bad:
-Unfortunately, I was not previously aware of many of the writers of this book. This made my interest dip significantly.

...A seed was planted....
....A brilliant idea.....from Jennifer Haupt, author of
“In The Shadow of 10,000 Hills”, ( incredible historical novel by the way), is the Editor of “Alone Together”.
She tells us.....
“I started by putting out feelers, posting on Facebook and sending emails to authors I knew through my work as a journalist and novelist. I made a concrete, to-the-point ask: Could they contribute an essay or poem about their COVID-19 experiences to a fundraising anthology for struggling indi booksellers? Within twenty-four hours, dozens of authors or on board.
The minute I learned of this literay project, benefiting independent booksellers), I was on board to read it!!!
Ninety-one authors from diverse cultures, and backgrounds (68 in the print book, 22 in the ebook), contributed to
‘Alone Together’....
Love, Grief, and Comfort in the time of COVID-19.

Proceeds from this book are donated to Book Industry Charitable Foundation (Binc).

All contributors, and business Partners donated their time, talent, and effort.

I LOVE THIS BOOK...it’s purpose, the community of writers ( and readers), coming together, reflecting on our covid-19 pandemic human experiences, ( my thought - at the end of this anthology gem: READERS SHOULD WRITE THEIR EXPERIENCE: means I need to put my own pen to paper, too),
And....
I loved the pure joy of getting to learn about authors whose work I didn’t know...[I LOOKED UP *EVERY* AUTHOR...ones I knew and ones I didn’t...MARKED MANY BOOKS TO READ.]....
and....
Best of all....this book was comforting to me, fulfilling on many levels.
It’s painful to deal realities we would rather avoid....but all these varied, diverse authors faced their challenges with courage, grace, clarity, and wisdom....and I’d like to think that I joined them too.
This book is meaningful, important (makes a monetary and heartfelt difference) and its an important path to healing ourselves and finding peace.

The rest of this review will highlight a few tidbits from some of the contributors — but I treasured EVERY SINGLE submission....with feelings of pride.....
And/ or general themes....

In “Ghost Town”, by Scott James (a computer science professor at Stanford University) wrote an uplifting tale about Banana Bread, and delivery his baked bread to students who were stuck isolated in their dorms. His red-haired Boston Terrier came along, too.....
putting social distancing smiles on students faces. ( me too)....
Another part of his story ( one I know too well myself from having worked in San Francisco for a few years...and being a Bay Area native),....was heartbreaking.
Scott and his partner live in the Castro district of San Francisco ( an area in recent years that has seen a heavy toll - but once a very lively area)....
Then came the lockdown.
“Those who remained outside were those who were already there—the unhoused, addicted, and mentally ill. The city’s failure to intercede over the course of plentiful years was now on display”.
Crime, decline, and corruption mismanagement needed to be examined and reformed before COVID-19....,
The “apocalyptic— mentally disturbed people —some covered in feces, wandered and shouted at invisible demons. These were human beings, not fictional zombies. Still, officials didn’t help”.
Then came rifles, pistols, and handcuffs.
Scott James emotional story - of smiles & sadness - left a permanent impression on my heart.

“Feeding My Heart and Soul”
by Andrea King Collier
Collier a covid-19 new food warrior, gave me a whole new context about grocery shopping.....and face-mask-wearing connecting.
“Who knew that old-school shopping would be an act of resistance against a very dangerous virus, but also an act that reminds me of my Black family pride and traditions?”
I loved her ‘entire’ story


“I’m going to say this as an optimist, and also as a realist:
we’ll get through this and be smarter, stronger, and more grateful because of it. Grateful for books, writing, and art making, but most of all—for the freedom to gather and share these creations, together”.
.... an excerpt from Kevin Sampsell, from his essay called “Books On Pause”

“SAME”
by Jamie Ford
“As a writer, I wear an old bathrobe, all day”......
Together. Stuck inside, every day’s a snow day.
But I’m not lonely, not even a bit.
‘Cause we’re a pack of introverts,
And every night we howl like wolves”.

David Sheff had a conversation with our editor: Jennifer Haupt
I love ‘everything’....David Sheff...and what he stands for ( author of “A Beautiful Boy”).... I could write my own book about the difference he made in my own life. His conversation with Jennifer was powerful.
I’m also holding back sharing their interview/ dialogue, but I’m tempted to highlight the whole darn thing.
Here’s a ‘small’ excerpt: ( there is more where this came from)
“We can get depressed about the pandemic and systematic racism, but like parents whose kids die of addiction who become activist, our grief can lead to action”.

“Sibling Estrangement And Social Distancing”
by Caroline Leavitt
“The words in the email punched my heart. You’re dead to me, my sister says. I despise you. I hope you feel the pain you keep causing me”.
“I’m still sure I can fix whatever has gone wrong between us. Just give me time, I think, but now, with the pandemic, there is no time. Contact with my sister is more important to me than ever. Except it’s still not important to her”.
“I want her to still care about me, because for that not to be true feels unbearable, like a kind of death. It hurts, it hurts, it hurts”.


“In The Bathtub”
by Jenna Blum
I loved her essay. I was reminded that when you’re at your wits end, and want to pull your hair out.... how blessed we are to have a good friend to remind us to eat, to exercise, to read, to write, to listen to music, to take a ‘fricken-warm-bath’.
Maybe??? while soaking naked - ( the good friend will try not to imagine you naked)... but will read a beautiful poem - over the phone - to you ‘while’ in the tub.
Stephen P. Kiernan.... ( another author I must read)....
was that ‘great friend’ to Jenna.
I love them both!!!

“Lavender And The Washing Away Of Civilization”
by Roberto Lovato [new author to me]
His father is almost 98 years of age. He suffers from dementia.
“Next to Pop’s recliner is a glass table with water, candies from his native El Salvador, and one of my most important tools for coping with COVID-19 and the civilizational crises it has exposed: lavender”.

When Roberto visited El Salvador in the late 80s and early 90s, during the Civil War that left 80,000 dead, most of them murdered by the US-backer government, he brought lavender cream from a shop in San Francisco. The cream soothed his skin and calmed his nerves after seeing the effects of bombings and strafing an innocent civilians, including children”.
Wow.... I was very impressed- sad too - by the story Roberto submitted.
He has a memoir called “Unforgetting” is coming out in September.... that I want to read.

“Pandemic Date Night”
by Sommer Browning and David Shields
Hilarious - bad movie - “if we make it through this movie together, our bond is unbreakable”, ( Eyes Wide Shut), date night!!! Very funny!

“S. O. S.”
by Greg Colucci
A heart-aching story!
Greg tested positive for HIV/AIDS in 1993.
His building was created in 1994, through the copy of AIDS housing.
Most of the residents are seniors — with Covid-19- once again they are facing the terror of death.
Everyone in the building needed help: supplies, masks, food. They ‘had’ to stay isolated. They still do.
Thankfully people from the Facebook community were offering support.
Greg lives with HIV and Huntington’s Disease. He is an elder in his community - in San Francisco- and plans to publish more writing.

Andre Dubus III
I learned a fun little tidbit about Andre Dubus III....( author and professor),
he lives forty miles north of Boston in a house, in the woods, that he and his brother built with their own hands fifteen years ago.
He also shared that his brother-in-law and his wife, both in their seventies, had the coronavirus.
Andre also shared that things going consistently well for him, was like living in a foreign country. ( background story which he shares will explain why).
Andre Dubus III was a son of a single mother and had grown up in poverty. He also had a violent youth.
The story Andre submitted - about love, family, friends, and community was ‘so-moving’!!!
He also wrote about feeling more at home when things are “perilous” ( his chosen word), than when all is wonderful.
I found his essay soooooo touching!!

Other things....
Zooming, googling, hangouting, FaceTiming, groaning, crying, laughing, socially distanced, six-feet-apart, our faces armored with masks, isolation, uncertainty, cooking, walking, knitting, quilting art projects, cleaning, gardening, eating, TV, podcasts, phone calls, texting, too much news watching,
And....
Call your mother for god’s sake.....
Signs on lawns thanking our doctors and nurses and essential workers
And what about hugs? we cannot, can we?
Stay safe we say.
Stay healthy.

Many more powerful contributions....
Garth Stein, Ada Limon, Dani Shapiro, Lidia Yuknavitch, Kwame Alexander, Robin Black, Dinty Moore, Gina Frangello, N.L.Shompole,
Claudia Castro Luna, Devi S. Laskar, Lise Haines, Jennifer Rosner, Luis Alberto Urrea, Steve Yarbrough, Elizabeth Rosner, Alistair Bane, Jennifer Haupt, .....and more.

Big -BIG - thank you to Jennifer Haupt for providing me with this book!
I’d love to give dozens of the physical book away!
And....I hope “Alone Together” makes a substantial profit

Comes out September 1st, 2020.
A book ( I’d suggest the physical book), worth buying- one for yourself - another to someone you care about.