This is the book we all need right now. Filled with a mix of poetry, essays guessing at the future, and honest, raw personal reflections, the authors pinpoint the conflicting feelings many of us are currently struggling with. Reading this felt like a revelation, being able to put what I've been unable to articulate into words. There was a lot of nodding in agreement, writing down quotes, and calling my mom to share an especially poignant passage (and some of these essays made grateful I still have my mom around to call).
This a must-read that is difficult to summarize into a review. It deals with issues that are still ongoing, breaking down initial reactions and fears for the future into palatable pieces that offer just enough to not feel overwhelming or like the reader is bogged down in further feelings of isolation or despondency.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a complimentary copy. This did not impact my review.

Like many writing collections, this one contains such varied content that it's impossible to give it a straightforward review. The common theme of existence during the time of COVID-19 isn't always apparent because some of the writings are very abstract, while others very literally spell out the author's experience during this time. Finishing this book left me with the same kind of feeling this pandemic has left me with-- that of not really being able to identify how I feel because each moment seems to contain everything. Love, grief, and comfort are larger themes that Haupt used to corral each contribution into a section, but even within these there are so many other themes that come into play. I wonder what it will be like for readers in the future to pick up this book and try to understand what it was like.

This book and its mission are what we all need now. I so appreciated the galley and will be buying copies for friends to connect us during this terrible time.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this anthology - I haven't read work by a lot of the writers included, and it has quite a strong American focus, but I'm really glad I picked it up. The American focus didn't actually matter at all because the emotions discussed were so broad that they definitely encompassed experiences from all over the world. I enjoyed the way the book was split into different themes, each of the included works work well within the themes but give different perspectives within them. As with any anthology, there are some pieces that I enjoyed more than others, but overall I really enjoyed this book. It made me tear up in parts, it made me laugh, and it made me feel much less alone in this very strange time. Mission accomplished, Jennifer Haupt! I'm looking forward to flicking back through this and exploring the work of new to me authors.

Thank you to NetGalley and Central Avenue Publishing for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was worried that it would be too heavy to read this while the pandemic was still going on, but it was actually really comforting to read about the experiences that others have had during this time. Maybe it also helped that a majority of these stories were written during the initial outbreak and panic and things are a little different now.

I appreciated that these stories didn't just address the pandemic, but also all the tensions with race and the election that are happening as well. The book gives a full picture of what people are thinking and going through with all of these crises happening at once.

That all being said, I only made it about 40% of the way through. It's heavy stuff.

This will be a great resource for people to understand the emotional trauma of 2020, not just after the pandemic but also during it.

We can all agree that 2020 has been one of the worst years of our lives. In these unprecedented times full of uncertainty there's nothing quite like getting lost in the pages of a book. Jennifer haunt did any amazing job with created this book along with a plethora of authors who are feeling the harsh times during COVID. Social distancing and the shutdown of virtually everything has made it difficult for everyone, especially writers, authors, and bookstores. Jennifer came up with the concept of reaching out to authors to donate a writing piece about their COVID experiences to fundraise for indie booksellers. Within hours, dozens of authors were on board to help.

Through the words of these amazing writers you got to experience what it was like having COVID, when your "Lungs felt like cement", discussing a pandemic, talking about the isolation that came with social distancing, hiding behind a mask, helping others by delivering their groceries to them for the fear of them being high risked, watching a person going through grief because they can't be there because of social distancing, and many other stories, poems, and interviews. I absolutely loved the concept of this book. I myself am high risk and have been home for over 150 days, especially since my job seems to continue testing positive. At least I still have the comfort of my books. I really enjoyed this book and the cause supported. In the print book there's 68 stories, and in the e-book
there's 22. Whenever I get a chance I'm definitely getting the physical copy. Thanks to NetGalley and Central Avenue Publishing for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was super excited to see this collection published, as the current global health crisis has revealed a truth that disability communities have known for a long time: there are ways to foster community and closeness while being physically distanced and/or isolated.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been particularly interesting to witness as a disabled individual, in so much as for the first time many “severely able-bodied” folks (to borrow disability historian Paul Longmore’s term) have experienced a kind of disability reality, especially when it comes to feelings of precarity and ongoing isolation and home-boundedness.

I will say it was somewhat surprising to me that something could be published so quickly, given we are still in the thick of the pandemic. And indeed, I believe that often distance (both physical and temporal) from an event can lead to more revealing and poignant reflections. Thus, on the one hand I went into this somewhat skeptical of what insight a collection brought together so quickly under these dire circumstances could offer; but on the other hand, I was grateful to have an opportunity to reflect with and alongside some truly wonderful authors and thinkers. I am also, incidentally, in the midst of writing a dissertation that among other things examines the changing sonic ecologies of urban and medical (as well as urban medicalized) environments during a pandemic, so I really enjoyed the opportunity to witness how others have experienced this pandemic in multi-sensory ways.

I was taken in by the sheer range of writing genres and styles in this anthology. From interview transcripts to poems to essays, it was a wonderful reading experience of never knowing what to expect when you turned the page. The thematic confluences made the generic diversity both appealing and approachable.

There are so many notable contributions, but some of my favorites are:
- Faith Adiele’s honest look at #ShelterPrivilege and the discrepancies in people’s quarantine and pandemic experiences
- Gina Frangello’s reflection on her covid wedding (which particularly resonated with me as I get married next week, having had to change our ceremony and ultimately decide to go ahead with none of my family in attendance, stuck as they are in New Zealand and Australia because of COVID-19)
- I loved Laura Stanfill’s poignant prose on our changing relationships to space, place, and things through quarantining and the interruption to our daily habits
- Jessica Keener’s essay was an important reminder to many readers that these habits of isolation and medically-induced fear are neither new or unprecedented foot many in the disability and chronically ill community.
- Special shout out also to Sommer Browning and David Shields’ pandemic date night pantomime. It reminds me of so many date nights when my fiancée and I were still long-distance - especially how they move so seamlessly from talking about the film to talking about their relationship & hopes for the future 🌎💻🎥

And perhaps my favorite sentence to describe pandemic life, brought to you by Sonora Jha: “in these days of silence shorn of time” *chef’s kiss*

My only criticism would be that the book sometimes paints the pandemic to be more finished than it is. Many of the authors talk of quarantine in the past tense or suggest we have moved on from the worst days. And yet thousands of people are still dying every day and for many at-risk folks (be they frontline workers, service workers, the disabled, chronically ill, or elderly - or caregivers of these groups), quarantine measures and increased risk are still a part of our every day existence.

Thank you to NetGalley and Central Avenue Publishing for providing me with an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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.

I felt moved reading what these authors put into words. I felt connected, feeling the same things these wonderful authors were, truly knowing we are all in this together. This is a book that can be read a little at a time, as each author’s contribution is short.

An extremely of the moment collection of works by some of my favorite authors. What's not to love? Each story/essay didn't appeal but the vast majority did and made me feel a little less alone during this time.

This book is a collective of essays, poems, and other pieces of literature to express the various range of emotions different individuals have been coping with in the time of COVID-19. ⁣

The book is a quick read, but with some very insightful pieces. ⁣
⁣

A truly beautiful book, so many stories made me emotional in happiness and sadness. Would be a lovely book to refer back to in the future.
Thanks to Netgalley for allowing me to read an Arc of this book in return for an honest review.

I know many of us still haven’t begun to contend with what we’ve been through, what we’re going through in this wild, awful year. And the idea of books like this being published now feels a bit premature, after all there is no end in sight to the virus. And if you’re like me, high risk, have spent everyday of your life even pre-virus fighting to stay alive, it’s heartbreaking, discouraging, so unfair to still be stuck at home and alone as so much of the rest of the world has just decided to act like it’s all over. But maybe I needed this book especially then, because while I’m long used to isolation, illness, fear- I didn’t have near as much issue as many early on because frankly a couple months is nothing- but now, now I’m struggling. So reading this collection was an experience- both a ripping open of the scab and also the salve, the start of some form of healing or at least the reckoning necessary to eventually get there.

I highlighted and took notes of so many pieces that spoke to me and it’s hard to review this one because I am sure different pieces will click with different people and everyone will have their own journey of emotions reading this. I have always loved anthologies though, I requested this book the day it was listed on Net Galley. And this is a top notch collection of authors and writers. There’s so many different types of writing- essays, musings, memories, poetry, interviews. I think it helps make the point of how different we all are and yet how much we are in this together. Also notable is this whole collection is for charity. The proceeds go to the Book Industry Charitable Foundation (Binc) which is a fantastic charity for booksellers, that does amazing things and is working hard to support those who have been out of work from the virus. Also worth mentioning is that the ebook and physical book have different sets of stories in them and while I’m not wholly certain, I believe the Net Galley version I’ve read is the ebook version.

At points I found these hard to read, hard but necessary. It was never a struggle to read or poorly written- the opposite, I found myself looking up work by authors I wasn’t familiar with or hadn’t yet read- but the subject matter itself is hard. So I read it slowly in pieces. But the last section seemed to really bring it all together and had me in tears in the best way. In the last section I especially connected with an interview with Luis Alberto Urrea who noted -

“Clearly, something is stirring in our hearts. We are hurt and damaged and yearning for our better selves, desperately dreaming of a kinder world in the days to come. Will we forget that when we can all go back to our concerts and football games and fancy restaurants and bars? I don’t know. But one must, in the words of Brennan Manning, have ruthless trust.”

I have been feeling this more and more recently even than earlier into things. I’ve finally had to leave the house a few times, for a doctor’s appointment and some errands. And each of the few times I have been out- and also each time I have made my once a week late night trip down to grab my mail and packages from the package room of my high rise- I find myself having the most incredible, genuine, truly meaningful conversations with people. I’ve befriended the overnight security guys in my building, booksellers, walked into a boutique and connected first with the store employee who had a visible insulin pump and spotted my IV tubing and central line. And while we sat talking for hours we then encountered another diabetic and pregnant woman and a nurse who had recently had surgery. So the four of us women with all our health woes and fears and loneliness bonded and just somehow found one another and I’ve never seen anything like it before but it’s one of the most amazing and random experiences I’ve ever had. The other night, as I have become an ex smoker thanks to the help of vaping and e-cigarettes I ventured into a new smoke and vape shop and left two hours later with the Palestinian owner calling himself my brother, telling me I was the strongest person he knew, promising he would do anything to help me stay off the cigarettes because he thought it was amazing I’d done it and that I was so positive and strong though to my own ears I worried id stood there ranting and complaining. These powerful connections and the way they seem to just spill out of us are amazing and absolutely a direct result of the time we are all living through.

I’m not unfamiliar with severe isolation, as ive already said, or the way when people are isolated they are often desperate to talk once they encounter someone. There’s a bit of a stereotype of the chatty elderly person but after I became disabled and isolated through it at a young age (which definitely played a major role into my isolation. I was too young to have married or started a family and my peers were not mature enough to deal with it) I realized it’s not an age thing at all. It’s a loneliness thing. Because I catch myself doing it also. I grew up with a much older than usual set of parents and a father who was a deeply depressed extrovert who would talk the ear off the grocery store employees back when he and I would make late night Meijer runs. And I’ve rarely seen it work though where the person you start spewing to truly wants to listen. Some will, because they’re nice or don’t know how to extract themselves but you can tell when a person means it. And to be running into these experiences again and again, to have people actually encourage me to stay and keep talking, if there’s anything good that’s come from this time it’s that.

And I think this directly relates to what the book says again and again in so many ways- that at the end of it all we are our stories and our stories matter. That there is power and strength and healing in telling our stories. So I recommend this book to everyone- and you can’t go wrong with the charity factor! But I actually especially recommend it to those who are more hesitant to read it. We’re probably the folks who need it most. And all my love and respect to everyone who contributed- there is so much heart in this anthology. From Zoom weddings to raising Icelandic sheep to grieving to walks in the park with kids. There is a story here that will wrap itself around your heart too. Probably more than one. Maybe dozens. Each in a different way. You can’t go wrong buying this book!


“Sing and do not stop. March and do not stop. Work and do not stop. Write your story across the sky and don’t despair because despair is the most powerful weapon of the dominant.” -Luis Alberto Urrea

This book is so essential, especially during the hard times that we are living in. We do not have control over what is happening in the world but as this book so beautifully puts it, we are not alone. The emotions described in Alone Together really hit me and I felt so connected to the stories. This book made me take more time to reflect about my surroundings and to be grateful for being able to do my best during this hard time.

This book is a heartbreaking and inspiring collection of short stories, interviews, essays, and poetry that is perfect during the time of quarantine. The book is split into sections of What Now?, Grieve, Comfort, Connect, And Do Not Stop. Many diverse, brilliant authors are included, reflecting on these topics in unique ways - from birth to death, nature and city, illness and recovery, love and loss of love, and more. It shows the unique experiences we have as human beings that are still bound together by what is happening in the world now.

Reading this collection was at times difficult and at other times incredibly comforting. It takes you through so many emotions that it's hard to write a specific review to encompass what a beautiful roller coaster the experience was.

If you're up for it and want to hear stories that resonate during this time, I definitely recommend picking this one up soon! And if you're not quite ready yet, it may be a read to get ahold of that will resonate with you once the world is a bit less chaotic and devastating.

The best part is that proceeds from the book are being donated by all contributing authors and business partners to The Book Industry Charitable Foundation, a nonprofit that "coordinates charitable programs to strengthen the bookselling community." This is a fantastic way to celebrate independent bookstores, writers, and literacy programs!

Thank you to Grand Central Publishing and Netgalley for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. It was a unique experience that resonated deeply, especially during this time.

"Pick up your pen and write. Pick up a book and read. Engage in your world; do not shrink from it." - Garth Stein

I'm excited to be sharing ALONE TOGETHER: Love, Grief & Comfort During the Time of COVID-19 as a part of @katerockbooktours. This collection of essays, interviews & poems about the authors' experiences during the pandemic comes out September 1st. All proceeds go to @thinkingbinc, a nonprofit that benefits the bookselling community.

"In telling our stores, we hope to enable you to tell your story. That's the sweet spot of connections, where the healing happens." - Jennifer Haupt

ALONE TOGETHER is divided into five sections: What Now?, Grieve, Comfort, Connect & Don't Stop & focuses on how isolation & uncertainty is changing us as individuals & a society.

"So many of us, across political, racial, and socioeconomic lines, are grieving, but the question is how we'll deal with it all. Will it paralyze us or motivate us?" - David Sheff

I wasn't sure I was ready to read about Covid. Books are usually an escape for me & I worried this might add to my stress but it did the opposite. It helped to read about how others felt and their hope and optimism in the midst of this universal struggle.

"How are we going to make our blues beautiful? It's all about perspective." - Kwame Alexander

There are 91 authors in the ebook & audiobook (with 69 in the print book) & each viewpoint is enlightening in its own way.

"We grieve the chance to celebrate those we love in what used to be the big moments in life, in the time before every moment of life itself seemed so big." - Meg Waite Clayton

ALONE TOGETHER left me feeling that although our lives are now divided into before Covid & after, there's a good chance that our new world will be one that has positives we never imagined.

"We had very busy lives that would sometimes pull us in different directions, but in this period of lockdown, we have learned to make time for each other again." - Jean Kwok

Thank you to Kate Rock Book Tours, NetGalley, Central Avenue Publishing & author for an ARC to review.

I want to present to you all, a true treasury of immense feeling and goodness, something we all can relate to. Something that will make you say, “that’s exactly how I’ve been feeling..”, oh wow, I didn’t think others felt this way too..”. A truly beautiful treasury full of stories and poems that will make you realize you’re not alone in your thoughts and that there’s hope.

Let’s face it, this pandemic has left us all feeling weird, anxious, lonely aka: Alone. Choosing to protect yourself and others has been hard and a very difficult road. Not being able to hug or shake your neighbors hands, having to wear a mask, and having to stay home more than you’re used to. This read makes you realize, everyone has felt crazy and completely NOT Normal.

Thank you Jennifer for rallying and getting fellow authors to write their stories as well as support indie bookstores! A true job well done!

“I was looking for some way to make a dent in the overwhelming grief and devastation, and I hoped other authors would feel the same way,” says Jennifer Haupt, editor and curator of ALONE TOGETHER, who put out a call for submissions on Facebook a month after the quarantine began. “The book came together in astonishingly short amount of time—just two months. It was inspiring to see how it snowballed, with my publisher and the book distributor donating their services.”

And thank you to Kate Rock and Jennifer for allowing me to promote this true work of art! I know it will be immensely helpful for many people for years to come! The best part is You can grab it today!!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Alone Together is about our time in COVID-19. How this uncertain time has changed our life. The things which we used to consider normal is not normal anymore. Our life is changed. The book is about how we fee
Is has a wonderful collection of poetry, stories, interviews written by different talented authors describing their experiences during this uncertain time. There is something for everyone to relate to. When I read it I was able to relate to most of it. It has themes such as loss, despair, anxiety, grief, and isolation. When I was reading it it made it clear to me that I was not that only one feeling or experiencing this we all are alone but facing things together.
Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an advance copy of this lovely collection.

The reflection by Anna Quinn and the conversation with Luis Alberto Urrea moved and inspired me. This collection has the variety I crave! Thank you to Jennifer Haupt and each of the authors for so generously giving of themselves.

Amid the tragedy of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a refreshing unifying element that has shone through darkness by way of stories of shared experience. Moving through a global shut down alone, but together, against an unseen enemy. Simultaneous experience of present moment feelings of lives completely upended, immediately changed, and substantially altered to the point of being unable to go back to before. The book “Alone Together” is a snapshot collection of stories, letters, narratives, poems, and snippets from dearly loved writers exploring the deep and intimate solace of shared thoughts, moments, and viewpoints as COVID-19 unfolded in the United States. As readers, we can relate to how we, collectively, have been caught in this point-in-time of imposed transition, grappling with what was and what is. A few years ago, when writing about before and after, thinking about the gift of change that occurs during parenthood--those years when we are inexorably and foundationally changed--I could not have imagined another event, save death, that would ever relate to profound change that leaves you unable to go back to how things were. Only now do I realize how I was unknowingly writing for this time. Like the authors who contributed to Alone Together, as release, as a form of connection, or as a tool for understanding, as well as a mechanism to support struggling businesses, we must recognize that we each have voices to contribute to this time of being #AloneTogether. I hope the movement continues to #WriteCovidHistory and heal by unifying us all. We so desperately need it. #CompassionNotSacrifice #NoLongerAlone


The Before was so clear

It was shining bright like transparent glass

With an asymmetrical future of self-reflection

Its time priceless, on a shelf for a moment

But its relevance captured in frames of memory



The after is when everything began

Was made new

There was not time before, only imagined memory

But after is when the real and beautiful meaning

Came crashing together into a wholeness

So indescribable that only those who dare witness

Its existence can see knowingly into the

Eyes of others who are also now seeing



There is only before and after

There will never be moments not caught in the cleft

Of this time, this important time

Which we so easily may miss, if not for you