I preface this review by saying I am not usually a fan of anthologies. Alone Together opened with a slow and privileged first section, it was really not relatable at first but as the book progressed, more and more essays and poems resonated with me, and the last section in its entirety was so fantastic. Definitely enjoyed the read overall and felt relief hearing other people put words to some of my anxieties and anger. It's incredibly timely, all about peoples' experiences during shelter-in-place around the States, but I think it also acts as a time capsule that people will want to read in the future to better understand this time in history.

*I received an eARC copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to Central Avenue Publishing for the opportunity to read and review in advance of publication.

During this pandemic, there have been many times that I wished to connect with others who I knew were feeling a lot of the same emotions as me (overwhelm, worry, boredom, etc.). Jennifer Haupt's collection of essays and poems is a great way to show that we're all in the same boat when it comes to the coronavirus. While some of us have faced serious loss and grief (represented honestly and movingly in these pages) and others have been merely inconvenienced, we've all had to change the way we live for the time being. I loved the variety of experiences in this collection - the more mundane stories were a good counterbalance to the heartwrenching ones. Although I wouldn't say every single entry bowled me over, there were enough examples of strong writing that made this worthwhile. The best part is how incredibly timely and current it feels (some essays even mention the very recent protests over racism in the US) so that it feels as though most of these were written just a few days before I read them. I would recommend this to anyone who is feeling alone with their struggles during this crazy time.

A book filled with hope, sadness and humour. I really enjoyed reading different perspectives on how the Covid-19 pandemic played out for different people and found myself comparing my own experiences to those written in the book. I loved the mixture of essays, poetry and prose, I think it gave the right amount of variety and although the subject mater to each piece was technically the same they were all so beautifully unique. I think this book is a great “keeper” and I would love to return to it in years to come to read and reminisce about these strange times

This collection was different than I expected, and I was surprised that I became emotional at some points. So many different experiences have been had during this pandemic, and yet so many share the same experiences with each other. I love that all the profits raised from this book will be donated to independent booksellers suffering during the pandemic, and I believe that this will be excellent to have in the coming years as we reflect on what we have been through and what we are still going through.

I still remember the nervousness I felt as I approached Harriet Clare, the co-owner of Indy's feminist bookstore Dreams & Swords. It was a Broad Ripple area icon, a 2-story bookstore in a trendy, progressive area of Indianapolis where I'd first purchased books like Laura Davis and Ellen Bass's "Courage to Heal" that would become essential in my own recovery from childhood sexual abuse and adult sexual assault.

I handed over my first self-published effort, a GBC-bound collection of poetry I called "Imaginary Crimes" that detailed my life experiences that helped me express truths that writers like Etheridge Knight, Charles Bukowski, and Audre Lord had convinced me I was allowed to put out to the world.

I expected Harriet to say "I'm sorry, we can't carry that."

She didn't. She gingerly accepted the book. Over the next few days, she read the book. I'm sure she realized these words weren't written perfectly, whatever perfect means, but she treated these words like the sacred truths they were and she placed my book on a shelf where the world could see it.

I don't know that that's the point where I became a "writer," but I do know that's the point where I began to realize my voice matters and I need to use it every single chance I get.

The book sold. A lot. It sold so much that I ended up having to buy a second GBC Binder to keep up with the demand from survivors who felt empowered by my vulnerable truths and from therapists and professional conferences who sought me out to lead workshops on speaking truth.

I thought about this period of my life a lot while reading Jennifer Haupt's equally sacred collection "Alone Together: Love, Grief, and Comfort in the Time of COVID-19," an exhilarating and deeply moving collection of essays, poetry, interviews, and words giving voice to what it means to live in this time of isolation and uncertainty.

The central theme of "Alone Together" is how this age, and it indeed feels like an age, of isolation and uncertainty is changing us as individuals and a society. The book is divided into five sections - What Now?, Grieve, Comfort, Connect, and Don’t Stop!.

In response to the pandemic, Haupt has rallied almost one hundred authors and business partners to contribute their work, free of charge, to support independent booksellers forced to close their doors. All proceeds are being donated to The Book Industry Charitable Foundation, a nonprofit organization that coordinates charitable programs to strengthen the bookselling community. The print book contains 69 essays, interviews, and poems. The audio and e-book editions have 22 bonus pieces.

Haupt's roster of voices is diverse, some household names easily recognized while others may seem more obscure but have long committed themselves to the journey of writing. I picture them contributing to the book for many of the same reasons I will support the endeavor - a deep appreciation for indie booksellers and memories of those who've supported the world in which they now live.

Faith Adiele, Kwame Alexander, Jenna Blum, Andre Dubus III, Jamie Ford, Nikki Giovanni, Luis Alberto Urrea, Pam Houston, Jean Kwok, Major Jackson, Caroline Leavitt, Devi S. Laskar, Ada Limón, Dani Shapiro, David Sheff, Garth Stein, Steve Yarbrough, and Lidia Yuknavitch are only some of the names represented here and who give voice to what it means to seek connection amidst forced isolation and how to survive and thrive and make sense of the almost nonsensical. While specific to the COVID-19 pandemic, "Alone Together will unquestionably endure as these voices all seemingly understand that what we endure now is an experience that will change our lives and our systems for years to come.

From Garth Stein's eloquent and matter-of-fact foreword that proclaims, among many things, that "art is the crucial element of humanity," "Alone Together" through experiences that are at times incredibly profound and at other times achingly vulnerable. At times, "Alone Together" is almost jarringly mundane while other times, practically without notice, the tears flow and and my own memories formed throughout the period come flashing back.

It seems weird, almost cruel, to pick favorites amongst such a meaningful collection but I suppose that's an obligation for reviewing a collection that seems to defy review.

Faith Adiele's pointed, structured "The New Vocabulary" adds clarity to unfolding events as if an Outlook Calendar has gone universal and somehow tied us all together. Martha Anne Toll's "Dayenu: Dispatches from the COVID-19 Sick Ward" brought my first tears, a gratitude unfolding within a journey filled to the brim with humanity gut-level truths.

Gail Brandeis's "Shedding" is the first, but certainly not last, poem that sings out my own truths while Scott James's "Ghost Town" celebrates the deep meaning of an ever elusive smile.

Robin Black's "Needlecast" simply took my breath away. There is never a time when Nikki Giovanni's words don't sing to my soul and the same is true here. It is immediately followed by Devi S. Laskar's remarkable "State of the Art, State of the Union," an essay that speaks to chaos and accountability and meaning and ends with what may very well be my favorite sentence in the entire collection.

No, I'm not placing it here. You need to read it for yourself.

As someone who has spent 30 years of my life on an event called the Tenderness Tour, I seemingly always get chills with writers who can meaningfully explore the world of touch and tenderness as unfolds in Paulette Perhach's "Skin" and Michelle Goodman's extraordinary "Touch," the latter being an essay where I outright sobbed and sobbed and sobbed.

Having lost my own younger brother during this pandemic, I resonated deeply with Caroline Leavitt's "Sibling Estrangement and Social Distancing" and with Susan Henderson's "Quarantine" nearly as much.

I still have images in my mind from Laura Stanfill's "Breathing Lilacs."

I feel every word in Julie Gardner's "The Last T-shirt."

Andrea King Collier's words acknowledge survival and privilege; Jane Hirshfield's "Today, When I could Do Nothing" danced around my heart with the tininess of its wonder and beauty.

Abigail Carter's "The House with the Mossy Roof" feels familiar as I reflect on my own experiences being a 50+ disabled adult living alone in a house without family around. Porch drops have become a form of human connection, while any semblance of "checking in" has become desperately sought intimacy.

In a collection so immersed in grief and isolation, Jean Kwok's aptly titled "Searching for Grace during Lockdown" felt like grace during lockdown. I would have been happy with the title put forth by Kelli Russell Agodon and Melissa Studdard - "I Kind of Want to Love the World, But I Have No Idea How to Hold It."

Indeed.

Lidia Yuknavitch, an author I didn't know for far too long, feels like a long lost sibling with "Ecstatic States," while Sonora Jha's "Alone and Awash in Desire" splashes like waves over my wounded psyche.

I know. I know. It's weird to keep mentioning individual essays. I simply can't help myself and, indeed, I simply won't help myself. There are others. Admittedly, some resonated more than others as is nearly always true in a collection of essays.

Sommer Browning and David Shields's "Pandemic Date Night" made me laugh with a hint of melancholy. A conversation with Luis Alberto Urrea is easily among my favorites of the book's interviews with its call to life and fierce optimism.

I can't even explain why I loved Pam Houston's "Stamina (Memorial Day Weekend, 2020), but I feel it still holding a special place within my heart. The same is true for Shana Mahaffey's "Don't Stop Believin'.

Near the end of "Alone Together," Haupt herself reflects on "Why Get Out of Bed?," a meaningful and insightful question at a time when for many of us there is no place to go and when even working means only moving to a different room in the house.

In mid-November, I was hospitalized at St. Francis Hospital here in Indianapolis. Dehydration had overwhelmed my system and infection had practically taken over a body that has lived far longer than anyone expected. I'm a 54-year-old paraplegic/double amputee with spina bifida, a birth defect that killed 95% of those born with it in 1965 and a birth defect that largely means I will be at the back of the line for critical care should COVID-19 come my way.

That scares me.

I survived yet another amputation in late November, my left leg going from below-knee amputation to above-knee amputation. I subsequently spent over 3+ months off work recovering and learning how to transfer to a toilet, a bed, how to dress, and eventually how to get back in my car. I was alone for much of this time, though certainly grateful for one month of home health and the occasional visit to my urban home where I live a quiet, introverted life. I had returned to work for one week, quite literally one week, when COVID-19 sent us all to work from home and where I remain having spent the better part of the last seven months alone with very occasional visits, now non-existent with the virus, and occasional visits to the local Target or Meijer to replenish supplies while masked up and befuddled by those who choose rights over the survival of those around them.

I laughed during "Alone Together." I cried during "Alone Together." I reflected and meditated and prayed and remembered and hoped and grieved and connected during "Alone Together."

"Alone Together: Love, Grief, and Comfort in the Time of COVID-19" is scheduled for release by Central Avenue Publishing on September 1, 2020 with all proceeds to benefit the Book Industry Charitable Foundation.

I received a free advanced reader copy of this book through Netgalley. It is a collection of essays, poems and other works about the Pandemic. I was very moved by most of the writings. As I read, I kept saying, "I thought I was the only one that felt that way." It seems not. There are sad pieces to be sure, but also hopeful ones where the authors tell about delivering food to the hungry or wondering about the health of a neighbor. This is an important piece of work.

Hi everyone!
This book wasn’t exactly what i expected: I though it was going to be more fictional but some of the stories felt like reading the news.
Anyway I think this will be a great book to read in a few years to remember this very weird time. This book isn’t complete but there are already some great essays and I can’t wait to read the other stories.
I really liked the different experiences, I’m currently in Italy, so it was very interesting reading about how others lived during this pandemic.

A beautiful collection of essays, poems, and musings from American authors about the coronavirus pandemic, their experiences, and reflections.
This book is a lovely way to reflect on your own experiences of this unusual world we find ourselves living in, along with our hopes for the future.
What makes this book special is that it is in support of independent booksellers, of which we need to save.

A collection of essays about life during the pandemic.An absorbing well written pieces each that reflects on the emotional time we are going through band how people are coping.A book that will be great for discussions for revealing how we are dealing with this sad and what can be scary times.Will be recommending, and gifting this book to support independent booksellers as soon as it’s published,#netgalley#alone together

A collection of stories, poetry, and essays about the time people have spent apart & together during COVID-19, and what their hopes are post-pandemic. This anthology was engaging and each contribution was unique, and I really like that when it comes out some of the proceeds will be going to independent bookstores. A mostly reassuring, sometimes somber look at how different people are handling isolation, social distancing, and all the realities of living in a pandemic world.

I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Our September 1st, 2020.

Alone Together is a collection of poetry, interviews, short stories and essays written during the early days of the COVID-19 emergency In America. I read an advance reader's copy, in which some of the interviews and other pieces had not been completed yet. It was a bit unnerving, reading about the pandemic while we're still (in my part of the country) isolating. Still, there was an immediate recognition of all the Reid, loss, love, loneliness and to-much-togetherness that the authors focused on, and an immediate feeling of "Oh, yes. I know."

Luis Alberto Urrea talks about this Deep down connection in his interview. It was my favorite piece in the book (so far):

"The mistake some of us make is believing that we are in separate, even isolated communities. It seems to me the planet is trying to tell us that, without a doubt, we are all in the same community. And when we’re far from each other, we rely on voices that can reach across borders, through quarantine, over multi-billion-dollar walls. It’s the writers who call to us, unite us."

With thanks to netgalley for an early copy in return for an honest review
Firstly I have to say living in Ireland I didn't know any of the writers but it was great to read from a different perspective about the last few months in this rather crazy world that were finding ourselves in and actually what were finding out about ourselves and where changes can be made for the good I found this a highly enjoyable experience reading this book and would recommend it to friends and family.

Alone Together: Love, Grief, and Comfort During the Time of COVID-19, is a beautiful, relevant, insightful and thought-provoking read that allows the reader to examine how they have felt during the pandemic.

This book is not complete yet, so I'm looking forward to words about the pandemic from the other authors. This is a great a compilation of experiences through poems, text, interviews and short stories. Seeing all the different perspectives is wonderful

Alone Together is a collection of essays, interviews and poems written as reflection during this time of the pandemic by various American authors.