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[#gifted by @harperperennial @bibliolifestyle]

READ IF YOU LIKE...
� Short stories and anthologies
� The way stories bring us together

I THOUGHT IT WAS...
A collaboration that had so much promise but didn't deliver. In the midst of the worst days of the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of New Yorkers start to gather on the roof of their building every night. Whether it's just to get some fresh air or to stave off loneliness from an appropriate social distance, these very different neighbors start to tell each other stories.

I wasn't planning on reading this book, but it put itself in front of me so many times that I finally gave in. I was intrigued by the premise. What does it look like when the geniuses of so many blockbuster, well respected authors come together in one book?

I don't know what prompts these authors were given, but it felt a little like they were simply told, "Write whatever the heck you want." No matter the prowess of the authors, when there is no obvious through-line tying an anthology together, the stories present themselves as kind of a cluster. Some are really good, and some had me questioning why I was spending my time reading this. And unfortunately, I think most stories fell toward the latter portion of the spectrum than the former.

Overall, I don't think the stitched together nature of this book worked out. Perhaps because it was stitched together in pieces, there were inconsistencies and confusing bits. I like the message this book tries to embody -- that stories bind us together and are also what make us us, human. But perhaps a clearer theme or direction to this collaboration would have made it a more enjoyable reading experience.