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The Down Days
In the vein of The Book of M comes a fast-paced, character-driven literary apocalyptic novel that explores life, love, and loss in a post-truth society.
In the aftermath of a deadly outbreak—reminiscent of the 1962 event of mass hysteria that was the Tanganyika Laughter Epidemic—a city at the tip of Africa is losing its mind, with residents experiencing hallucinations and paranoia. Is it simply another episode of mass hysteria, or something more sinister? In a quarantined city in which the inexplicable has already occurred, rumors, superstitions, and conspiracy theories abound.
During these strange days, Faith works as a fulltime corpse collector and a freelance “truthologist,” putting together disparate pieces of information to solve problems. But after Faith agrees to help an orphaned girl find her abducted baby brother, she begins to wonder whether the boy is even real. Meanwhile, a young man named Sans who trades in illicit goods is so distracted by a glimpse of his dream woman that he lets a bag of money he owes his gang partners go missing-leaving him desperately searching for both and soon questioning his own sanity.
Over the course of a single week, the paths of Faith, Sans, and a cast of other hustlers—including a data dealer, a drug addict, a sin eater, and a hyena man—will cross and intertwine as they move about the city, looking for lost souls, uncertain absolution, and answers that may not exist.
In the aftermath of a deadly outbreak—reminiscent of the 1962 event of mass hysteria that was the Tanganyika Laughter Epidemic—a city at the tip of Africa is losing its mind, with residents experiencing hallucinations and paranoia. Is it simply another episode of mass hysteria, or something more sinister? In a quarantined city in which the inexplicable has already occurred, rumors, superstitions, and conspiracy theories abound.
During these strange days, Faith works as a fulltime corpse collector and a freelance “truthologist,” putting together disparate pieces of information to solve problems. But after Faith agrees to help an orphaned girl find her abducted baby brother, she begins to wonder whether the boy is even real. Meanwhile, a young man named Sans who trades in illicit goods is so distracted by a glimpse of his dream woman that he lets a bag of money he owes his gang partners go missing-leaving him desperately searching for both and soon questioning his own sanity.
Over the course of a single week, the paths of Faith, Sans, and a cast of other hustlers—including a data dealer, a drug addict, a sin eater, and a hyena man—will cross and intertwine as they move about the city, looking for lost souls, uncertain absolution, and answers that may not exist.
368 pages, Hardcover
First published May 5, 2020
128 people are currently reading
8759 people want to read
About the author
Ilze Hugo
5 books83 followersSouth African author. Debut novel, The Down Days, published May 2020 by Skybound Books/Simon & Schuster.
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July 28, 2020
There was a sign against the fence that read: COVER YOUR HANDS. COVER YOUR MOUTH. DON’T LAUGH. And below that: PUBLIC LAUGHTER IS A CRIME. OFFENDING MINORS WILL BE DETAINED; THEIR PARENTS FINED. The empty swings swayed in the wind in a ghostly kind of way that gave her the creeps and made her think of Then again. How weird to think there was a time when parks like these rang out with the sound of giggling children.
oh, man—imagine if there was ever a disease that shut down all the places people went to unleash their kids, making the sound of children playing a Thing of the Past?
oh, wait.
somehow, without even setting out to do so, i read three pandemic-y books during quarantine: Survivor Song, Malorie, and this. i was going to read my ARC of The End of October, but then i said MAYBE ANOTHER DAY FOR YOU, SIR!
pandemic lit is nothing new—it’s been a wildly popular subgenre for aaaages, and one i’ve personally been into, but it was such a weird experience to be reading ARCs of outbreak-themed books during the early days of an actual global outbreak, knowing that by the time they published, the scenarios wouldn’t be entertaining “what-if” escapist funtimes for many readers, and that many of the details would seem all-too-familiar.
Malorie is a bit like Station Eleven; taking a look at *dramatic gesture* humanity in the long-term aftermath of a species-decimating event, and we aren’t there (yet) in either severity or retrospectivity. Survivor Song takes place during the first 24 hours of an outbreak, and a lot of those details bore out—maybe not in so short a timeframe, but it still felt eerily documentarian in nature, at least for me here in merry olde queens.
this one, in some ways, feels the most prescient, the most relevant of the three i read. it is set in a quarantined african city seven years into an outbreak of a highly communicable disease called the Laughter because it begins with hysterical, uncontrollable laughter and ends with patients’ bones disintegrating, their organs turning into soup.
oh no.
on the one hand, it’s the most fantasy of the three, because of its many supernatural elements, the black market for stolen human ponytails, the bars where you can pay to fight people dressed up in costumes, and the general energy of its broad neo-dickensian details—an orphan investigator, a pet hyena, underground (literally) data dealers, secret libraries, mysterious nuns, foodist cults, etc.
but in its smaller, more specific behavioral details, it really gets how people react, psychologically, in unstable times with uncertain futures, and some of the details, all written pre-covid, have become Part of Our World.
in sick city, people wear masks and gloves wherever they go, A few suckers even started drinking diluted bleach, thinking it would cure them from the inside out, people have become paranoid and violent, suffering from restrictions, from being cut off from the world, and conspiracies about the disease’s origin run rampant:
”New word on the street is that it’s the Yanks. That they shipped the Laughter in through vaccine drives. Said it was vaccines for polio and measles they were giving us—for free, from the goodness of their big red-white-and-blue hearts—but that was just a cover-up. ‘Cause it’s way cheaper and quicker to stick their needles into us way down here in Africa than into rats or monkeys in their fancy labs—which could take years of testing and jumping through legal hoops. If the vaccines worked, these big pharma snakes could go into production much faster and make fat wads of cash by selling them to the US military. The plan, they say, was to use them on soldiers who would go into war zones and spread the Laughter. All the while being vaccinated against it themselves. Pretty clever, right? Wouldn’t be surprised if our own government was in on it, too—giving those in power the opportunity to cordon off Sick City and invoke martial law.”
as well as conspiracies about the disease’s very existence:
”Say,” said Sans. “Aren’t you afraid I’m going to infect you?…It doesn’t faze you one bit?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Don’t believe in it.”
“Believe in what?”
“The Laughter, of course. The whole thing is just a big old population control experiment by Western imperialists who are lining the pockets of our government to turn a blind eye.”
“That’s crazy. Don’t you see what’s happening all around you? What about the deaths? The bodies? How do you explain those away?”
while i don’t understand holocaust deniers, who have their own bias-bullshit going on, i do understand the impulse to treat the sources of *some* accounts of verylongago historical events with healthy and curious skepticism, but i don’t get how people can deny a global pandemic when it is happening all around them. i’m sure there’s all sorts of shit regular folks aren’t being told, and numbers being fudged up or down for reasons, but americans politicizing a health crisis by refusing to wear masks or take other precautions, endangering people because this is just some "libtard hoax" or whatever? i do not understand your logic. it’s a thing. it killed john prine. fuck you.
and even though it’s not 7:00 right now, respect:
”…all this paranoia and fear-mongering only make our job, and the job of every single poor damn health worker in this city—who are putting their lives on the line to help everyone, I might add—harder!”
there are other perfectly-expressed subtleties woven into this novel, about how constant mask wearing—VERY NECESSARY MASK-WEARING—is alienating and depersonalizing, and how wearying it is to live under the constant threat of catching or spreading a disease.
The way Faith figured, the masks people wore these days weren’t just physical. And there were many of them. Somedays it felt to her like there wasn’t a single true soul left. Like every single person in this town was just a series of masks over masks over masks with nothing real left underneath. Not that there was anything anybody could do about it anymore. She couldn’t help wonder how much of who people were and who they became was really up to them? It was like the Laughter had flipped a switch. Even if you didn’t catch it, it changed you. Remade everyone. Faith couldn’t even remember who she was before all this…
here in former-epicenter NYFC, i tested negative (knock wood), but i was not unaffected. i got ’rona wuz here 2020 carved deep into my psyche. the human death toll is too enormous for me to even wrap my head around, but the smaller notes—all the local business that won’t be reopening, the number of taxis in my neighborhood with “for sale” signs on them, all the pets who starved to death in apartments while their people were hospitalized, not knowing when i will see my own people again, scattered as they are—these are comparatively small tragedies, but they’re like little experiential contrails affecting my everyday, and whenever i think any bigger-picture than that, i either freeze or hyperventilate. so, yeah, consider me remade.
the specifics here that don’t hit too close to home were appreciated—public laughter is forbidden, so comedy clubs become the new speakeasies, and, in a masked society, lip porn becomes a thing. which i totally get—whenever i see someone in public without a mask it feels…indecent, and not just because they’re ENDANGERING US ALL. i have not myself become attracted to maskless strangers, but i do understand how humans tend to eroticize the taboo.
me, i’ve already amassed about thirty or so reusable masks, and it's made me even more fashionable.
anyway, i enjoyed the book. it’s a debut, and it was a little messy at times—lots of different characters, lots of different plot-threads that maybe needed a bit more rigorous corralling early on, but once it found its bearings and the various stories started converging, it was a very fun read. sometimes sad-fun, but that's the best we can expect these days, yeah?
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March 18, 2022
“As a pony man – the best, mind you, in this Sick City – he made a living dealing in real, 100 percent human hair, which a network of street kids and a convent of swindling sisters procured for him by all manner of means. It was the Down Days, sure, and Sick City was worse off than most, but chicks still dug their weaves, and a full head of hair cost a pretty penny.”
The story takes place in an African city 7 years after the start of a pandemic of unknown origin. The disease is called the Laughter because it’s victims first laugh uncontrollably, followed by fevers, breathing difficulties and death. The main protagonists are Faith, who picks up corpses and also has a side occupation as a truthologist (sort of a PI), and Sans, who is an all around hustler but primarily a dealer in human hair. The two ultimately intersect in a quest to find a missing infant and possibly a cure for the Laughter. The book also introduces a lot of other characters struggling to get by in Sick City. The book uses some South African terms, but there is a Glossary at the end of the book that explains them.
I recently read “The End of October” by Lawrence Wright. That book was quite prescient about the start of a pandemic. Let’s hope that “Down Days is not equally prescient about what the world might look like 7 years from now if there is no vaccine for Covid-19. There were many things in this book that hit close to home, and many more that seem more plausible now than they did 2 months ago. Does this sound familiar: “A few suckers even started drinking diluted bleach, thinking it would cure them from the inside out.”? In this post apocalyptic world people are regularly scanned to prove that they are healthy. Masks are worn at all times. Conspiracy theories abound about who spread the disease and why. Cell phone apps were used for medical screening (until they were hacked). Therapy bars let you beat up the target of your choice to relieve stress. Professional athletes are screened daily. All borders have been closed. There are no handshakes, elbow bumps only. Smog is caused by the constant cremations. Truth is invalidated. Public laughter is a crime. There are shortages of cleaning products and long lines at groceries. Establishment entrances have buckets of chlorine to dip your hands into.
This book was very fast paced, imaginative and entertaining. The last 20% took a supernatural turn that was abrupt, confusing and unconvincing, but overall I liked this book a lot.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
The story takes place in an African city 7 years after the start of a pandemic of unknown origin. The disease is called the Laughter because it’s victims first laugh uncontrollably, followed by fevers, breathing difficulties and death. The main protagonists are Faith, who picks up corpses and also has a side occupation as a truthologist (sort of a PI), and Sans, who is an all around hustler but primarily a dealer in human hair. The two ultimately intersect in a quest to find a missing infant and possibly a cure for the Laughter. The book also introduces a lot of other characters struggling to get by in Sick City. The book uses some South African terms, but there is a Glossary at the end of the book that explains them.
I recently read “The End of October” by Lawrence Wright. That book was quite prescient about the start of a pandemic. Let’s hope that “Down Days is not equally prescient about what the world might look like 7 years from now if there is no vaccine for Covid-19. There were many things in this book that hit close to home, and many more that seem more plausible now than they did 2 months ago. Does this sound familiar: “A few suckers even started drinking diluted bleach, thinking it would cure them from the inside out.”? In this post apocalyptic world people are regularly scanned to prove that they are healthy. Masks are worn at all times. Conspiracy theories abound about who spread the disease and why. Cell phone apps were used for medical screening (until they were hacked). Therapy bars let you beat up the target of your choice to relieve stress. Professional athletes are screened daily. All borders have been closed. There are no handshakes, elbow bumps only. Smog is caused by the constant cremations. Truth is invalidated. Public laughter is a crime. There are shortages of cleaning products and long lines at groceries. Establishment entrances have buckets of chlorine to dip your hands into.
This book was very fast paced, imaginative and entertaining. The last 20% took a supernatural turn that was abrupt, confusing and unconvincing, but overall I liked this book a lot.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
February 5, 2020
"The Down Days" is part of a book of new wave of African literature that has sailed across the Atlantic in recent years. There's a lot of real interesting stuff coming from all over these days. What's common about this new wave is that the fantasies seem to be a bit looser. Here, we are treated to a South Africa beset by a laughing plague that begins with giggling and ends in death. Taxi drivers aren't needed so much as gatherers of the dead. The city is filled with orphans and people seeking refuge. There are truthologists as well because of all the conspiracies going around. There are cults. There are thin lines between real and imagined. An orphaned girl named Tomorrow hunts for her missing brother but the records show he expired months earlier. It's a richly imagined world, twisted just a degree from this one. Personally though, this wasn't for me. Somewhere along the line I lost the storyline and lost interest.
May 9, 2020
Ponytail thieves! Ghosts! A pet hyena! A sin eater! A missing diary that may have predicted the future as well as containing a cure to an ongoing pandemic! Secret library! Do I have your attention yet?
In the aftermath of a deadly pandemic-one where the key symptom is laughter- residents of Sick City, a quarantined city on the tip of Africa, are losing their minds with hallucinations , paranoia, and visions of the dead. Is it simply more mass hysteria or something more sinister? In a city where the inexplicable has already occurred, rumors, superstition, & conspiracy theories abound. Follow Faith, corpse collector by day, puzzle solving truthologist in her spare time, as she attempts to help a young girl find her missing brother who may or nay not be real in the first place. Then there’s Sans, illicit hair dealer, who becomes so enthralled by a mysterious woman that he lets a bag of money he owes his “business partners” go missing. On a desperate quest for both, he begins to question how own sanity. Told over the course of just one week, Faith, Sans, and motley crew of others- a security guard with a pet hyena, a data dealer, a sin eater, and more- are each searching for answers in a city where nothing is as it seems.
If you read one pandemic novel during this time, it should be this one! I know not everyone is feeling up to reading books like this one and I had requested my copy from Net Galley months before our own “down days” of sorts came upon us. If anything though, living through a real life pandemic adds to the whole experience of reading this and I’m so glad I did.
Ilze Hugo is a phenomenally talented writer. I fell in love with her writing style by the second or third page. It’s sharp, filled with unique description, and a viewpoint unlike any other I’ve encountered. The characters are all offbeat in their own individual and different ways and you want to get to know them. You want to see where this wild ride will take you. It’s addictive. Plus scroll back up to my first paragraph for a moment. Tell me that doesn’t sound awesome, right? And it is!
I’ve simply never read a book quite like this one. I had no idea what was going to happen and couldn’t even begin to guess. Best to just buckle up, pop your face mask on, and enjoy the ride. And what a ride it is! I was glad I read it on my Kindle because there’s a number of references to South African animals, slang, alternative medicine, and a sprinkling of Afrikaans. Nothing too confusing but being able to quickly look those bits and pieces up added to the experience for me. It, in addition to the incredible writing, made the book come alive for me.
And reading it in the time of COVID-19 added to the experience as well. For me it was just the right blend of uncannily familiar things- the ubiquity of face masks and gloves, a quarantined city, the number of unknown aspects and distrust in government leading to all kinds of conspiracy theories and even a fringe group who baths one bleach! Yet there’s also so much that is different as well from the popularity yet difficulty in acquiring weaves (and hence the ponytail thievery), the fact that in this case it’s the city that is quarantined so our characters aren’t stuck at home but they are stuck within the city, and so much more. Hugo has a way of subverting the utter absurdity of living in a pandemic and running with it and it makes for one heck of an adventure and wild ride!
I also love when an author can get across a deeper message or make you think but manage to do it in a way where you’re having so much fun with the text, you don’t even fully realize or mind that beneath it you’re also thinking about those deeper issues. There’s a really timely aspect of that happening here. This feels a bit like a near future where we’ve pushed and stretched the idea of truth and listening to both sides so far that it has all begun to lose meaning. And as heavy as that may sound, the sheer talent of Hugo’s storytelling and writing means it doesn’t feel that way. It grounded this story a bit for me but I was so wrapped up in chasing these characters forward too. It straddles this fantastic line of giving me plenty to think about but secondary to just having a ton of fun with this.
I bet you never thought reading a pandemic novel during an actual pandemic could be fun, right? It is with this one. I’m sure I would’ve enjoyed this book plenty had I read it pre-Coronavirus but I’m so glad I read it now. More than any other book, this will be the one I most remember and connect to this wild and weird time in our real world.
Sick of being stuck at home & yearning for an adventure? You’ll get that here and so much more. And did I mention that hyena? The mysterious diary? That underground library?! This book candy, a delicious treat, unexpectedly exactly the book I needed right now and I strongly suspect it may be just the adventure you need now as well. Let this be *the* pandemic novel you read right now!
In the aftermath of a deadly pandemic-one where the key symptom is laughter- residents of Sick City, a quarantined city on the tip of Africa, are losing their minds with hallucinations , paranoia, and visions of the dead. Is it simply more mass hysteria or something more sinister? In a city where the inexplicable has already occurred, rumors, superstition, & conspiracy theories abound. Follow Faith, corpse collector by day, puzzle solving truthologist in her spare time, as she attempts to help a young girl find her missing brother who may or nay not be real in the first place. Then there’s Sans, illicit hair dealer, who becomes so enthralled by a mysterious woman that he lets a bag of money he owes his “business partners” go missing. On a desperate quest for both, he begins to question how own sanity. Told over the course of just one week, Faith, Sans, and motley crew of others- a security guard with a pet hyena, a data dealer, a sin eater, and more- are each searching for answers in a city where nothing is as it seems.
If you read one pandemic novel during this time, it should be this one! I know not everyone is feeling up to reading books like this one and I had requested my copy from Net Galley months before our own “down days” of sorts came upon us. If anything though, living through a real life pandemic adds to the whole experience of reading this and I’m so glad I did.
Ilze Hugo is a phenomenally talented writer. I fell in love with her writing style by the second or third page. It’s sharp, filled with unique description, and a viewpoint unlike any other I’ve encountered. The characters are all offbeat in their own individual and different ways and you want to get to know them. You want to see where this wild ride will take you. It’s addictive. Plus scroll back up to my first paragraph for a moment. Tell me that doesn’t sound awesome, right? And it is!
I’ve simply never read a book quite like this one. I had no idea what was going to happen and couldn’t even begin to guess. Best to just buckle up, pop your face mask on, and enjoy the ride. And what a ride it is! I was glad I read it on my Kindle because there’s a number of references to South African animals, slang, alternative medicine, and a sprinkling of Afrikaans. Nothing too confusing but being able to quickly look those bits and pieces up added to the experience for me. It, in addition to the incredible writing, made the book come alive for me.
And reading it in the time of COVID-19 added to the experience as well. For me it was just the right blend of uncannily familiar things- the ubiquity of face masks and gloves, a quarantined city, the number of unknown aspects and distrust in government leading to all kinds of conspiracy theories and even a fringe group who baths one bleach! Yet there’s also so much that is different as well from the popularity yet difficulty in acquiring weaves (and hence the ponytail thievery), the fact that in this case it’s the city that is quarantined so our characters aren’t stuck at home but they are stuck within the city, and so much more. Hugo has a way of subverting the utter absurdity of living in a pandemic and running with it and it makes for one heck of an adventure and wild ride!
I also love when an author can get across a deeper message or make you think but manage to do it in a way where you’re having so much fun with the text, you don’t even fully realize or mind that beneath it you’re also thinking about those deeper issues. There’s a really timely aspect of that happening here. This feels a bit like a near future where we’ve pushed and stretched the idea of truth and listening to both sides so far that it has all begun to lose meaning. And as heavy as that may sound, the sheer talent of Hugo’s storytelling and writing means it doesn’t feel that way. It grounded this story a bit for me but I was so wrapped up in chasing these characters forward too. It straddles this fantastic line of giving me plenty to think about but secondary to just having a ton of fun with this.
I bet you never thought reading a pandemic novel during an actual pandemic could be fun, right? It is with this one. I’m sure I would’ve enjoyed this book plenty had I read it pre-Coronavirus but I’m so glad I read it now. More than any other book, this will be the one I most remember and connect to this wild and weird time in our real world.
Sick of being stuck at home & yearning for an adventure? You’ll get that here and so much more. And did I mention that hyena? The mysterious diary? That underground library?! This book candy, a delicious treat, unexpectedly exactly the book I needed right now and I strongly suspect it may be just the adventure you need now as well. Let this be *the* pandemic novel you read right now!
March 8, 2021
This started so well, with amazingly prescient descriptions of life in a pandemic (this was published in early May 2020 in the U.S., so it had to have been completed pre-Covid). Hugo describes masks, sanitation stations in public places, conspiracy theories, and quack cures that are frighteningly recognizable. Unfortunately, after the brilliant setup, we go off the rails in a wild tale that includes pony tail theft and ghost kidnapping. It isn’t bad, it’s entertaining in its way, but I can’t shake the feeling that I’ve just gotten off of a roller coaster. I can’t tell if I enjoyed it or if it’s just the adrenaline rush of the ride.
September 14, 2020
As others have said, this book started strong but the plot became muddled beyond repair after maybe the first half. "The Down Days" takes place in Sick City, South Africa, a re-imagined Cape Town where a Creutzfeldt-Jakob-like disease is ravaging the populace, leading to far deadlier and more dire consequences but lots of the same dystopian elements we have nevertheless adopted in our own pandemic times (mask politics, aggressive social distancing, lusty teenagers threatening to torpedo it all, etc.).
It gets a lot of points for creatively (and accurately!) predicting how society would handle something like a disruptive pandemic, and maybe my general languor and impatience with the pandemic is coloring all of this, but I really didn't know what was happening by the end. Magic? Hallucinations? Characters going by different names? I'd love to read a recap because I have little I could say with confidence about how this all ended up.
It gets a lot of points for creatively (and accurately!) predicting how society would handle something like a disruptive pandemic, and maybe my general languor and impatience with the pandemic is coloring all of this, but I really didn't know what was happening by the end. Magic? Hallucinations? Characters going by different names? I'd love to read a recap because I have little I could say with confidence about how this all ended up.
September 10, 2020
3.5/5 stars
This was such a captivating and unique story. First of all, I don't think I have ever read a book set in South Africa. I love branching out with the places that I read about, so this story set in a new place (with a South African author as well I think) really felt completely new to me. Also, the idea of a laughter pandemic was also a very unique idea for me. It was hearing this premise that immediately got be interested and hooked on the nitty-gritty details of the book.
While this book was definitely very new and intriguing for me, I didn't end up loving it as much as I thought I would. I just never quite clicked with the story. The characters were great, the premise was interesting but I felt like there was something missing. I needed a great storyline to bridge the gap between all of these fascinating characters and the intriguing almost apocalyptic setting. This isn't to day I didn't like the story at all, there were definitely moments were I was super intrigued in where the story was going. It was also full of twists and remained completely unpredictable, which left me on my toes.
BUT in saying that, it also felt like it got very random and honestly quite weird towards the end. Too much was explained away with the new revelations at the end so the story ended up feeling very disconnected. I guess I'm just not fully satisfied with how it all ended up. Like, this could have been a truly unforgettable story but I have the distinct feeling that it never quite hit the right notes to reach this potential.
Despite saying that, I don't want anybody thinking this is a bad book. It was definitely well-written, the characters were unlike many that I have read before, and the very idea of a laughter pandemic is also very much fun.
This was such a captivating and unique story. First of all, I don't think I have ever read a book set in South Africa. I love branching out with the places that I read about, so this story set in a new place (with a South African author as well I think) really felt completely new to me. Also, the idea of a laughter pandemic was also a very unique idea for me. It was hearing this premise that immediately got be interested and hooked on the nitty-gritty details of the book.
While this book was definitely very new and intriguing for me, I didn't end up loving it as much as I thought I would. I just never quite clicked with the story. The characters were great, the premise was interesting but I felt like there was something missing. I needed a great storyline to bridge the gap between all of these fascinating characters and the intriguing almost apocalyptic setting. This isn't to day I didn't like the story at all, there were definitely moments were I was super intrigued in where the story was going. It was also full of twists and remained completely unpredictable, which left me on my toes.
BUT in saying that, it also felt like it got very random and honestly quite weird towards the end. Too much was explained away with the new revelations at the end so the story ended up feeling very disconnected. I guess I'm just not fully satisfied with how it all ended up. Like, this could have been a truly unforgettable story but I have the distinct feeling that it never quite hit the right notes to reach this potential.
Despite saying that, I don't want anybody thinking this is a bad book. It was definitely well-written, the characters were unlike many that I have read before, and the very idea of a laughter pandemic is also very much fun.
February 2, 2021
4.5 stars
A virus hits Capetown, South Africa. Similar to the Tanganyika Laughter Epidemic, people are overcome with fits of laughter -- before their bodies turn to mush. It's curious how this city reacts to the virus especially in light of the fact that Hugo wrote this book before our current pandemic. A lot of their behaviors eerily mirror what we have experienced. The fear-mongering, the dearth of conspiracy theories and the myriad ways in which people figure out to survive under these new circumstances. Even though I found The Down Days to be somewhat prophetic, there were quite a few of Hugo's scenarios that had me laughing:
I have read a couple of other pandemic/quarantine books lately but I find myself coming back to this one. After each return I keep adding more stars. Even with its forays into the paranormal at its core it seems more real than most dystopian fiction, especially when Hugo is addressing our concept of the truth.
"Pandemics happen. They've always happened. Nature is cruel. Don't know why people always feel the need to blame someone for them."
A virus hits Capetown, South Africa. Similar to the Tanganyika Laughter Epidemic, people are overcome with fits of laughter -- before their bodies turn to mush. It's curious how this city reacts to the virus especially in light of the fact that Hugo wrote this book before our current pandemic. A lot of their behaviors eerily mirror what we have experienced. The fear-mongering, the dearth of conspiracy theories and the myriad ways in which people figure out to survive under these new circumstances. Even though I found The Down Days to be somewhat prophetic, there were quite a few of Hugo's scenarios that had me laughing:
"More and more people resorted to all sorts of ingenious and quite often downright illegal ways to make ends meet. Like a recent case she helped with - very Walter White- of a murdered orthodontist whose wife was convinced he was a stand-up guy. So vanilla, she'd told Faith, that he'd never even smoked a cigarette in his life. After he died, it came out that nobody cared about having a perfect smile anymore, what with having to wear masks and all, so he'd become a laughing gas dealer on the side and was murdered by a rival drug lord because of a territorial dispute."
I have read a couple of other pandemic/quarantine books lately but I find myself coming back to this one. After each return I keep adding more stars. Even with its forays into the paranormal at its core it seems more real than most dystopian fiction, especially when Hugo is addressing our concept of the truth.
January 3, 2021
I hit the reading trifecta - right book, right time, right mood. This is a fast paced, fantasy-tinged, and somehow fun pandemic novel that follows a handful of outsider-type characters who are each desperately trying to find, hide, or forget something, and in the process stumble into each others lives. The chapters are very short and focus on one character at a time, although the characters often appear in each other's chapters, so we see them all from the inside and the outside. The short chapters create a fast 'dribble and pass' kind of storytelling that keeps all the plot points humming along side-by-side. The pandemic that is the backdrop and context of the book has been going on for several years, so the people of 'Sick City' (aka Capetown, South Africa) have developed dysfunctionally functional ways to cope that make for entertaining reading. For example, because the first sign of infection is laughing, comedy clubs have to go deep underground. Also ponyjacking and ponydealing are lucrative criminal activities. (Hint - it has nothing to do with horses.) There was one plot point that I felt was weaker than the others, but when everything else was so strong, it was a minor blip.
February 6, 2021
Wow - this was an unexpected joy! Post-apocalyptic sci-fi based in a quarantined version of Cape Town after the outbreak of a previously unknown virus, this is a very 2020 book in terms of plot (and Ilze Hugo must have access to a working crystal ball to have written this when she did!). But it's the great characters that make it connect.
Thanks to The Morning News' Tournament of Books for putting this on my radar!
Thanks to The Morning News' Tournament of Books for putting this on my radar!
May 10, 2020
I’d only meant to read a few pages, see how I liked it and soon enough I found myself hooked. Although I wasn’t a huge fan of the twist that happens halfway through (it moved the story in a different direction than I’d anticipated and made a bit of a mess out of it), it was a fast-paced, entertaining read. And since this is a debut, I can safely say I’ve discovered a new author to watch out for.
A bookish win-win!
A bookish win-win!
February 6, 2021
A fun, fast-moving and hilariously prescient pandemic novel, part of the 2021 Tournament of Books. I’m grateful to the ToB for putting this on my radar.
February 8, 2022
This book is about a memorable cast of characters surviving a deadly pandemic, while trying to navigate a strange and dangerous world. The place is referred to a Sick City and has been cordoned off from the rest of the world. It has many parallels to the shifting world we find ourselves in now. This is a slow burn mystery, with paranormal and sci-fi elements. I enjoyed the very weird, including ponytail jackers, therapy bars where you can beat up characters of your choice, and sin eaters who eat the sins of the dead so they can pass on without them. But the plot ultimately started and finished way too late in this book. The weird elements were fine, but it just didn't work together well to make a compelling book. Glad I listed to this on audio because it went by much faster, and prevented me from DNFing the book.
May 11, 2020
I wanted to love this book so much, and not just because of the Book of M comparisons, but it ultimately fell flat. The pacing was so erratic- the first 75% of the novel felt like background exposition, the next 24% was the buildup to the climax, and then the entire conflict was hastily resolved in the two pages of the epilogue. Looking back, I can see some vague attempts at foreshadowing, but they were so underdeveloped in context that I didn't find the ending satisfying at all. I think the characters were the stronger point of the story- I was partial to Faith and Tomorrow in particular- but while their storylines intertwined almost from the get-go, they didn't mesh well until the last quarter of the book, by which point it almost felt too late.
This story has such good bones- the ghosts, the Joke, the cast of main characters- but it was frustratingly undeveloped. The sickness itself is never addressed in any way, with regards to its origins and potential cure; the book that Faith begins to decipher just vanishes from the plot without explanation; the kidnapped child plotline moves from point A to point B with almost no explanation. A disappointed 3.5/5 stars.
This story has such good bones- the ghosts, the Joke, the cast of main characters- but it was frustratingly undeveloped. The sickness itself is never addressed in any way, with regards to its origins and potential cure; the book that Faith begins to decipher just vanishes from the plot without explanation; the kidnapped child plotline moves from point A to point B with almost no explanation. A disappointed 3.5/5 stars.
May 10, 2020
*I want to thank the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to review this book!*
The quirkiness of this book was super entertaining. I loved the mystery of the novel until the end. It kept me on the edge of my seat up until the last page.
The laughing disease that leaves it's victims into bleeding mush before death has taken a toll on the locked down city. People who haven't been infected with the disease are able to have jobs, carry cell phones and still interact with their peers, but under extreme guidelines.
Face masks and gloves are a must, which the novel explains multiple times. While people still move on with their lives under constant worry and fear, there is still no cure for this mysterious disease.
I thought the ghost aspect of this novel was unique and that was one of the main reasons I was so intrigued the entire novel!
The only negative I have is there are too many perspectives we read from. That was a little confusing, but other than that, I thought this was a wild ride of a novel that I highly recommend!
The quirkiness of this book was super entertaining. I loved the mystery of the novel until the end. It kept me on the edge of my seat up until the last page.
The laughing disease that leaves it's victims into bleeding mush before death has taken a toll on the locked down city. People who haven't been infected with the disease are able to have jobs, carry cell phones and still interact with their peers, but under extreme guidelines.
Face masks and gloves are a must, which the novel explains multiple times. While people still move on with their lives under constant worry and fear, there is still no cure for this mysterious disease.
I thought the ghost aspect of this novel was unique and that was one of the main reasons I was so intrigued the entire novel!
The only negative I have is there are too many perspectives we read from. That was a little confusing, but other than that, I thought this was a wild ride of a novel that I highly recommend!
February 1, 2021
This mash-up of a noir detective dystopian ghost story is weird and quite wonderful, although it suffers just a tad from being a little bit kitchen-sinky, given all it's trying to do and the choices made about the number of characters needed to do it.
STILL. It's original, creepy, darkly funny, and prescient (in a 2020 pandemic and democracy-on-its-last-legs kind of way). I especially enjoyed how it looked at how a highly contagious virus, and months/years of quarantine, produces: a) mass, societal trauma; b) an environment ripe for whack-job conspiracy theories to take root; and, related, c) a general undermining of trust in social institutions especially government and media, i.e. truth and those who are supposed to uphold/report it.
I think maybe a 3.5, marred a bit by narration which suffered, imho, from voices that were a bit too old (stodgy?) for the style of the prose. I'll also say that I have a really weird relationship with South African accents, since my personal experience with people who possess them includes a couple of conspiracy-theorizing, Elders-of-Zion-believing, racist nutjobs, which added a kind of discombobulating spin given the narrative. Others maybe won't have this same bias ;-)
Oh, P.S. there are far too many cockroaches for my taste. I mean one is far too many. There are considerably more than that here.
STILL. It's original, creepy, darkly funny, and prescient (in a 2020 pandemic and democracy-on-its-last-legs kind of way). I especially enjoyed how it looked at how a highly contagious virus, and months/years of quarantine, produces: a) mass, societal trauma; b) an environment ripe for whack-job conspiracy theories to take root; and, related, c) a general undermining of trust in social institutions especially government and media, i.e. truth and those who are supposed to uphold/report it.
I think maybe a 3.5, marred a bit by narration which suffered, imho, from voices that were a bit too old (stodgy?) for the style of the prose. I'll also say that I have a really weird relationship with South African accents, since my personal experience with people who possess them includes a couple of conspiracy-theorizing, Elders-of-Zion-believing, racist nutjobs, which added a kind of discombobulating spin given the narrative. Others maybe won't have this same bias ;-)
Oh, P.S. there are far too many cockroaches for my taste. I mean one is far too many. There are considerably more than that here.
March 6, 2021
Down Days….how many times did I almost DNF you? But as the time leading up to the Tournament of Books drew to a close and you were the only book on the shortlist left to read I decided to power through the audio so that I could be a completist.
Down Days….I hated you, I cursed you, you made no sense but I hung in there for the entire 10 hours. I hope you die on Day 1. The only thing I liked about this audio was the music. Some readers may love you but you are not for me. I feel about you as I do that other pandemic, Covid 19.
Be gone from my life.
Down Days….I hated you, I cursed you, you made no sense but I hung in there for the entire 10 hours. I hope you die on Day 1. The only thing I liked about this audio was the music. Some readers may love you but you are not for me. I feel about you as I do that other pandemic, Covid 19.
Be gone from my life.
April 24, 2020
Timing is everything! I would have liked this book no matter when I read it, but right now locked inside my house added a layer of verisimilitude that would have been lacking at another time. How do we survive when the world is collapsing? What can we hold onto when everything is disappearing? Family is one answer and if we lose our own we can build another. Great book with a sense of hope woven throughout. Highly recommend!
I received an eARC through NetGalley.
I received an eARC through NetGalley.
January 5, 2021
This is an amazingly prescient novel about life in a pandemic, written before our own coronavirus pandemic of 2020. It is set in Cape Town, South Africa, and the contagion of the story is loosely based on the 1962 mass hysteria laughing epidemic that occurred in Tanganyika. The author Ilze Hugo clearly has a much greater imagination than most of us, as she eerily captured (before they occurred) so many of the bizarre ways that humans respond and adapt to life in a deathly pandemic.
I don't have the ability to describe this book without spoilers, so I'll just say it is a wild ride along with a quirky cast of characters on the fringes of society -- I loved them all -- as they navigate life & death & the liminal spaces and their own questions, grief, guilt, superstitions, and hope. It's a little other-worldly, a little cooky, a little spooky, and a lot of heart. I had never heard of this book before reading it for the 2021 Tournament of Books, and I really enjoyed it.
I don't have the ability to describe this book without spoilers, so I'll just say it is a wild ride along with a quirky cast of characters on the fringes of society -- I loved them all -- as they navigate life & death & the liminal spaces and their own questions, grief, guilt, superstitions, and hope. It's a little other-worldly, a little cooky, a little spooky, and a lot of heart. I had never heard of this book before reading it for the 2021 Tournament of Books, and I really enjoyed it.
December 16, 2020
I'm amazed that the bulk of this book had to be developed and written before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. It is deeply ironic to the plot of this frenetic and apocalyptic novel that it reads as prophecy, especially those elements dealing with a post-truth, conspiracy-laden society that looks all-too-familiar now.
April 7, 2020
A really fascinating read, particularly for these times. I won't lie, I read this one slower than I usually would because it was so immersive that my anxiety kick up. It was just too real! It may have been due to this (which is totally on me because the novel is wonderfully written) but it took me a while to connect to the characters. Faith was the first one I really meshed with and ended up being my favorite of the several POVs because I liked the weight and history to her having lived before the Laughter came.
Once I hit the halfway mark, I was enjoying it more as more of the fantastical/supernatural side of the plot came out. I often highlighted lines simply for how awesome the prose was. No words are wasted in this story and you can feel the impact of them on a visceral level. You get to experience a lot of different characters throughout the story. I liked how characters would dip in and out of being the POV for chapters based on their involvement in the plot, which is a nice take on the more traditional 'here's the four POVs you'll always see' that many novels take.
In the end, I liked it. I probably missed a lot of the symbolism (though the repetition of hyenas was a great touch) but in the end it's a story about people and how they cope/overcome a crazy situation. It's a lesson we could all use right now.
Note: I received a free Kindle edition of this book via NetGalley in exchange for the honest review above. I would like to thank NetGalley, the publisher Gallery Books, and the author Ilze Hugo for the opportunity to do so.
Once I hit the halfway mark, I was enjoying it more as more of the fantastical/supernatural side of the plot came out. I often highlighted lines simply for how awesome the prose was. No words are wasted in this story and you can feel the impact of them on a visceral level. You get to experience a lot of different characters throughout the story. I liked how characters would dip in and out of being the POV for chapters based on their involvement in the plot, which is a nice take on the more traditional 'here's the four POVs you'll always see' that many novels take.
In the end, I liked it. I probably missed a lot of the symbolism (though the repetition of hyenas was a great touch) but in the end it's a story about people and how they cope/overcome a crazy situation. It's a lesson we could all use right now.
Note: I received a free Kindle edition of this book via NetGalley in exchange for the honest review above. I would like to thank NetGalley, the publisher Gallery Books, and the author Ilze Hugo for the opportunity to do so.
May 11, 2020
The Down Days is about an African epidemic of laughter that quickly turns sour when it is found to be 100% fatal. It is based on a real pandemic of mass delusions that happened in Tanzania in 1962.
The Down Days seems like it is a news report from our present day pandemic. Unfortunately, the setting in the book has much in common with our own troubled times. Shortages, PPE, stay-at-home orders, home delivery, masses of bodies, and a feeling that life is never going to return to normal are all here. The only difference is we have people dying from too little oxygen and the characters are dying from too much laughter. The middle of the book is where we currently are—paranoid theories abound about what started the virus including their own government and foreign ones. I just pray that we don’t get hit with the twists at the end.
This tale was written by a South African author in 2019 or earlier. It is eerily spot-on about what happens during a pandemic. If you don’t mind reading a fictional tale based on a real pandemic in 1962 Tanzania, I believe you will enjoy this book. It is a compelling read with a surprising twist at the end. 4 stars!
Thanks to Skybound Books, Gallery Books and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.
The Down Days seems like it is a news report from our present day pandemic. Unfortunately, the setting in the book has much in common with our own troubled times. Shortages, PPE, stay-at-home orders, home delivery, masses of bodies, and a feeling that life is never going to return to normal are all here. The only difference is we have people dying from too little oxygen and the characters are dying from too much laughter. The middle of the book is where we currently are—paranoid theories abound about what started the virus including their own government and foreign ones. I just pray that we don’t get hit with the twists at the end.
This tale was written by a South African author in 2019 or earlier. It is eerily spot-on about what happens during a pandemic. If you don’t mind reading a fictional tale based on a real pandemic in 1962 Tanzania, I believe you will enjoy this book. It is a compelling read with a surprising twist at the end. 4 stars!
Thanks to Skybound Books, Gallery Books and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.
January 11, 2021
This was a January 2021 book club book.
I struggled whether to give this one star or two, and I’m still in two minds about it.
This book had a very interesting premise, and there were a few times where I thought it was starting to go somewhere interesting.
It faltered every single time.
The often changing chapter perspective was overwhelming for the first half of the book - there was not only very little intertwining of these perspectives, but there wasn’t really a discernible plot in any of them for me.
Around 75% of the way in, I thought the story was about to come to a head, it seemed the perspectives were linking, and there was actually going to be an event... but the ending was disappointing also.
I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone, I didn’t get anything out of this for the amount of effort I put in. This was supposed to be about the laughter pandemic, but instead it was about several different topics that didn’t get fleshed out in any way - pandemic, ghosts, time-travel/communication with the past or future, kidnapping, pony hacking, etc etc. There was way too much going on in this book, and none of it “worked”
I’m changing my rating to a 1/5 because this would be a 1.25 for me.
I struggled whether to give this one star or two, and I’m still in two minds about it.
This book had a very interesting premise, and there were a few times where I thought it was starting to go somewhere interesting.
It faltered every single time.
The often changing chapter perspective was overwhelming for the first half of the book - there was not only very little intertwining of these perspectives, but there wasn’t really a discernible plot in any of them for me.
Around 75% of the way in, I thought the story was about to come to a head, it seemed the perspectives were linking, and there was actually going to be an event... but the ending was disappointing also.
I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone, I didn’t get anything out of this for the amount of effort I put in. This was supposed to be about the laughter pandemic, but instead it was about several different topics that didn’t get fleshed out in any way - pandemic, ghosts, time-travel/communication with the past or future, kidnapping, pony hacking, etc etc. There was way too much going on in this book, and none of it “worked”
I’m changing my rating to a 1/5 because this would be a 1.25 for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 11, 2020
I will be honest: I was anxious picking up THE DOWN DAYS, a book about a pandemic... during a pandemic.
But I was also mad that day. Mad at people who kept pretending nothing was different and that nothing new was required of them, mad at the spring and summer that felt like they'd been wrenched away from me.
Based on the history of a real laughter epidemic that took place in Tanganikya in the 60s, THE DOWN DAYS is the story of a South African city on the brink. The aftermath of a laughter epidemic has taken away characters' family members, altered their ability to pursue their livelihood, turned them into outlaws and addicts and relentless seekers of truth. It's BIZARRE how prescient some of the plot elements are-- even some of the humor. Apart from the novel's thematic richness, dizzying pace, and rich character development, it was bizarrely comforting to read about characters wearing masks and gloves and navigating a weird new world.
But I was also mad that day. Mad at people who kept pretending nothing was different and that nothing new was required of them, mad at the spring and summer that felt like they'd been wrenched away from me.
Based on the history of a real laughter epidemic that took place in Tanganikya in the 60s, THE DOWN DAYS is the story of a South African city on the brink. The aftermath of a laughter epidemic has taken away characters' family members, altered their ability to pursue their livelihood, turned them into outlaws and addicts and relentless seekers of truth. It's BIZARRE how prescient some of the plot elements are-- even some of the humor. Apart from the novel's thematic richness, dizzying pace, and rich character development, it was bizarrely comforting to read about characters wearing masks and gloves and navigating a weird new world.
June 9, 2020
I think what the author set out to do here was interesting, and I think the execution was competent, but it wasn't for me. The book takes a pretty hard turn midway through which isn't explained until near the end that substantially changes what kind of book it is. Other people have clearly enjoyed that turn, but it left me in the dust.
March 8, 2021
This debut novel had wonderful, vibrant characters set against the background of near future Cape Town, now nicknamed “Sick City”, in the throes of a pandemic. One of the early symptoms of the virus is uncontrollable laughter, so naturally, laughing in public is forbidden. But there are underground clubs where people congregate to laugh freely, without fear. More publicly, there are Therapy Bars, where patrons can kick the living daylights out of well-padded combatant dressed like cartoon characters.
Written prior to the COVID19 pandemic, it was interesting to read about some of what has now become commonplace, like compulsory mask wearing, elbow bumps, conspiracy theories and the creativity of commerce under such conditions. There were a lot of things I liked about the book. But ultimately, the story didn’t hang together for me. I think the book could possibly be seen as an analogy of South Africa learning to live with its complicated history, but maybe I am reading too much into it.
Read for TOB 2021
Written prior to the COVID19 pandemic, it was interesting to read about some of what has now become commonplace, like compulsory mask wearing, elbow bumps, conspiracy theories and the creativity of commerce under such conditions. There were a lot of things I liked about the book. But ultimately, the story didn’t hang together for me. I think the book could possibly be seen as an analogy of South Africa learning to live with its complicated history, but maybe I am reading too much into it.
Read for TOB 2021
February 15, 2021
Congratulations The Down Days! You are the winner of the I Never Really Understood or Got Into This Book But Listened to All of It on Audio Anyway So I Can Be a Tournament of Books Completist Award!
November 20, 2020
More pandemic fiction! In a pandemic!
This one is set in a coastal city in Africa (Cape Town I'm sure) seven years after the initial breakout of disease: the laughter, where you start by giggling uncontrollably and you end with organs turned to soup.
Seven years down the track, the city (Sick City) has been cordoned off, and those still living within it's walls have a new way of life; people trade in dead collecting (exactly as it sounds, collecting and transporting dead bodies) and truth seeking. Mandatory health ATMs deliver daily doses of "medicine" and alert authorities if you're getting sick and need to be carted off to scary places where everyone is left to die.
It's a dire book when you describe it, and I guess it's dire when you read it too, but it's got a lot of personality this book, and so do its characters.
It's also got a lot of that weird premonition-y pandemic stuff like people injecting disinfectant (good idea, hey Trump), government conspiracy theories running rampant and bumping elbows to say hello, but this book goes into more fantastical territory as it goes on, ending in the full blown supernatural that weirdly doesn't feel all that out of place in the world that's been created.
Written reasonably chaotically, but never letting up the intrigue or the fun (weird way to describe this), I really enjoyed this little book of madness.
This one is set in a coastal city in Africa (Cape Town I'm sure) seven years after the initial breakout of disease: the laughter, where you start by giggling uncontrollably and you end with organs turned to soup.
Seven years down the track, the city (Sick City) has been cordoned off, and those still living within it's walls have a new way of life; people trade in dead collecting (exactly as it sounds, collecting and transporting dead bodies) and truth seeking. Mandatory health ATMs deliver daily doses of "medicine" and alert authorities if you're getting sick and need to be carted off to scary places where everyone is left to die.
It's a dire book when you describe it, and I guess it's dire when you read it too, but it's got a lot of personality this book, and so do its characters.
It's also got a lot of that weird premonition-y pandemic stuff like people injecting disinfectant (good idea, hey Trump), government conspiracy theories running rampant and bumping elbows to say hello, but this book goes into more fantastical territory as it goes on, ending in the full blown supernatural that weirdly doesn't feel all that out of place in the world that's been created.
Written reasonably chaotically, but never letting up the intrigue or the fun (weird way to describe this), I really enjoyed this little book of madness.
May 17, 2020
In Sick City, South Africa laughter is illegal. A laughing sickness has killed a swath of the population and leaves in their wake, government mandated health checkpoints daily and a economy of fight clubs and the like. Think District 9 meets Bladerunner. Our cast of characters include a ghost-napper, dead collector/ private eye, a security guard with a pet hyena, and pony tail thief whose stories twist and turn like a roller coaster, intersecting and looping around one another. A fun fast-paced read with a sprinkle of magical realism.
April 2, 2021
You wouldn't think a novel about a disease-induced lockdown would be the thing for our current moment. But I recommend this audiobook highly, especially with its excellent narrators.
Cape Town, South Africa has been walled off and rechristened "Sick City" several years into an epidemic of the laughter, a disease that stars with uncontrollable giggles and ends with an ebola-like liquification of one's insides. Hugo has imagined a Sick City that's transformed by illness and isolation. I enjoyed moving through it with characters who've found the means -- economic and psychological -- to survive a topsy-turvy world.
Hugo's story connects 6-7 different people together as their separate pursuits converge on one answer. I'm still not sure I understand the overarching explanation, but that's less important to me than the time I spent in Sick City and the interesting people I met.
p.s. Can we talk about that killer cover??
Cape Town, South Africa has been walled off and rechristened "Sick City" several years into an epidemic of the laughter, a disease that stars with uncontrollable giggles and ends with an ebola-like liquification of one's insides. Hugo has imagined a Sick City that's transformed by illness and isolation. I enjoyed moving through it with characters who've found the means -- economic and psychological -- to survive a topsy-turvy world.
Hugo's story connects 6-7 different people together as their separate pursuits converge on one answer. I'm still not sure I understand the overarching explanation, but that's less important to me than the time I spent in Sick City and the interesting people I met.
p.s. Can we talk about that killer cover??
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