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(Her)oics
* Duration: 10 hours and 28 minutes *
'(Her)oics: Women's Lived Experiences During the Coronavirus Pandemic' draws together the stories of 52 women across the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The collection encompasses the perspectives of women who are: front-line responders and recovering patients; going out to work, staying home to work, and losing their jobs; living with multiple generations and living in isolation; women grieving loved ones and celebrating new love; women preparing to give birth and supporting the dying.
Although differing based on location, age, race, and health, they share the unique capacity of women to bring their strength, ingenuity, and love - for others and for self - to an uncertain time. The anthology is inspired by both the risks of the pandemic inherent to women and their tremendous role in the country’s response.
©2021 Joanell Serra and Amy Roost (P)2021 Recorded Books
'(Her)oics: Women's Lived Experiences During the Coronavirus Pandemic' draws together the stories of 52 women across the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The collection encompasses the perspectives of women who are: front-line responders and recovering patients; going out to work, staying home to work, and losing their jobs; living with multiple generations and living in isolation; women grieving loved ones and celebrating new love; women preparing to give birth and supporting the dying.
Although differing based on location, age, race, and health, they share the unique capacity of women to bring their strength, ingenuity, and love - for others and for self - to an uncertain time. The anthology is inspired by both the risks of the pandemic inherent to women and their tremendous role in the country’s response.
©2021 Joanell Serra and Amy Roost (P)2021 Recorded Books
- GenresNonfiction
11 pages, Audible Audio
First published March 11, 2021
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86 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 11, 2021
Really appreciated this collection of short essays, where women from all walks of life share their experiences, centered on the first months of the pandemic in 2020.
Reading these pieces feels like a piece of living history. The cancer survivor, the lesbian artist, the mother of two sons with developmental disabilities at risk in a group home, the indigenous grandmother who looks to the earth and the stories of her heritage to make sense of this new world, yet still misses her grandkids.
Those labels don’t do justice to the common experiences captured so well; the fear of death, the angst for loved ones we can’t reach, the loss of jobs and livelihood. The writers of these essays are baking, can’t look away from the news, feel itchy in a mask, but naked without one. And that’s the genius of this collection; it channels the universality of what we’ve experienced during Covid times.
This carefully selected and skillfully edited collection does a spectacular job of reminding us just how universal those feelings of fear, of isolation, and sometimes of stolen hope and connection have been among us. Of the diversity of situations but commonality of experience.
Overall, this book made me hopeful. It reminded me that the nature of our fear has changed from a year ago. The virus is still deadly, but millions are vaccinated (my own mother has received her second shot), and the elderly in homes are finally allowed outside contact for the first time in 12 months, bringing a sense of relief that our elder loved ones are safer.
This collection will become such an important record of how it felt to battle through this time; emotionally and separated, but together. A reminder that although—as one essay points out—after any big event in history the new “normal” will not be the same as the past, there will still be a new normal. And we have come a long way since the constant news watching and angst-baking of March-April 2020.
Reading these pieces feels like a piece of living history. The cancer survivor, the lesbian artist, the mother of two sons with developmental disabilities at risk in a group home, the indigenous grandmother who looks to the earth and the stories of her heritage to make sense of this new world, yet still misses her grandkids.
Those labels don’t do justice to the common experiences captured so well; the fear of death, the angst for loved ones we can’t reach, the loss of jobs and livelihood. The writers of these essays are baking, can’t look away from the news, feel itchy in a mask, but naked without one. And that’s the genius of this collection; it channels the universality of what we’ve experienced during Covid times.
This carefully selected and skillfully edited collection does a spectacular job of reminding us just how universal those feelings of fear, of isolation, and sometimes of stolen hope and connection have been among us. Of the diversity of situations but commonality of experience.
Overall, this book made me hopeful. It reminded me that the nature of our fear has changed from a year ago. The virus is still deadly, but millions are vaccinated (my own mother has received her second shot), and the elderly in homes are finally allowed outside contact for the first time in 12 months, bringing a sense of relief that our elder loved ones are safer.
This collection will become such an important record of how it felt to battle through this time; emotionally and separated, but together. A reminder that although—as one essay points out—after any big event in history the new “normal” will not be the same as the past, there will still be a new normal. And we have come a long way since the constant news watching and angst-baking of March-April 2020.
May 24, 2021
(Her)oics is a collection of beautifully crafted essays by women about life during the Coronavirus pandemic, but it also so much more. Each piece provides an intimate view of life for a woman with her own struggles, her own unique experiences, and illuminates how those experiences were shaped by the rest of her life leading up to that moment. Like the flash of a photographer's bulb, you see everything for a brief moment in time, though the images linger much longer. Read about nurses treated as if their lives are disposable, employees being threatened with loss of their jobs for wearing PPE early on. Read about the devastating impact on mental health for those battling addiction and mental illness and physical health for those who suddenly had difficulty obtaining their medication. Read about men and women and children breaking down under the weight of the loneliness and uncertainty of isolation. And more... so much more.
The book is organized around themes, but if you step back, you see other, more universal themes emerge. Themes like debilitating grief and bone-deep guilt. Steadfast strength and new appreciation for loved ones. These were both painful and beautiful, even if not entirely unexpected considering the subject matter. However, there were more.
You can see the threads of prejudice woven throughout this book, the ways in which someone's skin color or ancestral nationality or sexual orientation or pre-existing medical conditions not only shaped their entire lives before, but led to an unequal impact during this pandemic. How they were seen as more disposable, as if any human life should be seen in that way.
These women's stories are a wake-up call for society - a society in which there are still people who don't believe in this deadly virus and its myriad impacts, a society that treats the sacredness of life as disposable. Their stories are also an inspiration, providing a glimpse of the breathtaking courage and strength these women have every day.
The book is organized around themes, but if you step back, you see other, more universal themes emerge. Themes like debilitating grief and bone-deep guilt. Steadfast strength and new appreciation for loved ones. These were both painful and beautiful, even if not entirely unexpected considering the subject matter. However, there were more.
You can see the threads of prejudice woven throughout this book, the ways in which someone's skin color or ancestral nationality or sexual orientation or pre-existing medical conditions not only shaped their entire lives before, but led to an unequal impact during this pandemic. How they were seen as more disposable, as if any human life should be seen in that way.
These women's stories are a wake-up call for society - a society in which there are still people who don't believe in this deadly virus and its myriad impacts, a society that treats the sacredness of life as disposable. Their stories are also an inspiration, providing a glimpse of the breathtaking courage and strength these women have every day.
December 28, 2020
These are powerful stories of women at the beginning of the pandemic, during shut down. The editors have gotten a wide variety of points of view. I tore through this. It brought me back to those haunting first days where it felt like the ground was shifting underneath our feet. Highly recommended.
May 12, 2021
Amazing!!! Very diverse stories from brilliant writers.
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March 26, 2021Maybe I'm a bit biased because I have an essay in this book, but I'm honored and humbled to be in such good company and comforted to know that this past year's hardships and isolation have been a shared experience. The editors and writers for this collection have chosen a variety of forms from poetry to experimental and traditional narratives in which to express themselves. The work represents a wide swath across pandemic experiences and illustrates that even when they are behind the scenes, women are in the front lines of a crisis. Their stories show us the realities of the pandemic in places and ways that the media cannot access. They take us across race, class, and occupation lines to make us cry, laugh, and think hard about how factors like privilege, location, and sheer luck have affected us differently. Ultimately, this anthology is an important set of testimonials I will treasure and return to as I try to sort out how our lives have changed in the era of Covid.
March 12, 2021
This collection of essays written by resilient women during the Coronavirus pandemic is remarkable. This work is important not only to record history, but to provide hope to others. I truly appreciated reading these lived experiences. It’s a book that bonds us together in a time when we need it most.
January 12, 2022
These are remarkable times and call on all of us to become even more remarkable people. I bow to these women and hope all can read their stories of courage, failure, despair and love. In addition, these stories give proof to what some of us have known all along: that the challenges, deep service and heart opening of motherhood can be an enlightenment intensive. Motherhood in a pandemic is a master course.
January 10, 2022
This book is a collection of 52 essays about women's lives during the pandemic. There are multiple readers and the essays are varied and well-written. It wasn't easy to listen to, and I took a couple of breaks just to ease the tension. Think how terrible the situation was if just reading reading it made it stressful! The essay by a nurse in a Minneapolis hospital was one of the most harrowing of them all. The absolute unconcern about the health of the healthcare workers was a blow to my unrealistic and idealistic view of healthcare in Minnesota. A tough read, but I'm glad I read it.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews