Are you ready to read fiction set during Covid?

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by hildea

Some readers strongly dislike books where animals suffer, even if it's not a big part of the plot. Others dislike swearing, or explicit sex, or explicit violence, or bad things happening to children. Content warnings help readers pick books that are to their taste.

Now, that kind of content warning would help. I just finished a charming book that featured a wonderful dog; while the dog is not the focus of the story, he got into a couple of dicey situations where I was thinking, Oh no, oh no. But the dog was OK.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Now, that kind of content warning would help. I just finished a charming book that featured a wonderful dog; while the dog is not the focus of the story, he got into a couple of dicey situations where I was thinking, Oh no, oh no. But the dog was OK.

Yeah. I cannot stand animal suffering/abuse in fiction even in smallest amounts, that's an instant turn-off. So much so that I no longer even want to read any books with animal characters at all. I've been known to put an otherwise excellent book aside forever when I came upon a scene in which a pet was abused and killed (the plot took place in the 16th century and those times were not known for nice treatment of animals, of course. Still, I just can't read about it, no matter how historically truthful).

Otherwise I don't have any particular triggers, but graphic torture scenes are not my cup of tea, even if it's adult humans torturing other adult humans. It just turns my stomach. And I've read some really detailed descriptions of torture over the years. Still horrible.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

But to be able to answer any of these question/issues, you'd have to see when the book was written to see if it was written before, after, or during lockdown even if the book does take place during Covid.

The degree and timing of lockdown varied from place to place, as did degree of compliance.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

The degree and timing of lockdown varied from place to place, as did degree of compliance.

But if the book starts in early 2020 before lockdown, and goes to at least June 2020, I would say yes it takes place during Covid.

[4691mls]

I remember after September 11th reading about how TV shows set in New York City handled it. I think NYPD Blue at least referenced it in some way since it was a drama about cops, while Friends, as a sitcom, did not address it at all.

I could imagine authors handling Covid similarly - the book I returned was from a series about police investigations so the author probably wanted to be realistic by including Covid. But perhaps someone writing cozy mysteries or small-town romance might avoid it to keep the feel-good vibe going.

[Fat Abe]

Here's an example of an author (a golfer, no less) exploiting the Covid-19 crisis:

https://www.amazon.com/Moses-Predict...ustomerReviews

One review is funny, but the rest seem to have been written by friends of Kermit.

Now, writers are supposed to anticipate large scale disasters. Notwithstanding Dean Koontz's novel, The Eyes of Darkness, it appears that movies and video games (The Division) got the jump on books. We'll probably see some retrospective novels in the next three years. That's fine too, with Lawrence Block covering the story from the NYC viewpoint.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Fat Abe

Here's an example of an author (a golfer, no less) exploiting the Covid-19 crisis:

https://www.amazon.com/Moses-Predict...ustomerReviews

One review is funny, but the rest seem to have been written by friends of Kermit.

Now, writers are supposed to anticipate large scale disasters. Notwithstanding Dean Koontz's novel, The Eyes of Darkness, it appears that movies and video games (The Division) got the jump on books. We'll probably see some retrospective novels in the next three years. That's fine too, with Lawrence Block covering the story from the NYC viewpoint.

Looking at the cover and reading the blurb, this is a 100% NO WAY!

[meeera]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Now, that kind of content warning would help. I just finished a charming book that featured a wonderful dog; while the dog is not the focus of the story, he got into a couple of dicey situations where I was thinking, Oh no, oh no. But the dog was OK.

This is why doesthedogdie.com is a thing.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by Fat Abe

Here's an example of an author (a golfer, no less) exploiting the Covid-19 crisis:

https://www.amazon.com/Moses-Predict...ustomerReviews

But that's someone's self-published out-there theory, not a novel. It's easy to call that exploitation, but it's vastly different from a novelist incorporating covid as part of a plot.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by meeera

This is why doesthedogdie.com is a thing.

I never heard of it before. In looking at it, I don't think it would be valuable to me. I searched for the book I referred to in my earlier comment, and there's a list of potentially upsetting items that, yes, are included in the book, but because I've read the book, I know most of them were mentioned in passing and were not graphic in any way. Context matters--at least for me. This list would put me off reading anything but cereal boxes.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Yeah. I cannot stand animal suffering/abuse in fiction even in smallest amounts, that's an instant turn-off. So much so that I no longer even want to read any books with animal characters at all.

WARNING
Peter Rabbit's father. (Beatrix Potter)
Busy Town. (Richard Scarry)

[haertig]

As an example, John Scalzi did the covid thing in "The Kaiju Preservation Society". It came up by page two or three of the book IIRC. That immediately alerted me that this may not be the book for me. But luckily, not a big deal was made of it and it was not central to the plot and thus ruinous of the book. Just a casual mention. But so close to the start of the book - that was a bit of a slip-up by the author I think.

I did enjoy the book however. Of similar concern to me was the they/them-ness of one of the characters. I don't really care what people call themselves. But being an older individual, I associate they/them with plural, and it shocks me right out of the story to see an individual referred to in the plural. My brain can't help but think, "Doesn't this author know the basics of the English language?"

Every time I ran into a covid or a they/them reference in the book, it pulled me right out of the imaginative world of the story, and into the things happening in the real world. There goes the escapism of the story, and I'm right back into current events. For me, this destroys the story. If done too often, or too preachy, the book gets abandoned.

[Deskisamess]

Originally Posted by Quoth

WARNING
Peter Rabbit's father. (Beatrix Potter)
Busy Town. (Richard Scarry)

Watership Down, more bunnies dying.

[drofgnal]

I read the Orphan Collector by Ellen Marie Wiseman the year the pandemic hit. It’s a historical fictional account of the Spanish Flu. It was a eerie read. Timing was weird too given she had to have started the book before CoVID.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by drofgnal

I read the Orphan Collector by Ellen Marie Wiseman the year the pandemic hit. It’s a historical fictional account of the Spanish Flu. It was a eerie read. Timing was weird too given she had to have started the book before CoVID.

I saw a youtube video some time ago, that was about the Spanish Flu. And it ended with: something like this could happen again in the future (or something in that line). Publish date of that video? December 2019.... That was eerie!

About the OP: I almost never read books that take place in the here and now. So, any books that I'd read now would take place in the future and they might reference it. But would I read a fiction book set during that period if I read those kind of books? Yes. Simply because I love to read/hear stories about how others got through that time.