Bed
David Whitehouse
Bed
WHAT MAKES LIFE WORTH GETTING OUT OF BED FOR? Mal isn't like the other kids. So remarkable is his childhood that his family wait for the incredible things he seems born to do. Then one day he goes to bed, never to get out again. Recounted by Mal's younger brother, Bed is a coming-of-age story like no other. It chronicles the metamorphosis of one extraordinary man, and explores what love, loss and family can do to you in a lifetime.
3.4 out of 5 based on 4 reviews
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Omniscore:
|
| Classification |
Fiction |
| Genre |
General Fiction |
| Format |
Paperback |
| Pages |
297 |
| RRP |
£11.99 |
| Date of Publication |
June 2011 |
| ISBN |
978-1847679819 |
| Publisher |
Canongate |
| |
WHAT MAKES LIFE WORTH GETTING OUT OF BED FOR? Mal isn't like the other kids. So remarkable is his childhood that his family wait for the incredible things he seems born to do. Then one day he goes to bed, never to get out again. Recounted by Mal's younger brother, Bed is a coming-of-age story like no other. It chronicles the metamorphosis of one extraordinary man, and explores what love, loss and family can do to you in a lifetime.
Reviews
The Daily Mail
Stephanie Cross
“Bed is brilliantly imagined and rings consistently true. ”
17/06/2011
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The Times
Kate Saunders
“Hilarious and tragic; a perfectly brilliant debut.”
28/05/2011
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The Guardian
Jenn Ashworth
“David Whitehouse has caught, through a debut novel that is as soulful as it is funny, the claustrophobia, tenderness, jealous resentment and horror of living under the same roof as your parents ... Whitehouse has also mastered the knack of the descriptive line: "She wore stretchy dresses that hugged her lumps, the only thing that ever held her." But too often this writerly exuberance strains for an effect it doesn't achieve, leaving the novel cluttered with unnecessary flourishes, and extended metaphors that collapse under their own weight.”
22/07/2011
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The Financial Times
Adrian Turpin
“The trouble is that, as often happens with high-concept novels, Bed is crushed by the weight of its set-up. Mal as existential hero is a questionable proposition. More distasteful is the suggestion that his inaction has united the family and given them purpose, while Whitehouse’s voyeuristic descriptions of Mal’s blubbery flesh only add to the unease.”
11/06/2011
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