Bed

Bed

by David Whitehouse (Author)

Synopsis

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. Enchanting, funny, surreal and heartwarming, David Whitehouse's novel presents one of the most thrilling and unique voices to emerge from Britain in years.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 304
Edition: Main
Publisher: Canongate Books
Published: 02 Jun 2011

ISBN 10: 1847679811
ISBN 13: 9781847679819

Media Reviews
Hilarious and tragic; a perfectly brilliant debut. * * Times * *
The best new novel I've read in ages. -- Sam Delaney * * Guardian * *
Bed is a deftly-told wonder. Mr. Whitehouse's writing is accomplished, poetic, and deeply affecting. -- Joe Meno, author of Hairstyles of the Damned
David Whitehouse has taken what might be a gimmicky hook in a lesser writer's hands--a romance triangulating around a bedridden media spectacle, the world's most obese man--and turned it, through lapidary prose, into a soulful meditation on a fraternal love as singular as it is universal. * * Teddy Wayne, author of KAPITOIL * *
Stunning. * * GQ * *
Masterful . . . This accomplished debut offers an offbeat insight into the lives of a family dealing with morbid obesity... [Whitehouse] maintains a tone of subtlety and grace, pulling a distinguished and accessible story out of a profoundly strange experience. * * Publishers Weekly * *
Brilliant and very expressive. Mal is an extremely vivid firework of a character. -- Greg Eden * * Waterstones.co.uk * *
Hilarious and tragic; a perfectly brilliant debut. -- Kate Saunders * * Times * *
David Whitehouse's debut novel Bed will not be published by Canongate until next month, but it is already getting impressive advance press, with Grazia magazine naming it as its number one summer read. Coincidentally, Whitehouse is the assistant editor of heat, published by Bauer Media from an office just one floor away from Grazia. * * Private Eye * *
You will be up all night reading it! * * Fabulous Magazine, News of the World * *
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... Bed is a satisfyingly complex meditation on what it means to need and be needed . . . moving, inspired . . . left me looking forward to whatever he's going to write next. -- Jenn Ashworth * * Guardian * *
...the talk of the town. * * Independent on Sunday * *
Sad and funny and pretty brilliant, too. * * Observer Magazine * *
[Mal is] an extremely vivid firework of a character. * * Independent * *
Mal is astonishing. * * Scotsman * *
A totally extraordinary and original novel. * * Heat Magazine * *
A novel that is as soulful as it is funny. -- Jenn Ashworth * * Guardian * *
Highly inventive and full of compassion. * * Sunday Herald * *
Blends hilarity and tenderness perfectly. * * Psychologies * *
An inventive, funny take on dysfunctional families. * * Grazia * *
Strikes the perfect balance between clear, page-flipping storytelling and prose festooned with fresh, richly evocative imagery. * * Time Out * *
A coming-of-age story like no other . . . nchanting, funny, surreal and heart-warming, David Whitehouse's novel presents one of the most thrilling and unique voices to emerge from Britain in years. * * Western Mail * *
A complicated, loving, bizarre and occasionally stomach-churning story told with humour and affection. * * Bella * *
Mesmerising. * * Closer * *
Skilfully crafted ... will keep readers intrigued to the end. * * We Love This Book Magazine * *
One of the most original and exciting novels we've read in ages. And we're not just saying that because the writer works for us. -- Boyd Hilton * * Heat Magazine * *
A totally extraordinary and original novel * * Heat * *
A serious contender for weirdest novel of the year so far * * Stirling Observer * *
A novel about family love... the ways it can both beat you down and hold you up... A real achievement * * Stirling Observer * *
highly inventive and full of compassion * * The Sunday Herald * *
Author Bio
David Whitehouse was born in 1981. His journalism has appeared in the Guardian, the Sunday Times, the Independent, Esquire, Time Out, and the Observer Magazine. His first short film, 'The Archivist', produced by Warp Films and the BBC, opened the BBC Electric Proms in 2008 and screened at film festivals including Seattle and Munich. Bed is his first novel. It was the inaugural winner of the To Hell with Prizes award in 2010.