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The Man in the Next Bed
In this heartbreaking and extraordinary first foray into fiction by Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Arab and the Jew and The Working Poor, David K. Shipler has delivered a miniature masterpiece.
Gibson has learned to keep his spirits up as he receives care from his many doctors, nurses, and attendants. He likes to watch the bustling goings on in the ward from his hospital bed, crack witticisms, and make his caretakers smile—even the news isn’t good. Gibson is an engineer, and he likes to understand how people work. When a young man gets placed in the bed beside his, hidden behind a paisley curtain, Gibson becomes privy to the intimate, private pains of his young neighbor’s life and forms with him the kind of fleeting human connection that will reverberate to the depths his memory and soul.
A Vintage Shorts Original. An ebook short.
Gibson has learned to keep his spirits up as he receives care from his many doctors, nurses, and attendants. He likes to watch the bustling goings on in the ward from his hospital bed, crack witticisms, and make his caretakers smile—even the news isn’t good. Gibson is an engineer, and he likes to understand how people work. When a young man gets placed in the bed beside his, hidden behind a paisley curtain, Gibson becomes privy to the intimate, private pains of his young neighbor’s life and forms with him the kind of fleeting human connection that will reverberate to the depths his memory and soul.
A Vintage Shorts Original. An ebook short.
- GenresShort StoriesFiction
19 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 14, 2019
4 people are currently reading
111 people want to read
About the author
David K. Shipler
16 books89 followersDavid K. Shipler reported for The New York Times from 1966 to 1988 in New York, Saigon, Moscow, Jerusalem, and Washington. He is the author of four other books, including the best sellers Russia and The Working Poor, and Arab and Jew, which won the Pulitzer Prize. He has been a guest scholar at the Brookings Institution, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and has taught at Princeton University, at American University in Washington, D.C., and at Dartmouth College.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
July 29, 2019
This short story is poignant and moving, and as short as it is, it filled me with a varied mixture of emotions.
Two men share a room in an oncology ward with only a curtain between their beds. The curtain feels symbolic because it separates them visually from each other, yet sounds and other senses permeate that thin divide with ease.
This story is one of contrasts – between the two men, between hope and denial, between age and youth, between craving comfort and rejecting it, among many others. Contrasts there are – on each side of the curtain – yet there is an intangible essence that aligns perfectly and moves freely between the contrasts, like the senses that are able to navigate on either side of the curtain.
Touching and thought-provoking, I enjoyed this brief visit into a place where I could contemplate the vast space that brings all of us together; that sheds light on all, despite our contrasts.
Two men share a room in an oncology ward with only a curtain between their beds. The curtain feels symbolic because it separates them visually from each other, yet sounds and other senses permeate that thin divide with ease.
This story is one of contrasts – between the two men, between hope and denial, between age and youth, between craving comfort and rejecting it, among many others. Contrasts there are – on each side of the curtain – yet there is an intangible essence that aligns perfectly and moves freely between the contrasts, like the senses that are able to navigate on either side of the curtain.
Touching and thought-provoking, I enjoyed this brief visit into a place where I could contemplate the vast space that brings all of us together; that sheds light on all, despite our contrasts.
April 30, 2019
I don’t often read stand alone short stories, preferring collections where the stories are connected in some way by characters or theme or place. When I read my friend Esil’s review of this, I kept thinking of how she said it packs a punch and I was intrigued enough to read it. Hospital rooms are close quarters and even though separated by a curtain, it’s impossible not to learn at least a little bit about the medical condition or something about the life of the person on the other side and impossible to know how much that stranger might impact you. I was sad when I finished this story, and not entirely sure I knew what exactly happened in the end, but I can say is that it’s thought provoking and as Esil said, it packs a punch. That’s a lot for a very short story to do.
I received a copy of this story from Alfred Knopf through NetGalley.
May 28, 2019
Grab this story
What a little gem! Two guys in a hospital, separated by a curtain. I just love this setup. It’s better than two strangers having a phone call—here, the people get glimpses of visitors, get to hear conversations with family. Eavesdropping at its finest! And as readers, we get to eavesdrop not only on all the conversations, but on the thoughts in the main character’s head.
I can’t stop raving about this story! In the few 20 pages or so, we get a vivid picture of the two characters’ states of mind. The author reeled me into their lives immediately; my curiosity was piqued. I rooted for them and felt for them. Any story this short that can stir up that much emotion is way worth the price of admission. The tone is scrumptious, and the language flawless. The ending is powerful. (So many short stories let the story meander off into nothing-land; not the case here.)
Here are some great lines I pulled. I ended up highlighting many sentences; had to force myself to just pick a few (trying not to make this review longer than the story!):
“’What are ya in for?’ Gibson asked, the way prisoners ask new inmates. No answer from beyond the curtain.”
“…he had written a little sign on a piece of paper and had a nurse tape it to the door: “If I’m asleep, please wake me up. I’d like to talk.”
“Daylight from the window meandered through the paisley curtain, as if searching for his deteriorating body.”
“He could not escape from the imprisonment of his silence.”
My only complaint: this story is too short. I wanted at least a few more days with these guys in their hospital beds.
The author has published only non-fiction books; this is his first fiction. Even though I usually stick with fiction (real life is too depressing), I’m curious to check his books out. I would love it if the author kept the stories coming.
Right now the story costs only $.99 on Kindle. It would be $.99 well spent, I guarantee you.
Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy.
P.S. This story dredged up a funny memory. When I was 14, I was in the hospital for a toe operation (seriously). The black woman I shared a room with had a bunch of visitors. As I was drifting off to sleep, half in reality, half out, all of the women pulled off wigs at the same time. I was frightened at first (people don’t pull off their hair!), and then fascinated and happy when I saw they were wigs!
What a little gem! Two guys in a hospital, separated by a curtain. I just love this setup. It’s better than two strangers having a phone call—here, the people get glimpses of visitors, get to hear conversations with family. Eavesdropping at its finest! And as readers, we get to eavesdrop not only on all the conversations, but on the thoughts in the main character’s head.
I can’t stop raving about this story! In the few 20 pages or so, we get a vivid picture of the two characters’ states of mind. The author reeled me into their lives immediately; my curiosity was piqued. I rooted for them and felt for them. Any story this short that can stir up that much emotion is way worth the price of admission. The tone is scrumptious, and the language flawless. The ending is powerful. (So many short stories let the story meander off into nothing-land; not the case here.)
Here are some great lines I pulled. I ended up highlighting many sentences; had to force myself to just pick a few (trying not to make this review longer than the story!):
“’What are ya in for?’ Gibson asked, the way prisoners ask new inmates. No answer from beyond the curtain.”
“…he had written a little sign on a piece of paper and had a nurse tape it to the door: “If I’m asleep, please wake me up. I’d like to talk.”
“Daylight from the window meandered through the paisley curtain, as if searching for his deteriorating body.”
“He could not escape from the imprisonment of his silence.”
My only complaint: this story is too short. I wanted at least a few more days with these guys in their hospital beds.
The author has published only non-fiction books; this is his first fiction. Even though I usually stick with fiction (real life is too depressing), I’m curious to check his books out. I would love it if the author kept the stories coming.
Right now the story costs only $.99 on Kindle. It would be $.99 well spent, I guarantee you.
Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy.
P.S. This story dredged up a funny memory. When I was 14, I was in the hospital for a toe operation (seriously). The black woman I shared a room with had a bunch of visitors. As I was drifting off to sleep, half in reality, half out, all of the women pulled off wigs at the same time. I was frightened at first (people don’t pull off their hair!), and then fascinated and happy when I saw they were wigs!
July 14, 2019
Many of my friends read and reviewed this little gem before me, but if you haven’t read this one already, it is definitely worth reading.
In twenty pages, we meet and come to know two men, Gibson and Tommy, both patients in a hospital on opposite sides of a blue-and-white paisley curtain that divides their spaces. There are moments of droll, bordering on dark, humour, which I felt added a welcome balance.
The author, David K. Shipler, worked for the New York Times from 1966 to 1988, from New York, Washington, Jerusalem, Moscow and Saigon. He is also the author of four non-fiction books, one of which won the Pulitzer Prize.
Well worth the 99 cents!
In twenty pages, we meet and come to know two men, Gibson and Tommy, both patients in a hospital on opposite sides of a blue-and-white paisley curtain that divides their spaces. There are moments of droll, bordering on dark, humour, which I felt added a welcome balance.
The author, David K. Shipler, worked for the New York Times from 1966 to 1988, from New York, Washington, Jerusalem, Moscow and Saigon. He is also the author of four non-fiction books, one of which won the Pulitzer Prize.
Well worth the 99 cents!
December 31, 2019
This is a very short story but it packs a punch. Two men side by side in hospital beds separated by a curtain. Gibson is a retired engineer with a brain tumor, who tries to start up a conversation with Tommy, who is a young man just admitted with unexplained bleeding. Clever and moving. I’m not familiar with David Shipler, but I will look for his other writings. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read an advance copy.
June 15, 2019
David Shipler is an American author and formerly a foreign correspondent with the New York Times. His book, ‘Arab and Jew: Wounded Spirits in a Promised Land’ won the Putlizer Prize for General Non-fiction in 1987. The Man in the Next Bed is Shipler’s first foray into fiction, and what a remarkable achievement it is!
In twenty pages, Shipler captured the communion between two male patients on their hospital beds across the barrier of a paisley curtain. Gibson, a nerdy engineer, is terminally ill and intensely lonely. Tommy, a young man, is being investigated for a condition that is potentially life-threatening. Gibson longs to talk and tries to engage Tommy in conversation. The latter, however, prefers to be left alone but thankfully, not for long.
Shipler holds up sharp and stark contrasts between these two men, their attitude toward their health woes, and their relationship to their mothers. Behind the curtain of the present, Gibson is brought face-to-face unexpectedly with a piece of history he has attempted to lay to rest.
The Man in the Next Bed carries bits of sunshine and humor in an otherwise cheerless hospital room. The ending is a powerful one liner. I read it twice before it hit home and I realized what has happened. Great story!
In twenty pages, Shipler captured the communion between two male patients on their hospital beds across the barrier of a paisley curtain. Gibson, a nerdy engineer, is terminally ill and intensely lonely. Tommy, a young man, is being investigated for a condition that is potentially life-threatening. Gibson longs to talk and tries to engage Tommy in conversation. The latter, however, prefers to be left alone but thankfully, not for long.
Shipler holds up sharp and stark contrasts between these two men, their attitude toward their health woes, and their relationship to their mothers. Behind the curtain of the present, Gibson is brought face-to-face unexpectedly with a piece of history he has attempted to lay to rest.
The Man in the Next Bed carries bits of sunshine and humor in an otherwise cheerless hospital room. The ending is a powerful one liner. I read it twice before it hit home and I realized what has happened. Great story!
August 29, 2019
“David K Shipler reported for the New York Times from 1966 to 1988 in New York, Saigon, Moscow, Jerusalem, and Washington, D.C. He is the author of seven books.
He won the Pulitzer Prize for ‘Arab and Jew’”.
This is a very short story taking 30 minutes or less to read.
Gibson was in a hospital in Los Angeles.
He had a tumor in his brain in an area where surgeons couldn’t operate.
Gibson wasn’t married. He had a brother and only a few friends.
Tommy Sanguino was Gibson’s hospital roommate. He didn’t do needles.
He groaned “I don’t do needles”, so many times - people in China could hear the guy.
Tommy’s mother came to visit.
The first words out of her mouth when she visited Tommy was:
“Oh, Tommy, Tommy, How’s my Botox look?”
Gibson can’t see Tommy or his mother from his hospital bed. But aren’t you wondering what he might be thinking?
This story was too short for me to tell you more.
I think I paid 99 cents for it. I’ve had it awhile.
It’s a SHORT puzzling story with an ending that leaves you re-reading the last sentence.
We ‘think’ we understand the story - but we will question ourselves.
Short-short-short!!!
Interesting in a puzzling - ‘want more’ way!!!
He won the Pulitzer Prize for ‘Arab and Jew’”.
This is a very short story taking 30 minutes or less to read.
Gibson was in a hospital in Los Angeles.
He had a tumor in his brain in an area where surgeons couldn’t operate.
Gibson wasn’t married. He had a brother and only a few friends.
Tommy Sanguino was Gibson’s hospital roommate. He didn’t do needles.
He groaned “I don’t do needles”, so many times - people in China could hear the guy.
Tommy’s mother came to visit.
The first words out of her mouth when she visited Tommy was:
“Oh, Tommy, Tommy, How’s my Botox look?”
Gibson can’t see Tommy or his mother from his hospital bed. But aren’t you wondering what he might be thinking?
This story was too short for me to tell you more.
I think I paid 99 cents for it. I’ve had it awhile.
It’s a SHORT puzzling story with an ending that leaves you re-reading the last sentence.
We ‘think’ we understand the story - but we will question ourselves.
Short-short-short!!!
Interesting in a puzzling - ‘want more’ way!!!
July 7, 2019
Oh dear.......
A DARK short story laced with bits of hospital humor that'll knock your socks off.
DO. READ. IT.
May 24, 2019
I am not usually a big fan of short stories - it takes an amazing writer to create a complete picture in a small space. Fortunately, David K Shipler is such a writer. Admittedly, I knew him only from his non-fiction writing but he showed a level of compassion that I thought (hoped) would translate to fiction and it definitely did. In The Man in the Next Bed, he tells the story of Gibson, an engineer, in hospital with cancer. Despite his condition, Gibson maintains a great sense of humour as well as curiousity about the people around him. When a young man is put in the next bed with unexplained bleeding, Gibson is determined to communicate with him even though a curtain blocks his view. Although they never get a glimpse of each other, they develop a brief but deep connection as he listens to the man's struggles and his pain.
This story is only 20 pages long and, on the surface, it seems a fairly simple tale of the human condition. Yet, despite the brevity, the story is full of humour, empathy, and insight The characters are fully formed and sympathetic making it easy for the reader to care about the outcome. It made me think long after I had finished and what more can you ask from a 'simple' short story.
Thanks to Netgalley and Knoph Doubleday Publishing for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review
This story is only 20 pages long and, on the surface, it seems a fairly simple tale of the human condition. Yet, despite the brevity, the story is full of humour, empathy, and insight The characters are fully formed and sympathetic making it easy for the reader to care about the outcome. It made me think long after I had finished and what more can you ask from a 'simple' short story.
Thanks to Netgalley and Knoph Doubleday Publishing for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review
May 31, 2019
I obviously didn’t get this short story.
I’ll try again another time.
I’ll try again another time.
December 29, 2019
This story is short and to the point. The point? A man, though terminally ill, can still show interest and compassion for another.
Gibson is our first 'man in the bed'. All alone until the next bed is filled. Instead of feeling sorry for himself, Gibson listens to the fears of his next door neighbor and tries to assist.
I, as the reader, see an approach to helping others that I should emulate. Forget one's own troubles to help another.
4 stars
Gibson is our first 'man in the bed'. All alone until the next bed is filled. Instead of feeling sorry for himself, Gibson listens to the fears of his next door neighbor and tries to assist.
I, as the reader, see an approach to helping others that I should emulate. Forget one's own troubles to help another.
4 stars
June 9, 2019
A remarkably powerful short story about a man in hospital suffering from a brain tumour who tries to put a cheerful face on his plight, and whose existence is enlivened by the arrival of another patient on the ward. The author manages to pack an awful lot into just a few pages, and the story achieves what so many short stories never quite manage to do – to create a memorable world and memorable characters that live on after the story ends. I tend to forget most of the short stories I read – but I don’t think I’ll be forgetting this one.
April 27, 2019
Super quirky, super short story about a day in the hospital, that really had me wishing this had been a collection! Gibson is in hospital with a tumor, wondering about the guy in the next bed, and contemplating events of his own life. From light and chuckle-inducing, to downright shocking; I'll look for more Shipler in future.
January 1, 2023
Very short story about a man in hospital with a brain tumor.
May 4, 2019
The Man in the Next Bed
Book Review | 📚📚📚📚📚 5/5
David K. Shipler (author) | Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group (Vintage Short)
From Pulitzer Prize winning author, David K. Shipler, comes his first work of fiction, The Man in the Next Bed. From curiosity to connection, relatability to empathy, fear to courage, there is a lot packed into this miniature.
Why I was interested in this book:
I was intrigued by the layered mysterious nature of this story. What or who lays on the other side of the thinly veiled curtain.
My assessment:
The Man in the Next Bed, by David K. Shipler, is a story about a story within a story. And all three stories are very much about the human condition. The first story is about Gibson, an engineer who loves to figure things out. The second story is about the man in the next bed and Gibson trying to figure out that person’s story. The third story is the story of the reader, being led on this journey, trying to put all of the pieces together and understand the mysteries that are being shared. With nothing to do, Gibson has all the time he needs to figure this puzzle out. Or does he? There is something invigorating about a sensational short story. Sometimes a second reading, more reflection and introspection can turn a “good face-value story” worth 3 stars into a clever and thoughtful 5-star gem that lingers heavily afterward.
Stories of the human condition:
With humor and insight, author, David K. Shipler addresses empathy, compassion and human nature to address the stories of Gibson and the man in the next bed. Only 24 pages long, this short really made me think. I had not heard of Shipler before, but based on the depth he gave these characters, this short bite could be an allegory for the greater world and wondering about the stories of all of the men, women and children in the next beds. I’m now curious to read his non-fiction and any further works of fiction that he writes. Knowing the subject matter of his non-fiction, it is evident that Shipler writes intently and intensely about the human condition. Kudos.
While researching Shipler for this review, I also discovered his blog, The Shipler Report (http://shiplerreport.blogspot.com/), and share it here, too. It looks like it is filled with topical political and social journalism and perspectives that continue to make the reader think in a much greater and global context.
Full disclosure: I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I am not sure if I would have discovered Shipler, or The Man in the Next Bed , without it being made available on NetGalley. For that, and the thought-provoking time it provided me while reading it and afterward, I am appreciative.
Read more of my reviews at Tuggle Grass Reviews (https://tugglegrassblues.wordpress.com/).
TAGS:
#TheManInTheNextBed #review-book #book review #NetGalley #VintageShorts #DavidKShipler #shortstory #compassion #TuggleGrassBlues #Tuggle Grass Reviews #TuggleGrassReviews
Book Review | 📚📚📚📚📚 5/5
David K. Shipler (author) | Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group (Vintage Short)
From Pulitzer Prize winning author, David K. Shipler, comes his first work of fiction, The Man in the Next Bed. From curiosity to connection, relatability to empathy, fear to courage, there is a lot packed into this miniature.
Why I was interested in this book:
I was intrigued by the layered mysterious nature of this story. What or who lays on the other side of the thinly veiled curtain.
My assessment:
The Man in the Next Bed, by David K. Shipler, is a story about a story within a story. And all three stories are very much about the human condition. The first story is about Gibson, an engineer who loves to figure things out. The second story is about the man in the next bed and Gibson trying to figure out that person’s story. The third story is the story of the reader, being led on this journey, trying to put all of the pieces together and understand the mysteries that are being shared. With nothing to do, Gibson has all the time he needs to figure this puzzle out. Or does he? There is something invigorating about a sensational short story. Sometimes a second reading, more reflection and introspection can turn a “good face-value story” worth 3 stars into a clever and thoughtful 5-star gem that lingers heavily afterward.
Stories of the human condition:
With humor and insight, author, David K. Shipler addresses empathy, compassion and human nature to address the stories of Gibson and the man in the next bed. Only 24 pages long, this short really made me think. I had not heard of Shipler before, but based on the depth he gave these characters, this short bite could be an allegory for the greater world and wondering about the stories of all of the men, women and children in the next beds. I’m now curious to read his non-fiction and any further works of fiction that he writes. Knowing the subject matter of his non-fiction, it is evident that Shipler writes intently and intensely about the human condition. Kudos.
While researching Shipler for this review, I also discovered his blog, The Shipler Report (http://shiplerreport.blogspot.com/), and share it here, too. It looks like it is filled with topical political and social journalism and perspectives that continue to make the reader think in a much greater and global context.
Full disclosure: I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I am not sure if I would have discovered Shipler, or The Man in the Next Bed , without it being made available on NetGalley. For that, and the thought-provoking time it provided me while reading it and afterward, I am appreciative.
Read more of my reviews at Tuggle Grass Reviews (https://tugglegrassblues.wordpress.com/).
TAGS:
#TheManInTheNextBed #review-book #book review #NetGalley #VintageShorts #DavidKShipler #shortstory #compassion #TuggleGrassBlues #Tuggle Grass Reviews #TuggleGrassReviews
July 21, 2019
Great read. The author wrote a story that was interesting and moved at a pace that kept me engaged. The characters were easy to invest in.
October 13, 2019
This is a short story about a man who's in the hospital and a new patient is brought in to share his room for a brief period. It's a mixture of the conversation the two have across the curtain and all the things we overhear about others' private moments during this type of experience. It's short but poignant. It captured those small, ephemeral moments of human connection caused by circumstance that then stay with you and shift your life/memory in subtle ways. Sad but touching little story.
Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
May 21, 2019
This story manages to convey a strong sense of place and character. I like that the title can refer to either patient in the room, and that the ending can be interpreted in more than one way.
I received this ARC free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you NetGalley!
I received this ARC free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you NetGalley!
April 5, 2022
Gibson has found himself drawn to capturing the hearts of the people that work and are patients in the hospital he is in. He finds ways to entertain, whether it be to make them laugh or to provide some form of introspection. This has become his life as he ends his day trapped in bed. When a young man moves into the bed next to him, Gibson seeks to reach him. I liked that this extremely short story provides a heartfelt and resonant picture of the connection that people make with others in the most small ways and how these small actions can move people. There are vast differences where both characters are in life, however it is in the differences that you find the similarities as well. I found this to be a good story and such a great reminder of the gift we offer to others. Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley.
August 12, 2019
sweet - short story
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews