A Four-Sided Bed

by Elizabeth Searle

The characters in this bold and compassionate novel by Elizabeth Searle find themselves in uncharted territory as they explore what is possible within the sexual boundaries of friendship, love, and identity. As the Los Angeles Times has said previously about Elizabeth Searle, she sets out to "test the limits of the sensible, the approved, even the sexually possible." With this debut novel she creates a sexy, four-sided love story unique to our times in which gender is constantly redefined.

Genres: Fiction

302 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Elizabeth Searle is the author of two works of theater and four books of fiction: Celebrities In Disgrace, a novella and stories; A Four-Sided Bed, a novel nominated for an American Library Association Book Award; My Body To You, a story collection that won the Iowa Short Fiction Prize; and a forthcoming novel, Girl Held In Home (2011). The New York Times Book Review called her novella Celebrities In Disgrace "a miniature masterpiece."

Elizabeth Searle's and Michael Teoli's Rock Opera, Tonya & Nancy: The Rock Opera - as well as her and Abigail Al-Doory Cross' original opera, Tonya & Nancy: The Opera have drawn worldwide media attention. In May, 2006, at the American Reperatory Theater's "new space for new works," Tufts Music premiered the opera, which is based on the infamous Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan ice scandal. The opera drew coverage from - among other media outlets - the Associated Press, ESPN Hollywood, Sports Illustrated, The New York Times, The London Times, The Daily Show and National Public Radio.

Searle won the 2010 Boston Literary Death Match and the 2000 Lawrence Foundation Fiction Prize. She received her MFA from Brown University, and has taught fiction writing at Brown, Emerson College, Bennington MFA, Stonecoast MFA, and the University of Massachusetts (Visiting Writer, 2007-08). Searle has also served for over a decade on the Executive Board of PEN/New England and founded the Erotic PEN readings.

Searle lives with her husband and son in Arlington, MA.

Reviews

[Kristi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Napolian Dynamite, Lou Diamond Phillips and the scary girl with the Dragon Tatoo.

really??? I mean,, What brought them together??? The correct answer is their breakdowns but sorry I really didn't "feel" it. and why in the he!! would Allie/alice Anne want to actually Marry Napolian?? seriously she doen't come across as a warped child, I didn't actually buy that she was "saving" him. and the child felt like a plot device

And Lou chinwangwang has ALLLLLLLLLLL these freinds ALLLLLLL over the world, Many who know who and what he is and yet he is so bound to bird Really Really??
And she had a JOb, and dates??? not sure if the dates were actual dates or pretend dates. but a job implies some measure of human interaction.


nice try and if you go for the bedroom descriptions that might be all that felt like reality, if that was the point that is pretty sad.

[Amy kohut]

If you squint and look at the image on the cover from a distance it can be quite a few more things than a bed. I saw one thing and my friend saw another so I won't ruin the possibilities with a mention of just what it is I myself see. Story wise - loved the characters and the writing but the story was one that became more and more bleak with each page after crossing the center line - if you don't mind bleak endings I recommend it.

[Suanne Laqueur · Rating 1 out of 5]

This sounded like it was going to be so incredible, but after three chapters I was lost. Nothing seemed to be happening. I was reading a book without reading a story. I gave up less than halfway through.

[Sybil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sexy sexy read!

[Jacqui · Rating 5 out of 5]

amazing.