Review: The Man in the Next Bed by David K. Shipler

The Man in the Next Bed
by David K. Shipler
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Vintage
General Fiction (Adult)

David K. Shipler won the Pulitzer and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for nonfiction. This, however, a foray into fiction, claimed to be his first, is an impressive assault. It probably falls somewhere between a short story and novelette.

Gibson has been diagnosed with cancer. He jokes with the nurses and doctors, some of whom laugh, others either don't get it or ignore it. He gets a roommate added to the room. The roomie has been bleeding from the anus and the doctors and nurses are concerned, but he doesn't do needles, he says. Meanwhile the young man who feels obligated to tell his mother, and instantly regrets it.

This is the story of how two men process illness differently. It's a good story with an ending that's perhaps more ambiguous than the author intended. Nonetheless, it's a moving work. There's also an attention to detail, to reality that makes the story feel this could be us in the hospital, which possibly explains Shipler's awards.

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This is not a story that lends itself to spoiling since it is the whole experience. I do want to talk about the ending in the vaguest sense. Still maybe read the story first before reading further critique/analysis.

For those who have read the story, here's a top-secret link that only cool people like yourself has access to.