Alice in Bed [Paperback]

Cathleen Schine (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 1996

In "a sprightly first novel" (John Updike, The New Yorker), "fluently written . . . (in) an engaging voice" (The New York Times Book Review), Schine introduces readers to a convalescent but effervescent heroine imprisoned in the confines of a Manhattan hospital who proves that there is sometimes hilarity in the depths of infirmity.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Plume; 1ST edition (July 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0452276756
• ISBN-13: 978-0452276758
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #507,014 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Cathleen Schine is the author of The New Yorkers and The Love Letter, among other novels. She has contributed to The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, The New York Times Magazine, and The New York Times Book Review.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great book - plain and simple, February 9, 2000

By 

sassi214 (Arlington, VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Alice in Bed (Paperback)

This was a book I read a long time ago, and it was one of the first books that I noted didn't follow a set pattern or formula. Alice's affair with the doctor came as a surprise as well as the flirtations with her mother's eccentric boyfriend. This book doesn't disappoint, you feel Alice's pain, the physical pain (laced with appropriate sarcastic remarks) as well as the emotional pain she feels when going from a healthy young woman into a bedridden sour soul, back into an upright citizen. I read this book at least 3 times it was that enjoyable, Alice was a fun character to revisit. A+

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I was a patient, too., October 29, 2000

By 

ALS (Valhalla, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Alice in Bed (Paperback)

For those of us who have been physically impaired and/or very ill, scared to death children in adult bodies, lost in the mad world of medicine, a must read. A stinging and witty critique of being a patient from the inside out. We can feel and identify with her pain, her fatigue, her helplessness and her addiction to pain and dysfunction. Then, vertical once again and walking the world of "healthy" people, we can feel the fear and pain of being "healthy" once again and still being desperately stuck in life in general and wanting to cling to the comfort of illness and hospitals. It will mean a lot, if you've been there. Written like one who's been there and who has the gift of storytelling to spit every syllable back out in plain, human language.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An hilarious but gut wrenching novel about a girl's illness., October 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Alice in Bed (Paperback)

An unusually fresh and astringent comic novel that manages to convey the experience of a terrifying and agonizing illness, as expenienced by a teenage girl, without a hint of cliche. The characters are wonderful, the novel engages the reader on every page. It's sexy and funny and painful.