From Publishers Weekly
By the time 40-year-old Jenifer Estess died of ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) last December, she and her sisters had founded an organization-Project A.L.S.-to find a cure for this fatal neuromuscular disease. This fast-paced, witty book, written with one of her sisters, is both a memoir of Jenifer's six-year struggle with the disease and a chronicle of Project A.L.S.'s birth and work. Unfortunately, the beauty of the writing and the story is compromised by a too-casual structure; even simple chapter titles could have remedied the book's scattered feeling. This haze appears elsewhere, too: for instance, after deciding to found Project A.L.S, the sisters recruited theater colleagues, including Ben Stiller, to help, but they don't explain how Jenifer had made those contacts in the first place (the necessary details of her profession as a theater producer aren't revealed until the book's second half). Flashbacks to Jenifer's romantic history and to her mother's love life are well written and funny, but sometimes feel inappropriate to the story. The book does engage, however, when it details Jenifer's relationship with her supportive friend Reed, who liberates-and loves-the wheelchair-bound Jenifer. But later, as Jenifer describes her inability to speak or write, readers may wonder how she managed to create this part of the book. The final chapter, though, is beautiful: in a clever, poignant twist, Jenifer continues to narrate her death and its aftermath, bringing the sisters' love and closeness full circle as readers wonder where Jenifer ends and Valerie begins.
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Review
"Touching and inspiring....It's like having lunch with a delightful and hilarious friend who you wish could stay on into the evening for just one more story, one more tale."
-- Sarah Jessica Parker
"This gem of a book is an astonishing gift. Filled with Jenifer's singular grace and exquisite wit, Tales from the Bed had me laughing and crying, and often at the same time."
-- Peter Hedges, author of What's Eating Gilbert Grape
"Even as [ALS] steals much of Jenifer away, she reaches inside and shares the best part with us."
-- Michael J. Fox
"From the vantage point of her queen-size bed, Estess displays unflagging courage and wry humor."
-- Los Angeles Daily News
