A Bed by the Window: A Novel Of Mystery And Redemption by M. Scott Peck

A Bed by the Window: A Novel Of Mystery And Redemption Reviews

• 
  Kristin

  A murder mystery in a nursing home seems like an unusual topic, but I figured I'd give it a shot since it was written by a doctor, and Peck was successful at drawing me in. Because I purchased the book a while ago, I hadn't read the back cover recently and didn't remember it was a mystery at first, as it opens with a couple returning an elderly parent to the nursing home against her will as they realize they can no longer care for her. As the book evolves, and readers learn more about what happens behind the doors of Willow Glen, it changes the common perception about nursing facilities and those who live there.
  Peck focuses on one particular nurse, Heather, for much of the early book as she cares for the patients on C-Wing, the section of the nursing home for the ambulatory patients who don't seem imminently ready to die. Character development was good, as we learn about the variety of patients Heather cares for. There's Georgia, the woman just dropped off, who loses most of the senile tendencies that caused her to be unable to stay at home as soon as she gets to Willow Glen. Roommates Rachel and Crazy Carol are probably the two most unpleasant residents, the former being a crabby diabetic double amputee who throws her food, screams obscenities, and makes Heather's and the other caregivers' lives miserable, and the latter suffering from dementia that causes her to wander from the home if she isn't restrained in her bed or a chair in the hall at all times, uttering an endless repetitive monologue of 'Where is my doctor?' and 'Have you seen my purse?'.
  At the other end of the spectrum are Steven and Mrs. G., the only two residents who don't have roommates, and also the most severely disabled, yet widely regarded as the most pleasant. Steven is decades younger than everyone else on the unit, having been removed from the state mental hospital by Willow Glen's resident psychiatrist once it was determined that the cerebral palsy that renders him immobile did not affect his brain and he is actually brilliant. He lives on a gurney by the nurse's station because he likes to know what is going on and was deprived of any mental stimulation in the hospital, communicating by tapping out letters on a board but awaiting his first computer (book is set in 1988, so computer voices were a new technology at the time). Mrs. G. lives by herself in a bed by the window (hence the title of the book), paralyzed from the neck down due to multiple sclerosis but also mentally sharp. She serves as a sort of den mother in the book, being the person who Heather and others come to when they need advice or just need to talk. Like Steven, Mrs. G. is acutely aware of what goes on with everyone, and she is not afraid to speak her mind if something needs to be said.
  When one of the patients on C-Wing is killed, readers learn more about the psychiatrist and local police officers in charge of investigating the crime, as well as the two administrators of Willow Glen, who have very different theories on how to run the place. Peck kept me guessing on who actually committed the crime, as there were many likely suspects, and enough mystery about the pasts of many of the characters to build suspicion.
  Beyond the mystery though, I feel like Peck wrote the book to teach life lessons, as many of the characters still alive and innocent at the end of the book end up seeing themselves and those around them in new light. There is a religious tilt to the book at times, but I didn't feel as if the book hinged on it as a way to justify all that occurs. The psychology angle that was also prevalent in the book had a greater impact on the course of events and these life lessons, as I believe that is Peck's field of specialty, so if all of his books are rooted in psychology, I'm not sure I'd read the non-fiction, but his fiction remains intriguing.
• 
  Keith

  The setting is a nursing home. There is a murder, and the investigator settles on the best nurse there as the likley suspect. Through the aftereffects of the murder, many lives are touched to become better people.
  Since it is a novel, there is a lot of philosophy that the members of the community have that doesn't come across too heavy. I feel like Dr. Peck was able to say more through them than he could directly, and get us, the readers, to think more about whether they are true or not than he could in a non-fiction book.
• 
  Sheila Myers

  While most of the characters seemed real and the plot was based on a good idea, there isn't much else good to say about this book. The way it is written, the detective appeared to not know how to do his job. The main problem with the story is that, at the end, there was no real resolution. I was left wondering who really killed the victim and why? Many of the other plots weaved into to the story also had no resolution and I was left with more questions than answers.
• 
  Jjean

  A murder mystery in a nursing home is not a setting I would have thought off - starts off a little slow but then picks up - interesting plot - the nursing home seems like a "small town" everyone knows everyone & their business - nice ending....
• 
  Regina M.

  I kept reading because I wanted to know who the murderer was but I felt that the book was long-winded. There was much info I didn’t feel was necessary
• 
  Louise

  Totally dated in attitudes to disabled people and any natural desire/need for sexual contact. And this from an M.D.! Not sure I would have wanted him as my GP - even has far back as 1990.
• 
  Louise Silk

  This was an interesting read, partly because it takes place in a nursing home, partly because its about so many end of life issues, and partly because of the author, M. Scott Peck. He is the author of The Road Less Traveled- and one of the first people in my youth to be talking about alternative thinking and being. Writing a novel on this subject in 1990 is quite innovative and I think Dr. Peck does a good job of holding the reader's interest on a topic no one really wants to take the time to think about.
• 
  Joanne

  At first I thought I'd like this book. It had an unusual setting, and some potentially interesting characters.
  Then a young, wild living nurse greeted her aide with a "Good Evening." Please, she's Alfred Hitchcock now? The aide "trotted" off. Good people were surrounded by light. It got to be too much, and it was icky besides. I couldn't finish it.
• 
  Tammy

  I read this one many years ago, but for some reason it's really stuck in my mind. It was disturbing..but if I can still remember it after all of this time, it must be a good book!
• 
  Alison

  bad.... didn't even bother to finish
• 
  Marisa

  I read this book many years ago and was surprised that Scott Peck wrote it. It is an unusual look at what it means to give and receive acknowledgment, affection and love. I still treasure it.
• 
  Natasha Macaulay

  This book has stayed with me for a long time. Very thought provoking.
• 
  Rita

  I read this book after reading The road less traveled. I was totally surprised by how revolting it was. Very strange book. I’d like to review it again to see if I feel the same way about it.
• 
  Chinami Oda

  It`s more of human drama than mystery, but still I enjoyed that the characters were described in a very delicate manner (I read it in Japanese not English, though). I am a fan of Scott Peck and I recommend anyone to read his previous books first. I think it would be much easier to understand the context of the story.
• 
  H. Paul Putman III

  A very good novelization of the concepts Peck has written about in his nonfiction. I read this over twenty years ago and it stayed with me for quite awhile.
• 
  Kaye Sivori

  Who would have thought of writing a mystery centered on a senior living facility, except a psychologists? I enjoy Scott Peck's book, but this was a novel telling his thoughts on life...
• 
  Jordan Kinsey

  It will never cease to fascinate me how the same man who wrote The Road Less Traveled could go on to write so many books that are so purely dreadful.
• 
  Rosa

  Read the book because it’s greater than the liner notes indicate.
  
  My notes indicate Book Club but I do not know which one.
• 
  Cindy

  Interesting...self help in a novel.