“The Waiting Place” is not a lecture on how to recognize or look for the waiting places in our lives, but is rather a collection of stories (essays) from the author’s life that describe through her words, the places and times of waiting in her life.
She crafts the stories with deftness for language and beauty of prose. It’s not just exposition, but reads like an actual story. I laughed several times over her humor.
While it might not be as important in a nonfiction book, I felt I got to know the author behind the words and was also gently reminded to take advantage of those times of waiting in my own life and appreciate them all the more.
There are Catholic references in the book, which is really more of an FYI to the buyer. I am not Catholic, so I didn’t agree with the bits of theology in a few places.
I have a hard time categorizing this book. It’s not self help, it doesn’t have a great deal of “talking” to the reader about how they should look out for waiting places in their lives. It’s more a series of examples through the most powerful form of teaching…story.
This review is my honest opinion. Thanks to the publishers for my copy to review.
Eileen is the friend of one of my dearest friends. I've had the pleasure of meeting her and know her to be very funny, as is demonstrated in this book. She also has an amazing heart. I just finished Waiting Places, as well, and will be posting a full review on Faithful Reader in July. I'll just say that I adored this book. It made me laugh out loud and made me cry in a few places, too. (Just ask my daughter, who looked at me like I'd lost my mind when she witnessed tears in my eyes. :-))
ReplyDeleteOh - just a note...Eileen is no longer Catholic, but was raised as one, hence the references.
Thanks for a great review.
Lynda, how exciting that you got to meet her! I know from reading the book that she must be a lovely person in real life. I know I enjoyed how she writes!
ReplyDeleteAnd I assumed as much from several of her references later. Thanks for sharing with me today, it's always great to more "behind the scenes"
:)