At the Sign of the Naked Waiter, by Amy Herrick

Retrieved from: someone else's library
0060165340, 1992
Suggested by: a long-forgotten review
My Ratings: 7 Merit, 7 Interest, 8 Fun

This book starts out with a naked angel living in an apartment across from the main character. I figured he must be the Naked Waiter of the title, and kept waiting for his reappearance. Either he did reappear at the very end, or not. I'm not clear. If he did, it was symbolism of the highest degree.

This is one of those books filled with imagery and imagination that requires a slow read to absorb all the implications of each scene. It follows the life of a girl, and woman, who is very open to the imaginary worlds that may surround us. Since I'm not, I found it rather...uhm....weird.

The writing, however, was lovely. I couldn't help but enjoy the book, and the characters. Sarah, the woman at the center of the story is certainly much more laid back than I, mostly more aware of the possibilities of the world. As she ages, however, much of the wacky stuff (floating nerf-ball-like things that communicate by smell, for instance) goes away, and she gets more grounded in 'reality.' Whether that's a good thing or not, who knows. She seems to attract strange people, including her husband, and be ostensibly put off by that while secretly doing nothing to discourage them.

Good book. One to reread, slowly.