I'm starting to wonder how Ginsberg has any time to do the things she writes about - I realized halfway through this book that I'd read another book by her, titled Raising Blaze: A Mother and Son's Long, Strange Journey into Autism. In that book, she talks about how she reorganized her life around raising her son, who has autism but is more on the savant end of the scale.
In Waiting, Ginsberg talks about her time as a waitress, from learning the trade, fibbing to get into better gigs, and how great it is that it allows her to rearrange her schedule so she can write and raise her son. I began wondering how she had time to waitress if writing and child-rearing had her so busy; then how did she have time to write, if waitressing and her son were so time consuming! (She's also written another memoir about her family, particularly her sisters - is one person's life so interesting that it merits three memoirs before even celebrating her 50th birthday???)
Anyway, this book provides an inside look into the world of waitressing. It's got its funny moments, but generally is more about her experiences in particular than about waitressing in general. I guess I was disappointed by that, hoping for more of an anthropological look at the culture of waitresses, but it would also have helped if I'd realized I'd read something by this woman before. I'm not sure I'd recommend it - I'm sure there are blogs on the subject that are just as interesting, and much briefer reads.
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