At the Sign of the Naked Waiter

by Amy Herrick

Combining a gift for language, an exuberant sense of humor, and a boundless imagination, Herrick's coming-of-age novel is unlike any other. Navigating the mysterious path from childhood to adulthood, Sarah encounters a naked, winged man, rivalrous ghosts, and gods disguised as beggars.

Genres: Fiction, Fantasy, Coming Of Age, Magical Realism

256 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1992

About the author

Amy grew up in Queens, New York, in a garden apartment community loaded with other kids and plenty of trees to climb and places to run around in. When she wasn’t climbing and running and hanging upside down from the monkey bars, she had her head in a book. She started writing stories of her own early in her teen years and hasn’t stopped since. She went to school at SUNY Binghamton and, later, the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. During these years she studied creative writing, as well as many other things. She found herself becoming more and more interested in science, nature studies, and philosophy. Elements of these show up in her writing all the time.
At Iowa she was given the opportunity to teach and she found it exhilarating. Upon her return to New York, she finished a degree in teaching and set forth to make her fortune.
Eventually, she settled down in Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn, where she has lived for over thirty years, raising two sons, teaching pre-K, grade school, and college, slowly writing books, and keeping company with her tenant lawyer husband. She lives right down the block from Prospect Park where she has had many great adventures, some of which show up in her stories.
She is doing all she can to reduce her carbon footprint and hopes you are, too.

Reviews

[Sophie U · Rating 4 out of 5]

Herrick's prose is some of the most beautiful I've read in a while. Each sentence is deliciously simple and descriptive - I wish I could crawl into her brain and see the world the way she does. The book was meticulously crafted, and felt almost like a selection of linked short stories - each chapter was set years apart and contained a basically complete story. Because of this, I had a bit of trouble getting grounded in the world. I also struggled with the tone - it was so close to reality, and yet magic and fairy-tale-like qualities were dispersed generously throughout. It left me feeling a little discombobulated, and like maybe the author didn't know entirely what they were aiming for? But DAYUMMM the quality of the writing was so good that she could have written anything and I would have loved it.

Straight up an inspiringly good writer. I will definitely seek out more by her.

[Jonathan Rimorin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember loving this book back in 1993 or so, and pressing copies of it onto all my friends then. (I do not blame this book that none of these friendships survived.) I haven't read the book since then, but I still remember a few things: that it takes the form of a series of short stories, featuring a heroine named Sarah, and it follows Sarah from childhood to young motherhood. The stories are shot through with veins of magic realism, visions of winged men and ghosts and whatnot. The charming childhood friend grows up schizophrenic; the beloved and gentle brother dies of AIDS. It may seem jejune to me now if I find a copy and reread it, but for now, it lives gentle and whimsical in my memory.

[Dessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reread 2026: I remembered almost nothing about this book other than it was Pretty Weird. It was less weird than I remember (derogatory?). The first third or so is, as 2015 Dessa notes, a whirl of magic realism — something I was fairly new to in 2015, so it makes sense that I was enamoured with it — but this imagery fades out as this book (secretly a collection of linked short stories?) follows our protagonist into adulthood. By the end there’s almost none of it left; what I think is supposed to be a happy settling into adult life but instead reads as an inadvertent, almost oblivious, giving up of something vital and fervent and curious. Lots to like in here and written in a very punchy and engaging way, and I don’t know if she’s written anything else but I’m about to go look and try to pick some up, but the sour note of men being terrible is only more apparent to me on this read through than it was 10 years ago and it is SOUR. What do you mean your kid is almost three and your husband has never been alone with him for more than six hours?!! Six hours!!!!!???? DUMP HIM and instead give me a whole novel about the never-named-as-bisexual brother who dies of not-named-but-definitely AIDS, and then also a whole other novel about the “crazy” best friend who honestly seems a lot more in tune with reality than anyone is giving her credit for, but hey!!! What do I know!!! I’m a crazy best friend myself!!!

First read 2015: This book was written when I was one year old. It's lovely, funny, and chock-a-block full of magic realism. Also the last sixty pages make a really good argument against marriage / child rearing - a pure state of frustration.

[Sara Bauer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't quite understand how Herrick puts sentences together. I wish I could live inside her brain. She's so true, so honest, it hurts, and yet, I found myself laughing through half the book. Her work circles the realm of magical but manages to stay close to earth--and close to the heart. "Jake said, 'A dream is a big hole going in the nighttime and you jump in it and then you jump back.'" This whole book was a dream. A wonderful dream.

[Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book...close magical realism and quite unique..Highly recommend. Full disclosure..we went to same High School..

[Cat. · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

If the choice was available, I would have given this book 3.5 stars. The writing was lovely, and at its best reminded me of Murakami. The relationship between the two women was heartbreaking and had extremely personal reverberations. The main character made me want to scream at times, but that is a good thing.

What got to me was the men's dialogue. Maybe it's me- I have been around a considerable number of high-achieving male scientists- I never heard one talk the way these men do. I simply did not buy it (and that's saying a lot for a book involving an angel).

Also, I wish the author had committed more to the magic-realism aspects of the novel, because they were my favorite. If one has a freak flag, let it fly to its fullest.

[Gerri · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book a really long time ago. I bought a copy of it and read it with much enthusiasm. I think I loaned it to someone because I no longer own it but think about it quite regularly as a book I read when I was a young woman just starting out her own life. It's time to read it again now that I have a few more years behind me.

[nomdebuerre · Rating 4 out of 5]

My mother gave me this novel for Christmas when I was growing up. She said she picked it out based on the cover. Which I did not like. I was skeptical to say the least. But I'll admit it, I liked it. Good job, Mom.

[Annie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would highly recommend reading the last chapter of this book...and call it good there. The writing is absolutely beautiful but I thought the storyline was very strange and depressing. The last chapter warmed my heart, it was incredibly sweet.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

The manic pixie dream girl stuff got to be way too much in the middle of the novel, but the beginnings and endings were charming, an effective way to view the world from the protagonist's womb of self-protection. An original book.

[Grillables · Rating 2 out of 5]

What an odd book. Some lovely turns of phrase, but a little too abruptly disjointed and bizarre for me to really enjoy.

[Soren · Rating 5 out of 5]

I looooove this book. I want to read it again. But something very sad happens in it, and I'm not so good with sad books anymore, so I'm not sure that I can.

[Lisa Wegener · Rating 4 out of 5]

emily gave this to me for christmas

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it! Very imaginative. Recommend!

[Jonna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a real roller coaster of a book - so much happens, it keeps your interest piqued from start to finish.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book in the 90s, and it was so good it stuck with me. I've been looking for a copy to re-read.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve been thinking about this book recently. More people should read it !

[Laura L · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bizarre, imaginative, heartbreaking, and weird.