Book Review ~ The Waiting Place: Learning to Appreciate Life's Little Delays

Life is full of waiting. We wait at the grocery store. We wait at the airport. We wait in traffic. Life is full of opportunities to wait. :) We go through our lives waiting for the next big thing. We wait for our children to get older so they are less dependent on us. We wait for vacation. We wait for the perfect opportunity to try something new.




In The Waiting Place: Learning to Appreciate Life's Little Delays, Eileen Button provides a peek into her life, childhood through present, and encourages the readers to celebrate life in the many waiting periods we experience. Life is often about waiting, and we can either live anxiously through these waiting periods or we can choose to enjoy life through those waiting periods. To quote Eileen, "To wait is human. To find life in the waiting place, divine."

This book was very enjoyable in many ways. It was very nostalgic as she permitted the readers a glimpse into her childhood memories. As I read that portion of the book, I found myself reminiscing on many of my own childhood memories.

It was also nice to be reminded of the celebration that can be found in the ordinary, everyday living and waiting we experience in this life. We are always so rushed and always looking ahead, so it was nice to slow down and be encouraged to live in the moment.

The only thing that bothered me about this book were the occasional feminist thoughts sprinkled throughout the text. Things such as the author saying that she was made for greater things than motherhood and keeping home. In fact, the book starts out right away with this undertone and I was actually about to put the book down and not waste my precious time reading it. However, she did redeem these statements by the end of the book, although there were still some things that I found myself in question with.

I read this book in two days. The chapters are short and can be read one a day. For review purposes, I chose to gulp this book down as fast as I could, and I found it a very easy, enjoyable read.

So I guess I have mixed emotions regarding this book. If you can look past the occasional feminist-feeling undertones and see the reflections for their nostalgia, then this book is great. However, I wish that I could wholeheartedly say that I didn't find any conflicting thoughts about this book, but I can't. I guess I probably wouldn't encourage anyone to invest money into buying it, but if your library has it available, it would be a good check-out.

I received this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.