This book was really not my cup of tea. It was hard to get into. The characters were boring and slow-paced. The plot sounded interesting but never really came to anything.

I really couldn't get into this one. This book wasn't relatable, and the characters were pretty boring. I was hoping to get into it, but I never really did.

Matias Falkbakken has written two other novels in addition to The Waiter but is the only one translated into English. I mention this because for a moment, I thought it must be the novel that inspired Pete Buttigieg to learn Norwegian so he could read an author’s other books. Then I recalled it was published late last year, so it came too late for that story. Nonetheless, it is a book that could inspire someone to learn Norwegian.

Very little happens in The Waiter. There is a restaurant named The Hills, one of those historic grand European restaurants with a generations-old tradition of good service and haute cuisine, complete with a musician who plays piano on the mezzanine above the tables which are covered with old linens kept spotless by The Waiter using his table crumber in his uniform whose manufacture is unchanged from the past.

The constancy of The Hills is ideal for The Waiter, a sensitive soul whose job has two criteria, as he explains, “I have to show pride in my work, and I have to be self-effacing. The pride in my work makes me adhere to rigid routines which are vital for my well-being, since being highly sensitive means that I don’t like surprises or change. The self-effacing aspect means that I can interact with and serve people without having to get involved.”

This all comes crashing down when a young woman comes to The Hills and moves from one table of guests to another, so regulars become irregular by interacting and not just with each, but with The Waiter. This creates the “complex social contexts” that creates the “inner collapse” of our narrating waiter. Over the course of five days we proceed from the constancy he loves to chaos and crisis, though really, it’s just some people eating at a restaurant.

Describing the plot of The Waiter does it an injustice, it’s magic is that with almost no plot, a tense, suspenseful story of inner turmoil and collapse is woven with prose that takes my breath away.

I think The Waiter is one of those books people either love or hate. It is mostly the inner monologue of the waiter who is stuck in his routines but who is also deeply steeped in culture so he can marvel at the fractal design of romanesco and the particulars of art, music, and history. He is never boring as he natters on, but the most peril he faces is going to the storage cellar for some wine and pinching the outside of his hand in a drawer.

The Waiter is a compelling book. I was perhaps a fifth or less into the book, wondering what it was going to be about when the next thing I knew, I was done without coming up for air and I enjoyed every minute of it.

I received an e-galley of The Waiter from the publisher through NetGalley.

★★★★★

Thanks go to Net Galley and Doubleday for the review copy. I am sorry to be so late here; the truth is that I kept setting it aside because I didn’t like it, and then returning to it, thinking that I was missing something. I’ve given up on finding the magic, though there are some nice moments here; I also have a strong hunch that there may be a cultural barrier in play. Those that spend time in Europe, possibly with some Scandinavian background, may enjoy this in a way that I didn’t.

The setting is a fine restaurant in Norway, and the protagonist is of course the waiter. The author pokes fun at the pretensions of everyone present. I like satire and dislike pretension, and so I expected to like this book. There are some clever character sketches, and that’s where I am able to engage, but a character sketch is by definition a brief thing, and so I am quickly disengaged again. I feel like the same joke is being made a different way a great many times, and the “neurotic waiter whose wit is sharp as a filleting knife” (to quote the teaser, more or less) seems not just sharp or witty, but downright vicious. It isn’t just a lack of connection that gets in my way; I recoil at some of the passages.

The book is supposed to appeal to everyone that likes food and wine, spends time in restaurants, or has European sensibilities. Food and restaurants are a match; but I don’t keep wine in the house and have no European sensibilities at all, apart from a few Irish habits passed down over generations. So maybe foodies that spend time in Europe will respond better than I have. In order to see print in other languages than the original, the novel must have met with acclaim locally, and this is why it confuses me that my own response is so negative. But a reviewer can only write her own viewpoint, and mine is that this book isn’t funny, and I don’t recommend it.

I didn't get this story at all. Set in an exclusive restaurant in Oslo, Norway it is narrated by the waiter. He talks about several of the regular diners. He rambles and talks about a variety of subjects. I kept reading because I thought it would get better and all be tied together. I was disappointed. This was a translation from Norwegian, maybe it was better in the original language. I received a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I just couldn't get into this one, but did finish it. I thought I would enjoy it, but despite being well written, it just wasn't my cup of tea. I am giving it 3 stars due to the fact that it was well written and would be enjoyed by some that enjoy this type of book.

I did not finish the book; it has the making of an interesting character with an European feel, but it never quite got there for me. I'm not sure if most of the story got literally lost in translation.

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

A story of an old and established restaurant in Oslo is turned upside down with the addition of a woman into the ranks. Told by the waiter, a long-term and rather set in his ways employee, he’s the epitome of someone who does not deal well with change, and carries many (or most) of the traits that one who is frightened by all he cannot or does not wish to accept into his closed off little worlds: he reacts badly. And it is his reactions that become the focal point for satire, derision and even a sly sort of generational scoffing at the ‘old guard’.

The waiter is not one who engenders any sort of empathy, from the moment we realize that he thrives in the ‘familiar’ and the established. Customers are all regulars, with their usual tables, a fairly samey sort of order, the interactions with waitstaff are also familiar and proscribed. Diners rarely interact with anyone else but their servers, each night everyone is aware of who is coming, and the restaurant has lost some of the glamor that had been its hallmark since the doors opened in the 1800’s. But, the ownership wants to restore or enhance the reputation, and hires a woman, the first, to work in this old school place, and that, is one step too far.

The waiter starts with anxiety and concern, watchful and frightened by the changes that often erupt in his own forgetfulness –more newness for this man who never put a foot wrong before. His often unkind yet exacting descriptions of patrons and staff, with frequent forays into philosophical ramblings that, at first, feel rather abstracted, but getting the insight into his thoughts, and the aged and often staid examples used, are brilliantly done. But, be aware, this is not a book for everyone, and in so saying, it also isn’t one that leaves you thinking about the likeability of the characters. It’s is pointed, often unsympathetic and feels ‘observatory’ in that the waiter, in his very defined explanation of how his world works (and is meant to) does never truly engage with the reader – there’s a proper remove from his own recognition of his emotions and fears, as well as his clutching to the ways of the past. The author is an acquired taste – but a wonderful read for pointed satire and clearly defined depictions of fearfulness that limits one’s ability to move forward and see / accept / work within change.

I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

Review first appeared at <a href=” https://wp.me/p3OmRo-a6f /” > <a> I am, Indeed </a>

What happens when one thing in a well oiled but fading thing changes? That's the question in this novel which didn't engage me as much as I had hoped (I blame the marketing which suggested it was akin to a Gentleman in Moscow). The Hills is a historic restaurant in Oslo and the waiter, who has been there a tad too long, has assigned (or have they assigned them to themselves?) specific roles and places to the guests. The introduction of Child Lady into the mix upsets the Waiter's view and mind. Intriguing concept. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

The waiter is a charming short novel that follows a middle aged waiter who works in a restaurant known as The Hills. The Hills is in an old building in Oslo, Norway. The main character known as the waiter seems to suffer from a severe form of anxiety, and he has an angst ridden internal monologue that can be quite humorous. The waiter has an interesting way of perceiving the world, and it was an illuminating perspective. I enjoyed the dynamic of the character as he interacts with other colleagues in the restaurant and customers. The descriptives are quite vivid, and the author has a clear gift for vivid descriptive narrative. An enjoyable read.

Matias Faldbakken’s <I>The Waiter</i> sets out to be the next great novel, following the goings on in an elegant, yet frayed at the edges, restaurant that’s been around for almost 150 years. Narrated by a waiter who works the breakfast through early evening shift, we get to know a cast of regulars from the staff to the guests. However, they're all unprepared for the whirlwind about to take place in the guise of a new guest, a young woman. I was provided a copy of the North American edition by Gallery/Scout Press via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

First thing’s first, the edition I was provided is a translation from the original Norwegian, which can be very tricky. I don’t talk about it often, but my day job is in the translations industry, with 5 years' experience as a copy editor for languages I do not speak. I’ve gotten to work on most of the major languages in the world and a large number of specific localizations. That said, translating for literature is <I>very</i> difficult. Things that make sense to one culture, don’t necessarily make sense to another. Clichés aren’t cliché across language. Things are generally lost in translation, which is something I keep in mind when I’m tackling a book I know to be a translation from the original. Something I kept in mind here. That said, the translator did an excellent job maintaining flow of language and avoiding highly specific references that wouldn’t be understood in North America.

The reason I flagged my experience and understanding of the translations process ahead of time is that my issues aren’t with the translation, they’re with the content itself. There’s only so much a translator can do without deviating completely and writing their own book. If you have time, take a moment to look up the history of translated literature online, you’ll see that historically, translations were often not true to their source material, it’s terribly interesting. I digress!!

Overall, the feeling is that of a server at an upscale, but very old school, restaurant giving a series of interviews about the restaurant and maybe going a bit too far – yet somehow not going far enough to the good juicy stuff that happens around a restaurant of that type. (If this is what you’re looking for, you’ll want the NY Times Article <I>Dinner and Deception</i> https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/23/opinion/sunday/dinner-and-deception.html?_r=1) Throughout the ‘plot’ is slow and plodding, things happen far slower in at The Hills than most high-end restaurants. Even more, the way things are set, The Hills should be a character of its own, instead it feels like an underutilized set. Details upon details are provided so that you can clearly see everything in your mind, but it never really feels alive. In the same form, the characters, including the narrator himself, all feel very flat. We learn about each, the good and the bad, and yet they are merely sketches. It’s impossible to ascribe any motivation to their individual choices.

This is ultimately a novel that is out of time, painfully so, missing necessary social growth that has occurred in the last twenty year. Throughout are unnecessary objectification and instances of othering. The “girl” who shakes things up is constantly objectified. Upon her initial appearance, there’s a scene where both the narrator and a restaurant guest essentially ogle her as she stretches and pulls on her jacket. Once she leaves, the restaurant guest compares women to slaves. Throughout the narrator acts as though she’s there only for his own experience. Having been a woman treated that way, it was exhausting to have to read it from the other point of view. It in no way romanticized the behavior, but alienated me further from the narrator.

Randomly, the author chooses to bring in Central American indigenous people as a target of mocking – using lisps. It stands out that this is a very white space, with very white people, making fun of people who the identify as “other”. The writing is a clear attempt at being witty, but instead comes off as a bad joke from <I>that</i> uncle, you know, the one who thinks his off-color jokes are still acceptable.

Unfortunately, this book clearly wasn’t for me. The above is an abbreviated collection of the notes I took while reading, as I wanted to respect the publishers request not to use quotations without confirming against a final published copy.

This review has not been published. An additional editing round may take place prior to publication. Link will be added once this has been published.

This story had a really "Grand Budapest Hotel" vibe. The concept of this was really intriguing. However, I just didn't connect with the characters at all. I never really empathized with the narrator. Character driven stories can be really good, if they're done right, but if you don't connect with the characters, you can't follow the story and you really don't care what happens. That is what happened with this story. There was no plot, it was just the daily happenings of this little restaurant. The writing was lyrical, and it was well written, but I found myself just wanting to get to the end of the book.

I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review from netgalley.

Did not finish. I couldn't get into this story. From the description I was expecting something similar to The Gentleman in Moscow, and I was a little disappointed.

I was intrigued by the subject matter of this book and began to read it with great anticipation.Unfortunately it did not live up to my expectations,I found it to be written in a ponderous manner, very slow -moving and heavy.I tried to get into the intimacy that it offered but was unable to do so,

The Hills Restaurant in Oslo,Norway dates back to the mid 1800's. Steeped in tradition, diners experience Old World ambiance despite the restaurant's run down condition. The staff of waiters, bar managers, maitre d's and in-house pianists follow the old Ben Franklin quote, "A place for everything, everything in its place". We spend time in this finely-tuned, well ordered eatery as seen through the eyes and actions of the waiter. The waiter feels "it's all about eating here, and I'm a facilitator...I wait... I please".

The middle-aged waiter has worked for the Hills Restaurant for the past thirteen years. The tables are set "just so". A waiter is "supposed to have a comfortable degree of invisibility...to make objects come and go without [the waiter] being noticed." The routine never changes. The waiter provides impeccable service especially to the regular customers.

Graham aka "The Pig" and his entourage sit at table 10. The Pig is a wealthy introvert who is always dressed "to the nines". Tom Seller's group can be drunk and disorderly. This behavior is overlooked since Sellers has secured artwork for the restaurant from various Contemporary artists. These gems are pleasantly interspersed on the walls between older works. Each table is its own universe, that is, until an unexpected guest disturbs the balance.

A waiter should have "a blank but obliging face to the guests...A poker face". For our waiter, this is no longer possible. Mistakes are made. Can you believe one of the tables ordered their meal in reverse order starting from dessert? The waiter is beside himself.

"The Waiter" by Matias Faldbakken is a quirky, humorous novel displaying crumbling behavior in a well worn establishment. It seems that the waiter and regular staff have been living under a rock. The absurd happens when change occurs. I found the first half of the novel to be delightful, that said, the second half did not work as well for me.

Thank you Gallery/Scout Press for the opportunity to read and review "The Waiter".

The Hills, a very old restaurant in Oslo, Norway, is an institution. The walls are covered in art from and portraits of old guests. Layers of food smells and smoke are baked into the walls. The staff wear traditional uniforms and scurry around with crumbers. The ones who’ve been there a long time, like our narrator, have a second sense for when they should appear table side to take an order or present a bill. In The Waiter, by Matias Faldbakken and translated by Alice Menzies, gives us a few days in the life of The Hills while the eponymous server’s routine starts to spin off its axis. Menzies perfectly captures the subtlety of Faldbakken’s prose.

It’s clear from the first chapter of The Waiter that our narrator is used to routine. He worries when his regulars don’t arrive on time and gets flustered when they bring or fail to bring their usual group. He likes nothing more than saying the same things, hearing the same responses, and fetching the same drinks and dishes. Things start to go awry when Graham, a regular know for his good taste but known as the Pig, asks for a table for four but only two additional diners join him. A young woman who becomes known as the Child Lady is absent. When she shows up the next day and the day after and the day after that, the wheels of the narrator’s routine start to come off.

While the Child Lady starts to break boundaries that really only exist in the narrator’s mind, bring together groups of regulars who the waiter does not want to see come together, another problem is brewing. His friend Edgar, another regular, starts to take advantage of the narrator’s good nature and essentially has the staff mind his daughter while he flirts with the Child Lady.

As The Waiter continues on its microcosmic way, the narrator starts to lose his grip on himself. He gets overstimulated and is increasingly unable to stop himself from making mistakes or gushing the trivia that has collected in his head over the years. If we were outside of the narrator’s head, I think we would have seen a bunch of regulars and members of staff spending time in The Hills with occasional interruptions from an odd waiter.

I asked to read The Waiter because I was chasing some of the Old World charm that filled A Gentleman in Moscow. The are moments where I got that. My favorite moment occurs when two of the regulars via to be the most discerning patron of fine food and drink. But the overall book has more in common with a strange little story the narrator tells early in the book, about a farmer whose operation breaks down due to sudden mental instability. To me, The Waiter is a brief novel about a character who suddenly loses his emotional equilibrium but still tries to fulfill his function as a waiter in a venerable Continental restaurant.

I received a free advanced copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was so excited to read this book since it was being touted as the next "A Gentleman of Moscow" and this does have a slightly similar concept in which the whole world of the novel is centered around the waiter who has worked at The Hills restaurant for years. He knows the intricate details of this shabby but white table clothed restaurant from the enticing foods, to its eccentric customers, down to his favorite tool: the crumb remover. He takes great pleasure in the simple details. One day a beautiful young lady walks into the restaurant to meet with one of the regulars and turns the waiters world around.

I struggled some with the book as there is not much action or movement in the story. Like the waiter himself the novel is focused on the tiny details that make up a story and while there is not a major resolution to plot it does have one in its own simple quiet way.

The Waiter was quirky and pretty fun, but in the end I thought to myself, 'What the heck did I just read, and why?' The book depicts the unraveling of the waiter of a pristine restaurant who loves the monotony of the day to day at his work which he lives for. What unravels him? A beautiful woman. I can imagine this being a TV short in Scandinavia, it has that sense of humor. Overall, an OK novel

The Waiter by Matias Balbbakken is a story, perhaps even a tale of the lives of workers and customers at an upscale century old restaurant in Oslo, Norway called The Hills. The narrator of the story is the waiter who glides us through the ups and downs of the very dignified daily regulars all the while giving us information about himself and all the characters.

The staff of The Hills are known to the reader only as their occupation; Bar Manager, Maitre d' and Chef, and their customers are known by their names as well as staff's nicknames for them; Pig, Child Lady. The waiter's friend Edgar and his young daughter Anna are regular early bird diners as well. All are very unusual.

Routine is very important to the waiter who has been serving there for over 10 years. He knows his customers not really as people, but as what they eat and drink. He is proud to be able to give them what they expect even before they know. Until one day that begins to change. The waiter is thrown off balance and can't seem to adjust to what he is being thrown into. Words.

An ending which you will wonder and think about, The Waiter was a good read. I was pleasantly surprised. Thank you Simon and Schuster and NetGalley for advanced eBook. The Waiter will be out in October.

First line: The Hills, the restaurant, dates from a time when pigs were pigs and swine were swine, the Maitre d’ likes to say, in other words from the mid-1800s.

Summary: At the restaurant, the Hills, we meet the waiter. He has worked here for years and every day is the same. There is a routine. However, one day a young woman comes in and throws everything out of control.

Highlights: The descriptions were beautiful.

Lowlights: I made it about 25% of the way through before giving up. The beginning was just talking about what the people are wearing, what the restaurant looked like and how the food was.

FYI: A book in translation.