"The Waiting Room"

"Vivid, riveting, authentic with emotion and conflict." —Jerome Groopman, senior writer for The New Yorker

The Waiting Room: A Novel

By Leah Kaminsky
Published by Harper Perennial
Paperback: 304 pages
November 15, 2016

Description:

Leah Kaminsky's powerful fiction debut—a multi-generational novel perfect for fans of The Tiger's Wife and A Constellation of Vital Phenomena—unfolds over the course of a single, life-changing day, but the story it tells spans five decades, three continents, and one family’s compelling history of love, war, and survival.

As the daughter of Holocaust survivors, Dina’s present has always been haunted by her parents’ pasts. She becomes a doctor, emigrates, and builds a family of her own, yet no matter how hard she tries to move on, their ghosts keep pulling her back. A dark, wry sense of humor helps Dina maintain her sanity amid the constant challenges of motherhood and medicine, but when a terror alert is issued in her adopted city, her coping skills are pushed to the limit.

Interlacing the present and the past over a span of twenty-four hours, The Waiting Room is an intense exploration of what it means to endure a day-to-day existence defined by conflict and trauma, and a powerful reminder of just how fragile life can be. As the clock counts down to a shocking climax, Dina must confront her parents’ history and decide whether she will surrender to fear, or fight for love.

In taut, compelling prose, The Waiting Room weaves between Dina's exterior and interior lives, straddling the present and the past—and building towards a profoundly dramatic climax that will remind readers of the fragility of human life even as it reassures them of the inescapable power of love and family.

Author Bio:

Leah Kaminsky, a physician and award-winning writer, is Poetry & Fiction Editor at the Medical Journal of Australia. Her debut novel, The Waiting Room, is published by Vintage (2015) and will be released by Harper Perennial US in 2016. We’re all Going to Die is forthcoming with Harper Collins in June 2016. She conceived and edited Writer MD, a collection of prominent physician-writers, which starred on Booklist (Knopf US 2012). She is co-author of Cracking the Code, with the Damiani family (Vintage 2015). She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Reviews:

"Potent... The Waiting Room is both haunted, and haunting." —Geraldine Brooks, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of March

"An assured debut.... Compelling, moving and memorable." —Graeme Simsion, author of The Rosie Project

"Vivid, riveting, authentic with emotion and conflict." —Jerome Groopman, senior writer for The New Yorker

“Kaminsky’s prose is deft and delicate, and this novel tackles the haunting of the Holocaust with a tough and remarkably unsentimental gaze.” — MJ Hyland, Man Booker Prizer shortlisted author of Carry Me Down

“The Waiting Room is a moving and riveting story of a woman perched between the shadow of the past and a fragile reality in her adopted homeland. In the tradition of the finest physician-novelists, Leah Kaminsky writes with precision, authenticity, and profound insight.”— Amy Gottlieb, author of The Beautiful Possible

“Leah Kaminsky is a writer on whom nothing is lost. There are many lives, many worlds, and many days in the single day she depicts in The Waiting Room. The novel is a masterful debut.” — Joseph Skibell, author of A Curable Romantic

“The personal, the political and the medical wrestle with history in this page-turning novel. An engrossing tale that is both acutely worldly and fiercely introspective.” —Danielle Ofri, MD, author of What Doctors Feel: How Emotions Affect the Practice of Medicine

“She’s an evocative storyteller, and she’s sensitive to the intersections between physical and emotional pain and the way that memory intrudes upon daily reality.” — Kirkus

My Review:

Leah's debut novel is one that sets the standard high for any and all of her future novels!  "The Waiting Room" is an intense and intricate novel.  Although this novel takes place in one day, there is so much to this novel including characters, various settings and scenes and descriptions that make you feel as if you are a part of this single day.  Dina was born to parents whom were survivors and therefore had their own trauma to face and cope with and she has never really shaken this in her own life and has immersed herself into every facet of life leaving her on the brink of being overwhelmed.  I felt a connection with Dina as she balances the many facets of her life over this course of the day while things and people from the past all play roles as well.  This is a great read that will draw you right in and stay with you long after you finish reading.