A Book Review - The Waitress by Sinclair Smith (Point Horror)

I don't even know what to say here. I'm so totally meh about this book. I remember never caring for it, even as a preteen, and I wondered if that had changed. Sometimes my opinion on these books does change - I didn't like The Lifeguard much when I was young, and now I think it's great - but as far as The Waitress goes, I still don't care for it at all.

Funnily enough, I can't quite put my finger on the reasons why. It's formulaic, but lots of books are. The characters - including the heroine - are shallow, but again, plenty are. All I can think is that I didn't get any real emotion from it.

Basic plot points (because I don't care enough to give more than the basics): Paula is new in town and has a job waitressing at the Dog House, a restaurant owned by Trixie, an eccentric 50-something who still dresses and talks like a teenager. Trixie's niece is the beautiful and bitchy Coralynn, who for some reason has it in for Paula and tries to make her life hell. I think it's over a dude, whose name I believe was Garth. Coralynn likes him and refers to him as her "boyfriend" but he likes Paula and says he and Coralynn only had one or two dates. Typical teen stuff, with added bitchiness.

Pranks are played, nothing too serious. Nobody dies. The only person who really gets "attacked" turns out not to have been attacked at all, it was just appendicitis or something. Although one person was killed prior to the events of the book - I forgot about that till just now.

The whole thing was just...blah. The reason for the anger and violence (so to speak) was just weak. There's nothing to like about this book, and nothing to hate either - and that almost makes it worse.

YMMV, of course. I know some of my sixth-grade friends liked it, back in the day. Me, I'm wondering if Sinclair Smith actually wrote this book, since he / she (I'm not sure if Smith is a man or a woman, and can't find the information online anywhere) is usually pretty good. I was a big fan of Second Sight and The Diary, thought that Dream Date was very inventive, and even The Boy Next Door which I HATE - it scares the pants off me - at least evoked some kind of feeling in me. The Waitress just left me entirely numb.

And the annoying thing is that, regardless of any notes I make for myself - in a year or two I won't remember how blah it left me feeling, and will likely read it again. *rolls eyes*

Verdict: Meh.