At A Loss For Words

I loved this slim novel by Diane Schoemperlin and gobbled it up far too quickly. Perhaps most of us have wondered what it would be like to rekindle a relationship with someone we loved long ago. At A Loss For Words explores that possibility.

She (unnamed) is a 40 something successful writer, comfortable in her life until she meets an old boyfriend at a book signing, 30 years after he broke her heart, and the flames of romance are fanned bigtime. How had they ever managed to live apart? They are clearly meant to be together. Because they live in different cities much of the being together is through e-mails. We know from the get-go that things will not end well. She gets needy, he gets busy. She gets needier, he gets busier. The emotional tone of the e-mails segues from saccharine to whiny.
She develops writer’s block and insomnia. She gathers suggestions from books on how to cure writer’s block. She seeks inspiration in horoscopes, greeting cards, even fortune cookies.
This book is written very tongue in cheek but there is a lot of truth in it. It speaks the language of love, dopey and asinine, a language that is understood all too well by those of us who have been there, done that. It's a funny novel about an unfunny subject and it has a little twist at the end.