Blurb from the back of the book;
She wasn’t looking for love. As a successful writer with an established career, a comfortable home and a supportive group of friends, her life was full. But then thirty years after he broke her heart the first time, he walked back into her life. Spurred on by the idyll of a first love made good, they reconnect through emails. But, strangely, love has left her with a nasty case of writer’s block. She gathers all her strength to fight against the knowledge that love cannot be sustained on language alone. But truth and fiction can be one and the same in matters of the heart – and the writer always makes sure to get the last word.
At a Loss for Words builds the minutiae of everyday life into a profound understanding of women, men, love and imagination.
This book is a simple story of a writer who is suffering from writer’s block as a consequence of an all encompassing love affair. It is written in a mildly accusatory tone as though the author is talking directly to her lover in the dock of a court trial. A lot of the dialogue begin with the words ‘You said…’ or ‘I said…’ The book takes you through the romantic relationship from the beginning to the end. It is characterised by very few actual meetings and mostly emails. The writer is driven mad by the lack of emotional involvement by her man and it is this that causes her writer’s block.
Initially I was drawn in to this long distance relationship but as the book went on I became mildly irritated by the woman’s intensity in the face of her lover’s disinterest (unless it suited him of course). She bombards him with obsessive email and phone calls about her overpowering love for him and this is where reading the book becomes a little tedious. There are only so many words for emotional heart wringing and they are all used here. I did enjoy the author’s flow of words and the piecemeal revelation of small bites of information and I would definitely look out for more work from Diane Schoemperlen
BCF Book Reviews 