Elizabeth Berg is one of my favorite authors. I think she writes beautifully, cleanly but also deeply with insight and poetic language. I understand this book came about when she felt she had no more to write and decided to write about an author who is stuck and uninspired. This book was engaging but not consuming. The protagonist was not someone I really liked too much, she was weak and bland. The descriptions of her writing students and their assignments were entertaining but infrequent. I felt like this book is the victim of a choppy editing job. It never goes deep enough for me and jumps from chapter to chapter skipping big chunks of time. The character's grief doesn't seem strong enough. The dialogue however is Berg at her best and funny at times. This is certainly a good book but not Berg at her best and a very forgettable story.