This is a very honest and interesting piece about Beatty’s seven year attempt to emulate the prose of his favorite writer, Barry Hannah. It captures the reverence we can feel for someone whose art we admire. It also reveals how this admiration can lead us into an obsessive and detrimental one-way relationship. Beatty.admits that he gave up trying to write in his own style and out of his own experience in order to simply recreate the work of Barry Hanna, as he considered him to be both a superior writer and person. The piece is never sad though and remains funny throughout. Beatty’s honesty and candor about his own misguided path gives this piece its lightness of touch. Indeed the very act of holding up a mirror to himself and his past has allowed him to become a talented essayist in his own right. As with most good stories, this piece transcends the author’s own experience and reflects universally on the relationship that people have with art and artists that they admire. Virtually all of our lives have been influenced in some capacity by the artists that we admire. In many instances, this influence has yielded positive results. Other times, as followers of Sid Vicious and Kurt Cobain can attest, the results can be destructive. In this case the results are bitter sweet.

Unlike other pieces by this author, this one is just entrancing. The pace is slower but perfect for getting the listener to focus on the story. There seems to be a real jelling of story and pace that makes you wonder what will happen next. It's very personal and close to a discovery of self that would work well on This American Life.