I seem to remember her book on death and dying really was like a break through of some kind. I was only half paying attention at the time but it seems everyone was talking about her and her books.
I felt numb for over 4 months after Rich died. Many times I wondered if I was normal to be so emotionally "flat". I did cry sometimes but not nearly "enough", or so it seemed to me. It helped when I went to a widow support group online, Widownet. There I found out that I wasn't so abnormal after all. They have a lot of helpful resources.
There is another very good support site for not only widow/ers, but also for children who have lost parents or siblings, adults who've lost parents or silbings, people who have lost friends ... anyone who's grieving the death of someone else. This is the link:
GROWW
and just another information site about the stages of grief:
Stages of Grief