All Comments on 'Mary and Alvin Ch. 26'

This may have been the best chapter yet. So simple so caring and emotional. Was there sex? Oh yeah but who cares.

Each new chapter in this story is always worth the wait. Keep up the good work, and I'll be looking forward to the next chapter.

Thank you.

Your M&A series is some of the best stuff I've ever read. It seems that each chapter is almost a complete tale in itself, and it's filled with love, warmth, pathos, wisdom and just so much humanity. Thank you for the laughter and the tears, and the welcome distraction from my daily emptiness. Just thank you!

I think you get better with each chapter. The white duck story was beautiful. Thank you.

Binge read it in one day from the 1st chapter. And disappointed because there isn't another chapter to read.

Most eagerly waiting for the next chapter.

Please do keep writing 🙏.

With warmest regards.....

and emotions. Well written.

There are other generations who will have experiences, these characters will age and experience change...a plea for more from a selfish reader. All he can offer is appreciation and encouragement.

„Charlotte laughed. “Yeah, guess I do.” She turned to Yusef„ - shouldn‘t this be Jeniffer laughing and turning? 🤔

I hoped so much that Charlotte and Steph split, instead there was another marriage.

Well, you can‘t have everything...

Thank you again for this wonderful story!

So...the story leapfrogs 4 years? Mary now has a financial planning/consulting business; an former "foe" approaches Charlotte and offers her full partner in Pittsburgh; Char fights with Seth and they have to decide their future; now Stanley's likely about to kick the bucket; Jen's now breeding alpacas and has Muslim helpers to assist and make yarn.

***

Feels appropriate to dedicate a chapter to Charlotte and Seth, as it highlights how "Opie" wooed her--effectively by placing the pink orchid in her hair--and just being a steady boyfriend. We can't forget how Angus jumped into his lap the first time he entered the house!

***

This included appropriate tension and conflict for both of them to face, and it was so cute when as soon as the city settled the lawsuit that Seth called her the very day it did. It was REALLY cute that he upgraded the coffee to dinner, too! However, the job offer possesses significant problems: 1) Mary/Alvin won't reasonably be able to drive there in one day, as it is 12 hours on the road WITHOUT stopping, meaning closer to 16 with restroom breaks and eating; 2) Pittsburgh's lost HALF its population since 1950, so it's a shrinking city that's failed to address its population and infrastructure issues; 3) like Detroit, it's lost culture and resilience, meaning that while Charlotte will have plenty of "women's issues" to deal with, she will lose the Maine culture and "feel" moving there; 4) while she can't stand Portland and/or Belfast, her character implies she will hate Pittsburgh because it's not Maine; 5) while Seth may get a city planner position somewhere, he won't fix all the issues surrounding Pittsburgh alone. So IF there were a future chapter on her/Seth, it would have to deal with some discontent they feel having moved there and they would have to have found a way to stave it off by growing much closer. In other words, the story would have benefitted more to keep them somewhere on the East Coast, like Boston or Providence, where it's a more varied community that offers more, yet similar things without totally uprooting them.

***

Example of a fragment I've commented on previously: Charlotte sipped her margarita, then, looking as serious as she could, said, “Seth, I have something to tell you, I’m afraid you may not want to hear it.” Easy fix is "Seth, I have something to tell you, and I'm afraid you may not want to hear it."

***

This includes appropriate angst and gives Charlotte her day in the sun; however, the story should have saved a few sentences for how Mary's business transitioned from helping Jessica to a full-blown operation and at least outlined how Jennifer moved to breeding (with something about meeting Yusef), having had Charlotte write the contract, outline things for the family. 3

I’m a pretty even tempered guy, really I am. One of the only things that raises my ire is an armchair quarterback, particularly when that ersatz quarterback pretends to be a literary critic.

Commentarista 82: Shut the fuck up until YOU write an actual story and post it here.

I have been a writing and literature teacher/associate professor for my entire career.

I have published academic articles, a few short stories and several published and often performed plays. As I am a slightly public figure - and still teaching, I cannot share any of that with you. But, DAMN, I wish I could.

Nothing, and I mean NOTHING you’ve ever written has consisted of the tiniest bit of constructive criticism - the one thing amateur writers here crave.

Every one of your comments consists of 75% plot summation (something any 6th grader could do), and the rest is nitpicking grammar and “stylistic”disagreements.

What a sad, sad life you must live. I’m assuming that the writers whose works you dribble on merely ignore you, and I wouldn’t be surprised if many delete your comments as irrelevant or ridiculous.

I truly wish you could see how you are embarrassing yourself with every comment.

Hopefully, you’ll get laid for the first time, if you aren’t too old to get it up.

Thanks Mel, another beautiful chapter, I was especially intrigued by Charlotte’s challenges and how with the help of her family she navigated her way back to Seth, Family is everything!

I’m with Rapierwit!