All Comments on 'The Letter'

I really enjoyed the story. AAAAAA++++++

Very good. My only small thing is I would like to have heard the conversation between him and Claire where he finished their relationship. As soon as she baulked at him adopting her daughter it was obvious that she wasn't 100% truthful about her reasons for continuing their relationship. 4 stars.

Most fantastic human interest story I have ever read. Thanks for sharing.

Beautiful.

5/5

Original, and that's a rarity these days.

I final talk between the guy & Claire would have been good.

That aspect of the story remains undiscovered

Well written, though I had a hard time with his acceptance of everything and just letting it all go. Though, that might be more of a testament to my bitter, cranky old soul.

3/5 - well written but it lacked the emotive response I get from a lot of your other work, a bit cold and flat

Claire

Is her hesitation to let him adopt Lucy because she didn't want him to have any rights there when she divorced him?

How did she know Anna to begin with?

Flawed decision on Giselles part, happiness of family love is a factor in human health, functional immunity etc. not to mention abandonment feelings bestowed on everyone left behind

Missing closure with Claire. It seems he never really knew his wife if she had more than 20 million dollars that he knew nothing about. She thought it was a kindness to leave him thinking up reasons far worse than her leaving to die. It was all about her and she didn’t love her husband.

Buddy, I like your style. Disregard all the nay-sayers. This story was fan-fucking-tastic. Heartache, abandonment, depression, and finally reunion. He really did love her, and she probably really did love them all. Her motives were misguided, but you do what you think is best for those you love. NOT for yourself. She did what she thought was best. Not perfect, but then, life is not perfect. I loved it. 8 stars, the Bear approves. (No sex. Sorry.)

P.S. You made my eyes tear up. More, please.

The BEAR

Aw I must be an old romantic Loved the story (jaybee186)

That is just plain stupid. In what universe does this author live? A wife who has tens of millions he didn’t know about , yet she goes to fucking Iceland?

Two pet hates ‘ love him/her/them more than life itself,’ but they never top themselves and the immediate uncontrollable need to throw up when the MC learns of infidelity.

There was no doubt in my mind.

Take her back.

No cheating involved.

MC dodge a bullet with Claire.

Good one JimmythePlunger.

Love the story because a heartbreaker with a happy ending

Confusion regarding where Janes and family went, and where Ruth's family are since he said "only Ruth remains".

good stuff

Yes, I enjoyed the story. Even though you wrote Brian as being a financial idiot and not being able to handle money, nor understand it. Oh, the money for Brian would also have been placed in a Trust, with Brian as the beneficiary. Just as the two children had their funds placed in a Trust for educational purposes.

This means Brian had no need for a Pre-nup as HE didn't own the Trust assets, the Trust did. So, future marriage/Divorce would not include Trust assets.

One final, pedantic thing... James and Ruth suddenly became James and Mary, before Mary reverted back to Ruth! (We writers often get names mixed up. Editing normally sorts out those mistakes)

Finally, the situation with Claire and Lucy should have been addressed to tidy up lose ends. Cheers.

It was an OK story - for me the reason for her leaving wasn't a good one for the story. Also MC must have been an idiot not to see her family had all that wealth. Did his MIL live in a shack and drive an old beat up VW.

Well told but very painful .

A few editing errors.

I enjoyed your story very much. I do wish you would have given us closure with Claire. Please keep em coming.

Great love story, well written. 5*

Unbelievable.

Good story from a very talented writer. I can easily see this one expanded and fleshed out published by the big guys

This story was clearly the product from the south end of a northbound horse.

"to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until parted by death."

No mention in there of I'm going to pull the ripcord because I got sick and it's what I think is best. The character of Gisele is not cast very well. First, she has a lot of money which she neglects to tell her husband about. A lie of omission is still a lie and makes the marriage a fraud. Then she gets sick and decides to bail from the marriage and conveniently sets up a few fabulously generous trust and he just goes with it? SCREW THAT! Get your own lawyer and find out what she is really worth in the discovery. With that much money he should get half and a generous spousal support! Push the divorce and get the warrant to make her appear. Why is the MC such a sniveling wretch? Then after 3 years and some contrived story which he never researches he takes her back. With the appearance of her health, she could have been hanging out at a Bangkok opium den for the last 3 years to get in that state. Then there is the mother-in-law. OH! I took a solemn vow. BULLSHIT! Call the police, file a missing persons report, screw the letter because it is out of character, and charge foul play. Compel her to tell everything. If the Anna really cared about the family, she would have confessed everything rather than leaving him hanging.

I normally like everything this author writes but this story was not worthy of his talent.

the language was stilted, very little character development and the reason for leaving was ludicrous. Then the icing on the cake is the wife returns and the Husband decides to play happy families...

That said , thank you for writing.

What a twisted tale. I had a cancer diagnosis and it never crossed my mind to disappear and hide.

Interesting, but I found it more difficult to forgive her than he did.

I suspected disease as the reason she left and that was the only reason I would have let her back in. One of your better stories in a long while - 4.7*

In the same situation, I don't know if I could have done this. Gisele took a risk when she left, a risk that she wouldn't be welcomed back. Perhaps Claire wasn't the answer but the scars and the walls created by Gisele, for me, would have been much more difficult to breach. However, this was your story and this is the way you saw it going. That is one think about forgiveness, when its given, it should be in totality and here you did just so. Thanks for the entertainment.

Sue, Grabbit & Runne: The best name for a law firm since Dewey, Cheatum & Howe!

5

1. i like the premise

2. I dislike the total affulence

3. The balance between giving substance to and wordiness is a delicate one and always a matter of taste. For me the story started wordy and ended too laconic.

4. You are brave depriving the knuckle draggers of their sex.

Thanks for a properly finished story. They’ve been lacking of late. I could never taken her back. The MIL knew a,lot more than she let on. IDK why he trusted any of them after his wife did a runner. The old trope of “she’s the love of my life” or “soulmate “ is used a lot in these reconciliation stories too. It doesn’t work here. The story is too thin on the wife’s character for that, we only have his assertion that she is.

The children took to her too quickly on her return. They shouldn’t even know who she is after her illness and long absence. You didn’t need to burn her down, but you didn’t work very hard at justifying taking her back either. He could have found someone else and she could have had visitation with her kids.

Thanks for the story

10 Big Blazing Stars Jimmy, good job! thanks for the effort.Buster2U

Great story, but not for lw

This was an interesting story, insofar as it went, but important aspects of the plot received little treatment, the omission of which detracted greatly from its overall quality.

In the story, the MC declares that he "... looked at everything up and down, from all angles ...", however little of his thinking concerning those "angles" was revealed to the reader.

For example, I, for one, wondered about explanations for his wife's "secrecy" about her wealth, its source, and whether or not the MC was aware that his being uninformed showed that his wife hadn't trusted him with knowledge of her money. Little was included to inform readers concerning these questions, leaving (I think) major "gaps" in the story.

The wife's wealth was obviously an important integral element of the story, since she used it both to provide for her family upon leaving, and then to fund her life-saving medical organ transplant treatments afterward. Leaving it unexplained omitted a major part of the story.

Speaking of organ transplants, inclusion of the phrase that the transplants were performed at a foreign facility "where wealth matters" had me wondering what the author meant by its inclusion. Did he simply mean places at which the wealthy can "purchase" a position at the front of the organ recipient line, or did he mean places that transplant organs which are, using the power of cash, acquired unethically or illegally -- such as being harvested from unwilling donors?

This was a good story, but too much unaddressed, so its rating dropped to 3-stars.

In abandonment stories . . . I often wonder what would happen if the abandoned spouse says to the avowed secret holder, "The children and I are going away. Do not try and find us. In two days we will all be dead. Don't worry, it'll be quick and painless. I've arranged things so that our bodies should be found about a month later. I will phone you once, tomorrow. Either we find out what's going on, or there's no future for any of us. You and [soon-to-be-ex-spouse] will be the only members of this family (or former friendship) remaining, unless I hear the truth from you tomorrow.".

In this story . . . everyone could be depressed and suicidal. The mother could break her vow in order to save her son-in-law and grandchildren . . . and then, depressed about the loss of her husband and breaking her sacred vow to her daughter, take her own life (after leaving a message for her daughter). Giselle could still get her treatments . . . but would never be so stupid about sharing again.

Not bad.

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What didn’t really compute was that Anna went along with the abandonment. This was never explained.

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The assumption is that in Giselle’s warped mind, it was better for hubby and kids to be abandoned without explanation rather than to ALLOW them to share in tne struggle with the cancer. Oh well…..

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3 ***

Beyond stupid. He had 10 million. Anybody can be found if you have the money to search. He could have tracked her down for probably around 100 grand. The fact she left shows she had no love for her husband or kids. You don't leave when the crisis hits you stay together. That is how love and fidelity work. Finally, he has no proof her story is true. She was probably running around Europe fucking everything with two legs. But even if her story is true, what she did was evil, not loving. A better ending would be once she was back and looking forward to pushing herself on the family she abandoned, that hubby wised up and realized she was just using them for her own pleasure. Then take some of the 10 million and make sure the body is never found. That would be a happy ending. Why do all your stories have weak and pathetic men?

The basis of your writing is horrible. "Do not try to waste money and time trying to find me I made sure you won't because I'm such a great person at this yada yada yada" then the mother tells the same annoyingly written roundabout sentences. Seriously, who the fuck speaks like that. I gave a 1 star not because of the content of the story, but how you actually wrote the whole thing, unreadable shit.

Well done Mr. Plunger sir! I have wanted to write one with much the same theme but I doubt I could have matched this. Thanks

What a lot of authors don't understand. Is that the meat and potatoes of these stories the actual getting back together. It takes more than 1/2 a page to work through all the complexities of it. Moving the story to a point were it is acceptable to the reader for a reconciliation to happen, takes time. Not just I had 2 beers and woke up the next day and bam I know what I want.

Hearty applause from me on this one. Original concept for me. The story could have included some resolution with Claire and her daughter. After all, the children had bonded.

Jimmy, sorry to hear about your car accident, glad no one was seriously injured, especially at Christmas.

This was a great story, not the usual wife leaving story a different twist. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Thanks for writing.

I'm glad I'm not as nice as the MC because I certainly wouldn't accept being abandoned like that for any reason and I'd have ripped her a new one next time I saw her. This JtP's universe and his story so we have to accept the events in this story as told by him but for me the change from someone who could do something so vile to someone who could be relied upon for the rest of her life was simply not feasible and I for one could never learn to trust a person who did that me ever again. JR

Dropped the ball with not getting closure with Clair. You would think closure would be a big deal considering the MC’s past with the ex.

Well you finished it. That's about all that can be said on that subject. Of course you had a few hanging details that you left out. What happened to Claire and Lucy? If you have ten million dollars don't you think you might hire a good PI or a highly questionable guy, spend a hundred thousand and maybe find some answers? What happens to their remarriage when Gisele falls ill again and decides to take another powder? She going to leave you another ten million and a note? I guess I just don't agree with your faulty thinking on this one.

I kind of liked it, I thought it was a little above average, so I gave it 4-stars. Like I said I kind of liked it. I'm not certain I would have used any part of the millions left to him in the divorce. If I did it would have been to at least try to locate or find out what happened to Gisele. But everyone I'm sure reacts differently and has different ideas. Thanks for the story.

So completely stupid it doesn't deserve any rating. Do this site a favor and don't submit any other stories.

too many holes. Claire, her child, the wife assuming that he would take her back. Fleshed out it would have been a 4* but here is a 3

Well written but missing parts like closure with Claire.

You get big points for originality.

You hinted at Claire being paid...?

I loved it and completely agree with LT56linebacker comments. I give you 10 stars.

The pacing was frenetic in the story. The courtship of Claire and her rejection, like many things here, were too easily brushed aside to make an imprint.

I think that if this story were allowed to “develop” it would have a much greater impact on me. As is, it’s just okay.

Why do people have to pick apart a story , it is what it is a story and this one was very good , these are the writers thoughts , ignore those who like to be critical , you probably seen those same people before who criticize other writings , I guess they have to get their 2 cents worth.

Punctuating Dialogue

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If a paragraph doesn’t begin with a quotation mark, that means it’s narrative. When one character is speaking and is not uninterrupted by narrative or another character talking, every paragraph -- every single one! -- starts with a mark, but only the last one has a closing mark.

Another flaming dumpster fire of ineptitude from you.

I enjoyed the story but if it was me I don't think I would have gotten bye the abandonment. I understand why she did it but it was still wrong .

I was thinking some organized crime thing. Makes no sense she wouldn't want his support. Plot is a WTF for me.

Predictable. I called it as soon as she left without a trace. Also the reconciliation was to quick, without emotion.

All things considered, if our hero can not accept his (ex) wife back into the family 100% and trust her, He's not much of a man. This from a BTB guy.

Should be:

“The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men

Gang aft agley,

An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,

For promis’d joy!”

Thanks for writing.

You badly need an editor, your subpar writing could use one. You constantly repeat dialogue and story filler ad nauseum. There was no rhyme or reason to this storyline.

Could have used some closure with Claire. Not sure Gisele should have been accepted with open arms no matter the reason for hear Houdini disappearing act. She inflicted plenty of harm by flying the coup. But a very good story! 4/5 BRB

I must agree with Michecl Chahari the story is ok except for the reason the wife leaves family. Then she goes to ICELAND ???? WHATFK??? The most regulated of the Nordic countries where every procedure is monitored by the medical authorities??? WTF

Nah…

Family isn’t about money. It’s about relationships. Marriage is the highest relationship between 2 people who chose each other. They vow to love, trust, sacrifice, and to be fully intimate with each other. Leaving is not loving, it’s being a coward and not working through fears. Not confiding her sickness is not trusting her husband and breaking intimacy. While her fears of “potential” hurt caused by her kids and husband watching her die were warranted, she caused pain and suffering in them which could have been avoided. She chose to inflict one pain rather than face the potential of another. She’s already demonstrated that she can’t be trusted and that she doesn’t have the emotional well being of the children or her husband at heart. She has and will sacrifice them when the going gets tough.

I could nitpick, and question things , but I will just say: Bizarre, but still readable. 4****

Interesting twist! Not the usual fare here, which I must say, is kind of welcome. I’m not too sure the medical stuff is entirely plausible, but whatever. Maybe it’s set a bit into the future, or something.

Thank you for the change of pace.

Too pat, too easy, I really dislike the _deus ex machina_ of Gisele magically showing up, just as Claire is having second thoughts.

What happened to Claire?

Another story of a weak man...forgiveness is not that simple. You don't find happiness with a person that hurt you once because in your mind and heart you will be waiting for the second heartache for the rest of your time with that person.

Gotta love someone who is satisfied with absolutely shit ratings and keeps trucking despite the fact nearly everyone thinks you suck.

Seems to be a lot of shitty writers lately here. Always come across as Republicans if I am being honest.

The internal monologues were rather dry and repetitive: I'd have edited them down some. Does he leave Claire high and dry?

Island ??? Really ?!?!?!

Not s bad tale, although too predictable. The main problem was the stilted and excessively wordy dialogue.

. Plus the reason for her disappearance was pretty weird. Why could she have not just gone to Iceland for her surgeries and treatments, without abandoning them entirely? Mainly based on the wordy musings and dialogue, I think a mercy three stars is in order.

JPB

That's the story?, Why bother writing it?

What is really bothering about how Giselle left, basically claiming she didn't want her family to see her suffer is that she impaired her own health as a result. She had the wealth to afford a high cost treatment regime. She could have supported them during her treatment in Iceland. Most medical professionals will probably confirm that patients who have loving support from their families generally perform better than patients who go it alone. Family support means a tremendous amount for people who are healing. Giselle shot herself in the foot. Interesting concept, still way better than a lot of stories in LW.

I found this disappointing in many ways. Informing the readers that the story is set around very affluent characters about half way into the plot is jarring, disrupting what the readers have already imagined. Gisele must have been a unicorn with having breast cancer metastasized into her lungs and liver and finding physicians to pull off two organ transplants. Verisimilitude has vanished. And I have to doubt that Iceland has such a low standard of medical ethics. Maybe Cuba or Bolivia. And what happened to Claire and Lucy? They just “left the stage” with no explanation for her strange behavior. Claire was a major character that had zero lines of dialogue. Even with the protagonist functioned as the narrator of the story, authors need to “show, don’t tell” the story through the character’s behavior and dialogue.

Nope!

“You denied me the option to choose to support you in your illness. You chose to leave. Now I’m choosing to deny your return!”

ZK

She abandoned her family no matter the reason that is unforgivable.

I would have taken her back. But what she did was infinitely more painful than telling the truth. On some level the wife and MIL would have known that. We can't help it, imagining fake scenarios in our heads when we don't know the truth. And they are usually worst case movies playing rent free in our heads.

I would have taken her back because of her wealth, her status as mother, and nostalgia for the love that was. But trust, respect, and love would be low. Both wife and MIL would become people Id tolerate, and not love.

I don't see a moral issue with him having affairs now. If he wants to remain faithful, that's noble too. She did abandon him. And never really resolved that. Never went to therapy for it, never discussed what his pain was, just hers.

She's not evil, but she wounded her husband very easily. Most people would rather know the truth, which is comforting versus not knowing why they were dumped.

The story was different than most if not all I have read on this site.

Thanks I loved it.

I found the story to be unique and well written. But then I am a hopeless romantic. Jimmy, keep writing.

Again, L's rating system flounders... Writing is 5*, but story conclusion lacked. Big miss barely glanced over but was the crux of the whole story - TRUST.

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Gisele, the rich princess lacked real compassion for Brain. Gisele did not seem to understand what a full relationship, "in sickness & health" is. When Gisele ran from Brian and not included him in her crisis it was pure DISRESPECT of her vows. As he should have been part of Gisele medical life/decisions. She still goes to Iceland and he visits without the children. But the children never suffered the void of loosing a mothers love so harshly, what she did was in affect die then come back from the grave - how cruel can Gisele be? She is ever so lucky Brain has such a big heart.

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4**** Hooyah, but few Salutes, too much missed within

This story poses some interesting questions, despite the premise being harder to swallow than hospital food. Outside of the somewhat unusual break up and reconciliation, the story was well written, if full of predictable tropes.

It did make me think of the question; If you were offered $10,000,000 in exchange for a clean and tidy divorce from your wife, how upset would you be? I wouldn't be surprised to see a line up of men for that option, even some supposedly happily married ones. Hell, you could probably drop a zero from that number and still get a lot of takers.

Certainly agree the writing was great and the story unique, it however defies all logic.

Good story. I was dissapointed at his initial reaction to Giseles returning. Her survival after such aggressive cancer was a miracle and her leaving was the best option to spare husband children too much pain. Brians feeling hurt and angry was selfish. At least he came to the right decision but left the depth of his character questionable.

I'm just wondering- what did he tell the children about where their mother had gone? Is she missing? Did he show them her letter?

How much more complicated would the plot be psychologically and emotionally if Brian were already married to Claire? What if they already had a child together? It would have turned out to be a cooler plot than Andyhm's in his story "The Rings" (Who remembers this, since the author deleted it from the site for the reason he voiced. I wonder if his novel came out or if his excellent story suffered in vain?)

So much of this doesn’t makes any sense. Anna is rich and he has $10 million from his ex-wife, with that kind of money he could have worked to find out something. Or could have told Anna, since your daughter has disappeared and wants a divorce, the only way you ever see your grandchildren again is to get her back here to explain herself.

If the initial goal was the children forget Gisele, keeping Anna in their lives would prevent that. Also With $10 million in his own account and $10 million total in the children’s trusts, why is Anna the person doing so much of the child care? There is more than enough money to hire people. Anna hiring Claire to watch her house while she takes an extended vacation to rest makes sense but the main character meeting her doesn’t.

His lawyer, accountant, and financial planner are not very good for none of them to know what would happen to the children’s trust funds or his money in the event of him passing before his new wife. Seems like pretty important stuff that they are paid to know.

His decision came in a dream but did I miss the part where he actually broke up with Claire?

Your best so far. Easy 5*

I didn't know about the availability of organs in Iceland for the rich. I do know about organ harvesting in Communist China from political prisoners.

I liked the story but the characters needed to be better developed and more detail. I would have liked to heard more about Gisele's 3 years away and the talk that Brian had with Clarie.

Nice romantic story at the end, but could have done without most of the epilog, it didn't add anything but unnecessary sadness. The initial premise of her disappearance was almost too cruel to be forgivable though.

I think AngelRider is a moron, but I have to agree with her on one point. You and Demander are just awful writers.

What Giselle did was horrific, maximally selfish and immature in a grotesque way. It was NOT motivated by love, as much as she tried to convince herself of that. It was motivated by fear. Loss through death from illness is painful but normal. Loss thru intentional abandonment is cruel, heartless and just plain wrong. It robs the abandoned loved ones of their chance to grieve, to honor their love, and to learn to deal with loss. There is nothing Giselle did while away seeking treatment that she could not have done while still being part of her loving, supportive family. IMHO, Brian would have gotten married after three years, and he should have called her out as to her selfish, painful behavior and kept her out of their lives.

This is criminal libel. Unlike the failed state USA, Iceland's public health care system is needs based and chiefly taxpayer funded. There is almost no private health insurance in Iceland and no private hospitals. The suggestion that you can buy your way on to the transplant list is an outrage. Of course, the rest of the story is crap too.

🌟

"I knew I would always give her access to her grandchildren" - I would make sure she knew NOTHING about Gisele's disappearance. If I even THOUGHT that she knew ANYTHING, I'd bar her from seeing the kids.

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"I will not betray it, so I beg you not to press me" - Is that vow more important than seeing her grandchildren? Her daughter did the unforgivable, she's owed no consideration, besides, she's gone, how would she know her mother broke her vow?

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"Had I any real alternative?" - With millions at his disposal, he has plenty of alternatives.

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I wonder if her leaving has anything to do with the death of her father that was "never a subject for discussion."

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"for her it was me questioning her integrity" - If her integrity is pure, a pre-nup will be a non-factor.

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Nobody talks in these long monologs.

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What happened to James?

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Would have been better if he could have worked things out with Claire, let Gisele be like an aunt.

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@KRD, writing a 5? It's a generous 3. Walls of dialog without proper punctuation.

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"the story has several parts?" - Seems to be complete, or were you referring to the various headings as parts?

Strange, after reading the first paragraphs and the Letter, I simply knew why Gisele left. She discovered that she had an incurable disease.

Most comments so far seem negative, but to me, this one has a unique and original story line.

Thank you for the time and effort

only thing worse than a RAAC is a RAAC with no sex, and no spine.

High marks for originality and complexity; overall I like the story.

Demerits for lack of editing.

Liked it but it really needed a littleore flesh on the Claire story