All Comments on 'Rebirth'
by Inkhorn
- 880 Comments (Page 6)
A much more realistic story when it comes to divorce and the hurt it causes. Of course my comments with my being male are bit jaded by that fact. Also I am a 'victim' of an unfaithful wife and can identify with Jack but quite as bad emotionally as he was. All the ANON reviews that call our man Jack a spineless wimp are probably one themselves. I would also bet they haven't gone thru an emotional breakup of their family. When a woman tells a man she has fell out of love and the results are a divorce that she decided on it is an extremely selfish act. She has given no consideration to how her choice for divorce will affect the family and especially the children, that choice is the height or depth as you will of selfishness. So all you brave and macho ANONS your comments mean nothing as you hide behind you anonymity cause you have no guts! Great story
Great story! Second time I’ve read it but the first time must have been months ago. 5 stars
I almost felt sorry for Jack, but not quite. Jack got dumped on hard by his wife and their friend. But rather than fight back, Jack just cried. Oh yeah, he threw the lamp at Joe. When what he should have done is wrapped that lamp around Joe’s skull. A man who won’t fight for his beliefs ain’t much of a man, dgfergie be damned. At the end of the story the author said he wanted to write a realistic story about divorce. As far as I’m concerned the first six pages of this story totally failed that reality test. In my world, anyway.
1 star I hate this story - Even though this is a FANTASY story, it is just so far beyond reasonable and more farfetched than anything else I have read on here. It is also beyond believe how many commenters actually liked this story. Give your heads a shake - this guy is a wimp/cuck of the lowest order and deserves everything he got.
I loved this story. It's so full of life -- both pain and joy. All the right decisions were made by the characters, even though they wound up hurting sometimes.
Ed
P.S. The $85 Ancestry.com DNA tests are worthless unless you sign up for the $45 monthly subscription, and then do all the spadework yourself. She wouldn't have found the estranged aunt through Ancestry. Been there, been had.
that guy went to a dark place. i have lived there for years. understandable that mindset
Just discovered this GEM! Wonderful story! Gwen and Joe were selfish, delusional shits.
Anyone know if this author is still with us?
I think they should have Charity tell her mother that he is not alone anymore.
I know I've already commented on this story, but I've probably read it ten times in the last five days. Guess I'm obsessed. :D
Anyway, I can't get over how amazing this author's writing is/was. The dialog in the confrontation scene, especially where she slaps the MC and he counters with the line about being like her father is PRICELESS. Where the MC describes getting shot and then when he comes back to consciousness...awesome. I gotta stop reading though...I'm losing sleep thinking about it!
Just finished page 3, had too jump ahead and comment. Your mc is a wimp. Lets see, he finds his wife in bed with a friend. Then he finds his whole marriage has been a lie, his wife was fucking this asshole before they met and continued through the marriage. He still loves her and considering taking her back. Bullshit.
It was never explained what the attraction to Joe was. Never told what made Joe someone Gwen could never give-up or forego even after her marriage.
I read this story for a second time as I did not recognize it when I first started, then when I did remember it, I couldn't remember the ending. So i finished reading it.
I agree with JRandy J.
this guy, Jack is a walking fruit loop. Well make that a crawling sycophant of a fruit loop.
I can almost sympathize with Gwen needing a bit on the side. Jack certainly didn't have the balls to fulfill any woman's desire for security. He may have wanted her, but so fucken what. What achievement is there for Gwen in being wanted by someone who thinks that they are inconsequential. He had nothing of any value to give her coz he believed he had no value.
After 20 years he still so emotionally immature that did not trust himself, nor Cindy, enough to even want to know about Gwen.
And yet this crawling sycophantic emotionally immature fruit loop suddenly has enough self control to merely put out his hand and formally shake the hand of his long lost daughter. Then sits and has a pleasant conversation with her. I can't buy that one.
Maybe I am guilty of transferring myself into that situation and how would I react.
When I first met my estranged daughter, aged 30, at the airport I did the very thing I had poured derision and scorn on my TV set when I saw lost family members get all emotional upon meeting each other. Sniffing and snotting all over each other, and plaintive wails and tears , all mixed with lots of laughter. I had steeled myself against any frivolous acts of embarrassing emotionalism. The plan worked well, of course. We were all cool calm and collected with a proper sense of decorum. Then we got close enough to see each others eyes. Then there was all of the afore mentioned sniffing and snotting all over each other, and plaintive wails and tears , all mixed with lots of laughter. We were all worse and louder than any reactions I had ever seen on TV.
So, no. I do not for one second accept that this emotionally stunted spineless jellyfish suddenly changed.
Still a good and entertaining read though.
I despised Jack. A total waste of space. An insult to males.
I adored Candy\Cindy. I would love to meet a Cindy.
I almost felt sorry for Gwen married to a spineless blob.
As for Joe, well my dear daddy used to say " A standing prick has no conscience". (He never said it to me though, I still had to accept responsibility for my own mistakes) Joe just took what he believed he could get away with, wherever and whenever he could find it. Typical male I suppose.
An enjoyable read.
A R W
Pathetic bastard couldn’t catch a break. If he fell in a barrel of pussies he’d come up with a dick in his mouth
Refreshing, creative, well plotted, and executed. The men in other stories are rich,and the wife swears she got caught the very last time she was going to cheat.
Perhaps true to some people's experiences but sure do wish Gwen and Joe had a terrible, awful life or got run over by a bus. Jack was beyond pathetic.
Years of deception would destroy a man.
Gwen was a loving whore in that she married for money while keeping her lover.
Joe was scum and not half a man.
I am SERIOUSLY envious of anyone that knows a woman that strips and is a clown for sick children!!! It makes me sad to think I've lived this long and can't say the same. Really cool story, as you observe; break-ups can be hard even after a long time.
Be well and happy.
Paul
This is the second time I’ve read this story. The first time was a long time ago. At least I think it was. I have short term memory problems as the result of a head injury. Regardless…. I thoroughly enjoyed re-reading this jem. Thank you for sharing your writing with me.
Good story. 5
I agree with the author, a much more realistic story than the fantasies I read here. No, the hero does not walk to the sunset leaving his anamies dead. In most cases, after loving someone, you leave with a broken heart. You survive and build new life but there's always a hole inside
Great story. This deserves a sequel. I want to know more about these characters. How did the daughter bond with her father? What did they learn from each other? You know eventually the main character would have to meet his ex. Either at a wedding or when she came looking for her daughter.
I see the writer recently updated their profile, so I hope they do this.
A very well written story and I enjoyed it. This was a very different take on the cheating wife story and I do agree with many others that Jack was very weak and insecure but that is what some people are. The part I did not like was how he let his sister down and never kept in contact. That really was the part that made me not like Jack as a character.
First time reading one of your tales - nice to see a turn on the regular stories. Thank you.
somewhere east of Omaha
After page 5, I just stopped reading, couldn’t take it anymore. Jack was done with her, with her sorry ass. Then he started kissing her and fucked her. Fuck him the damn idiot. I don’t know how this story ends, don’t want to know. What I read was very well written, guess I just didn’t like the way the story line was kead8ng.
I know it’s been a while. Your fans need some closure; we have to know about Gwen. We need Charity to give Jack a letter from her mother. Something.
11 stars
Can't imagine loving a cheating, lying, scank, slut to the edge of being suicidal. Ĺove the turning the table as far as the child is concerned. Great karma. Hate the fact that she is a Dike. Will give it a 4.
One of the best I've read here. I guess I'm a sucker for happy endings. It seemed to flow pretty well and was written for an average reader like myself. That Gwen was so far removed from reality is a bit hard to swallow but my sense of faiorness does have me hoping she has plenty of regret. The first story I've ever given five stars.
What a great story.very well written and original take on an old plot very clever.This makes you one of the very best authors on the web.
‘all pastiched together“ - that is the best summation of this story. Or maybe an omelette, a whole bunch of different stuff thrown into the skillet held together by eggs. Maybe good, maybe not.
The great unanswered question [STILL] after my second reading is the WHY? Why is Jack such a victim [I could have easily said, spine-less, or testosterone free, or simply wimpy] for most of the first 50 years of his life?
Welll at least it had a happy ending
If you're going to be a bigot, the least you could do is learn to spell. The word is spelled dyke. Perhaps you would know that if you had finished highschool.
I enjoyed this. I didn't really like Jack. He was right up there with the biggest wimps on Lit. I hated Gwen and Joe. I really hope they die alone. Glad he met his beautiful daughter, and the she was HIS. He finally got one over on that douchebag joe. Seems like Gwen remained totally self centered and narcissistic her whole life, but at least, for one single time in her life, she put Jack above joe, by keeping a secret from Joe, even though it was for purely selfish reasons.
Strange. I didn't care for Jack, I hated Gwen and Joe, but I still enjoyed this.
He catches his wife in his bed with his supposed friend, and just sits there and has a polite conversation. Hell, he lets them browbeat him and scream at him, telling him what to do. Then he leaves. The worst part of this travesty, though, was when he called home from his sister's house. His 'loving' wife acts angry at him! She admits that Joe is still there, in HIS bed, and acts like talking to him on the phone is an imposition. And the loser STILL goes crawling back. With bagels for them! And when he gets there, she hits him, to zero reaction. Joe comes out of HIS bedroom, and gets in his face! No reaction. At the very LEAST any guy would have punched Joe and told him to get out of HIS fucking house. But no, he whines and whimpers and HE leaves his own fucking house, so as not to imposition the guy fucking HIS wife.
This was pure cuck garbage, and I didn't finish it. Zero stars.
Really good.
I agree with you on stories where the husband falls into sexual clover and ex wife sits on the sidewalk with a begging bowl
This is the second time I’ve read this story. It’s really well written, good grammar, no obvious spelling mistakes and despite its length, enjoyable. The despair and depression are all to realistic and took me back to brutally unhappy events, however, I believe good writing should affect you.
It is particularly true that the nicer, more tolerant and easygoing you are, the more life, friends and wives take advantage of you.
I can understand why he didn’t keep in touch with his sister because of the “burden” aspect of depression but it still is a cruel thing to do.
I don’t understand all these negative comments, as though people think they have rights on someone else’s story. I found the story poignant and loving, with a good bit of the bitter reality of life. Thank you for it.
After going through a bitter divorce myself years ago I can honestly and safely say that is mighty close to real life. The biggest winners in most divorces are the lawyers..
Existentialists say that we are the sum total of all that we have done with our lives. Those who have the sensitivity to understand that all serious relationships are composed of nuanced interaction--that rarely is anything simply "this" or "that" but more or less of many things--will find your story an incredible read.
Kudos on conveying the complexity of the human heart so well. More please.
no guys, I don't understand all your enthusiastic and laudatory comments. It's pure garbage and nothing more.
earlier, evil commentators have repeatedly and quite rightly poked the author's nose into his own shit, ridiculing and mocking the "realism" of the miserable nonsense that he wrote. well, I agree with them.
are you tired of stories about SWAT husbands оr аre you fed up with the tales of whore wives who died
painful deaths in Mexican brothels? well, then find a balance point and write something reasonable and logical,
which will not be embarrassing to believe.
but no chance, the author just jumped on the other end of the stick and blew the same implausible bullshit that bitch burners love so much, only with the opposite sign.
why and why did it happen? I don't know and I don't care, to be honest. Until this morning, I had 9 authors on my blacklist that I will never read again. well, dude, thanks to you, today there are 10 of them.
While I don't agree with a lot of what he did, I can understand it. The story touches on his struggle with depression before his marriage, so his absolute spiral into nothingness is fitting, it happens.
I found it realistic in the way that, this wasn't a story about some upper middle class guy, who's handsome and fit and his wife has an affair so he divorces her but stays upper middle class and handsome and finds some babe right after the divorce. This was an average guy, dealing with a troubled wife who fucked him over. This wasn't a fairy tale with a fairy tale ending, it was overdramatized sure, but it felt real enough.
Well done.
This was one of the most believable and gut wrenching lay realistic stories I have read in this genre. The hurt was palpable and the cost of deceit weighed upon me reading it. In the strange confluence of love and hate that churn together in swirling waters of adultery discovered the river that flows from them is so often despair. Having been the recipient of those lies and unfaithfulness in my own life, your story brought back all the bile and those shadows of the despair I felt. So well done, so touchingly well done! As for anonymous trolls like the one below, my general approbation of them stands, if you can’t sign your name to your rants, keep the excrement to yourself!
2 stars. my reason is writer trying to impress with words that are not used in every day life. TOOO LONG for what was taled.
Meh very long but readable. The ex wife is an unbelievable character along with their friend
Read this for the second time. So Good. I think it ranks in the top 5 of all the stories I have red on this site. Jack's character development and the metamorphosis of his life is the very best developed M/C I have even]r read in a short story. Pure magic and you should be proud of this work....
Very nice. Well thought out and not the typical collection of cliches. Thanks for writing.
A potpourri of worthless lives... a bouillabaisse of insanity without any redeeming qualities... well written from those perspectives.
Yeah, thank god the wife not only fucks over her husband for a decade, lies to both her lover and her daughter for almost 20 years, and as usual only tells the truth once she's caught. What a righteous woman, well done! Jack is a total cuck loser though. In addition to taking an excessive amount of epic amount of infidelity and humiliation to kinda leave the cheating whore, he jumps out of the pan and into the fire(there's your missing cliche) sharing his next woman with thousands via strip club sleeze and web cam wankers. Thankfully the robbers nicked his DNR card, he likes to suffer.⭐
I decided to re-read this (I can't explain this strange compulsion I have to finish stories once I start). This story had a significant selection of melodramatic scenes using a terribly weak man. Love isn't a synonym for obsession. My guess is this author would make a decent living as a soap opera writer.
I have some trouble identifying with the MC, as he seems a bit too emo to me, but I understand that he may 'be' waaay more sensitive than I am. So, I won't throw shade at the 'throwing-up' interlude. Tough-guy he-men puking when merely learning of their wife's infidelity is bullshit, but I can let this go. 😉
I have no issue with him being emo, but I find it unpleasant to experience it in print. My inner voice keeps crying out, "C'mon, man! Buck up! Get it together! You've got to keep going!" So, it becomes difficult for me to relate to the MC.
However, I give you full marks for the 'music' of the writing, even if it's too over the top for me to relate to.
Even better the second time around. Superb story telling. Tragic, sad, poignant, funny, painful and strangely uplifting.
The ending is open but I suspect there are the seeds of a future meeting with Gwen where they can both come to terms with the reality that they were on different paths and that no matter how much they loved each other (and it's clear that they did) their paths were destined to diverge.
One of the best stories on this site.
I feel sorry for all the soulless BTB detractors who seem incapable of seeing the world from anyone else's perspective or experiencing any emotion other than hate - what sad, empty little lives they must endure.
LA
LA
Living with constant mental pain, I can totally relate to the MC. The story was a difficult read, but the ending was filled with so much love.
This whole obsessive love thing is such cliche immature bullshit it's genuinely fucking annoying. Whenever one partner or the other will do anything to make the other happy or whatever you've jumped straight into the obsession band wagon.
And this whole equitable divorce when one partner has been cheating before the marriage is tantamount to fraud and is grounds for an annulment because the offending Party had absolutely no intention on keeping to the terms of the agreement hence FRAUD!
Oh God the narrative in this story is such BULLSHIT Gwen if I asked you to stop seeing dickless would you do it? Fucking just bend over and let her fuck you in the Ass while your at it you fucking little BITCH!
I enjoyed this story a lot. Being a detached zombie for 14 years is a bit much. Other than that I could empathize with the protagonist. It was nice to read something that was not a BTB or craven cuckold story also.
I am not usually so harsh...he is a fucking pansy. He isn't a man....he is just a stain on people who are men. Never write another story like this again.
I wish I could delete this from my memory
Read this again after 2 years. It is a good story and does not deserve the bashings the author is getting from ANONs. Many of us divorced men experience some of what this guy did, maybe for not as long. My own particular withdrawal lasted three or four years. No job for 2 years then I met woman who brought me back from the dead. I almost lost her due to conflicts inflicted by my act and her children. But that's another story. So many. especially the ANONs that read these LW stories say that's not real or that could never happen. That attitude comes from ones who have not lived very long. At 80 I've been there and done that and seen that. What peopel do to each other is sometimes amazing. The emotions you have when going thru divorce are emotions you never thought you'd have and you'll never want to experience them again. There is a point in this story where he was talking about how expensive a divorce can be, well it doesn't have to be. My divorce cost me about $100 back in 1982. $20 for a do-it-yourself-divorce book and $75 filing fee for the court costs. Of course that's as long as you both agree to the property split and child custody. If you walk into a lawyer's office today and ask he will more than likely want a $10,000 dollar retainer. It's just paperwork and lot of hurt feelings, it doesn't have to be expensive. My advice is free so there are no refunds or returns. One more piece of advice, if you don't want to get hurt, don't get married, and if you do get married, never get a divorce.
Thank you for sharing your story with us, it was very enjoyable for the most part. The part that bothers me is I just can’t see Joe walking around with his nose in it’s original configuration. I’m not talking about going medieval on him, but a shot on the beak is more than justified.
Cop out not telling the Gwen story. He was the only one that suffered, so unjust.
I would have scored your story a zero, but it wasn't offered.
Interesting story. Very well told and with few contradictions.
Good narrative. The drama is sustained as the story progresses. The dialogues are smart. The characters stand. I mean, I'd say it's a good story.
But let me at least criticize a couple of points: the first is the confrontation in which the three are. The context is absurd. If my wife's lover tried to talk me into something, she would have cracked his head. At this point the drama is diluted and the weight of the story falls apart. There is no real or credible conflict. And the ending: very good. The protagonist faces the situation in a real way. Daughter's girlfriend's surprise, etc. The only thing that remains UNCONCLUSIVE is the whereabouts of the couple. Even if the protagonist asks his daughter not to tell him about her ex (which is a success in the story) in the epilogue it should have been mentioned, because as it happens in this case, after the whole story, two of the essential characters are left without a finishing touch. That should never happen, whether in a novel, a story or a movie. If you start with the situation of a marriage and the lover, you MUST END with the resolution of the marriage and the lover, of EACH of the characters. Having said that, I repeat that I liked the story. Too bad it didn't fall into my hands before so I could give some advice on editing and narrative.
Honestly, pretty, pretty good.
Great story. Even better after its third reading. Despite all the hardass haters comments to the contrary, this thoughtful story is one of the very best loving wives’ stories on Literotica. Five big stars ⭐️ for this one.
Thoughtful, engaging, entertaining. I really liked this story. I didn't detect any loose ends that I cared about. Jack's life sucked more than most, but seems to have some happy things happen at the end. Thanks for the well-written story.
Ed
Sorry, but I can't agree with the folks below.
You lost me when he agreed to meet her at 10 Bagels and all...and she wasn't alone at that very moment.
Dude, the relationship is DEAD, dead. Further discussion, should be neither required or desired.
It's beyond ludicrous that he'd even have a first though, let alone a second, about divorcing her. What's his other choice? Be a cuck?
I'm sorry but stopped reading at that point; I lost interest in the MC's complete lack of courage and backbone.
I found the writing of this story to be much like a progressive rock song where superfluous flourishes and unnecessary notes actually cluttered the story, thus, making the story less palatable. I also take issue with the main character's inability to take control of his own mind. Many say that love is not a choice, I disagree. What Gwen did and the way she obnoxiously defended her betrayal and the depth of her betrayal is a love killer if there ever was one.
Interesting story. But Gwen was sadly twisted inside. Don't agree with keeping Charity a secret. I think the MC wallowing for 14 years was way overdone.
I agree with the critical anonymous comment (starting out with "Sorry, but I can't agree..."). I couldn't even read it completely for the second time. The mc and his way of thinking and feeling is just too unrealistic in my opinion. If somebody like that exists, his personality is something I have no desire to read about.
The guy had all the information about the situation early on. The meeting with his wife and Joe with bagels at 10 and the lengthy discussion did not really add any new facts. Facts he was in partial denial of. He was the meal ricket for his wife and Joe plus their possible future children, she did not respect him, the wedding vows spoken by her had been nothing but deceptive. At several points he thinks of the eight years she gave him and how he loved her because of it. He loved the IDEA of Gwen, the impersonation she put up for him. To come to that realization is a pivoting point. Every "loving memory" would have been tainted, the healing from the betraying of his first girlfriend would have paled and the feeling that Gwen "healed" him would have been reversed, I guess.
There is also a judge in this story who orders counseling because he believes in the sanctity of marriage. WTF? The judge knew about the circumstances, if he believed in the sanctity of marriage he'd granted the divorce immidiately. If possible this even called for an annulment. Just to point at a few things...
As usual (just in general, not to you), I would have liked a little more of an epilogue. Some good times where he and his sister made up, he saw his nephews and nieces, he got to meet his daughters' girlfriend and such
While the story is well written and error free the entire plot is nothing but a series of well worn out clichés with more holes in it than a long line tuna net.
All the main characters are so far beyond reality in their behaviour and attitudes it completely destroys the story.
Way back when there were a very popular series of cartoons (maybe memes in todays language) entitled Love is. There were hundreds of witty little humourous sayings enhanced by cartoon drawings about the many different actions, or attitudes or feelings associated with love.
They mostly 2 things in common.
1) They shared something between 2 people in love.
2) They were alive and growing between the couple.
For love to be there there has to be two people. As soon as there is only one person, there is no container to hold the love in. There are a myriad of other feelings like infatuation, fondness, just plain nostalgia from memories of former times, self pity masquerading as unrequited love. But no real love. You may still love someone just likeIi love a cold beer after a hard days work, or I love my sister (Not incestuously) or I love my dog, or job or whatever.
Obviously this is a weakness in the English language where there is no real uniquely used word for romantic love. The word love has lost its true meaning which has become adulterated because it has been bastardized through misuse and overuse.
You cannot love someone who does not absorb, and then add to, and then return that renewed love to you. If that is not happening then what ever you have is not real love.
Love is a shared thing.
That sharing causes love to be a growing living vibrant thing.
Love is not a shallow one sided two dimensional mirror image of merely one half of the whole package deal.
I do know there are people, like this childish emotionally crippled man, who "never get over" a broken relationship, but what they are experiencing is probably some form of self pity and nothing to do with lost or unrequited love.
Sorry for the rant.
I think that you achieved what you set out to do - a story of betrayal where the MC didn't turn out to be a Navy Seal or whatever. Jack had a history of depression and falling deeply into it after Gwen was not unrealistic. I'm surprised he didn't spend more time sleeping rough. I thought that you took several aspects of the story a little too far/wide (e.g. how Gwen and Joe reacted) and you could have tightened up the core story, tightened the focus by trimming the wordcount a bit. That said, the underlying story is a very good one and is realistic - discovering you have a different father by way of a DNA test really happens. The sheer number of comments shows that you have struck a chord here. Thank you for posting it.
Longer story than I generally like, but an interesting read & well written. More believable than most - the husband feeling the pain of his wife's betrayal, being by himself instead of having unlimited amount of friends, & things at the start just not working out for him. As it probably does, I'd think, in those circumstances.
The wife who loved to keep secrets & still having sex with her husband's friend even after she married her husband, then continued it for years. A self righteous bitch. The friend who just had to keep doing her instead of getting his own woman. Loved the ironic part: if Joe impregnated Gwen, they'd want Jack to raise the child(ren). However, in the final fucking, it's Jack that impregnated Gwen. Unfortunately, it took 19yrs for Jack's daughter to meet him.
Happily, they did meet. Also happily, Jack, after being shot & almost dying, actually found someone to marry. Don't know if I could marry a stripper/ cam girl, but that's neither here or there. Would've like to read what happened at Jack & Cindy's marriage, & how things progressed with Jack & Chastity. Maybe even find out if Joe & Gwen's marriage lasted any. But Jack got the prize, with his daughter saying she wishes she had him instead of Joe. Says a lot.
Very good writing, interesting story, well thought out. 4 (4+ really) stars. Bob
This story always left me flat, Jack pissed away over two decades over a cheating wife? Emotionally fragile, anyone..... he really needed to man up and move on from the beginning not 20 years later. Gotta say tired of these stories where the male has such a delicate psyche. What would Jack do under real adversity? And no a cheating wife is not adversity, just something to resolve and move forward quickly
Maybe a good story but I couldn't get past the beginning. Whining wimpy cuckold who wakes up and calls her etc etc etc etc whine some more
This story, from my perspective, was awful.
I HATE weak, self-pitying me who are so insecure they'll rum back into a burning building eather than face the unkown.
Far from empathy, I felt only disgust about hin.
What really saddens though, is this story had the potential to be fantastic.
None of what I'm saying is intended to marginalize you. My comments are a reflection of the story itself.
While not the best story I have ever read in the LW category, it was a refreshing break from all the alpha male machismo that the deluded masses believe they would project in such a situation. It's fantasy for a reason and frankly, if you aren't affected profoundly after such a betrayal then how invested were you really in the relationship?
The depression and humiliation and rage are all amplified by the deep love the MC felt for his wife and it was explained that he had a history of depression and suicidal thoughts after a previous breakup. All this made the ensuing years of self-flagellation not out of the realm of possibility.
I only have two real problems with the story:
1) Others have commented on this as well, but the whole texting and bagel visit the day after the revelation was absurd. There's no way the MC would be that quick to engage with her, with the pain too raw. That should have been a few weeks later at least to be anywhere close to believable.
2) Why did she start dating him when she was already dating Joe? That was never adequately explained. She wouldn't have known the MC was reliable or stable at that time. The entire story is predicated on this woman committing this adultry which Joe apparently knew was happening right from the start?
Overall though, interesting premise that I found my enjoying.
I hate these types of storylines...It reminds me of the betrayal I experienced and there was no BTB or living a great life for me. Just a string of major health problems, multiple organ transplants, and loneliness. Constant loneliness.
What blows my mind is how there are truly Men out there who find themselves in Jack's position (wife fucking someone and refuses to stop it) and they just take it like the sorry bitches they are.
This time I read 4 past comments before writing. While I yield some general points, I feel you overlook the trauma an emotional rape can and does cause some psychis. He is a type that does exist. His polar opposites exist also. They might refrain from violence or not, but would suffer no angst from dumping the cheater(s.) And this story would not exist. He did not BTB, but that also is sometimes ok, and hurts certain people more than being burned at the stake. So - this was very different, but quite well done. Not a 9, but maybe rounded up to be the first 8 I award. Tough assignment you set up for yourself - nearly flawless. Merit for difficulty and execution, is well due.