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141st out of 171 books
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The Letters
by
Luanne Rice (Goodreads Author),
Joseph Monninger (Goodreads Author)
Is there any mystery greater than those we love the most?
In this remarkable collaboration, New York Times bestselling author Luanne Rice and Joseph Monninger combine their unique talents to create a powerfully moving novel of an estranged husband and wife through a series of searching, intimate letters. By way of a correspondence so achingly real you’ll forget it’s fictio...more
In this remarkable collaboration, New York Times bestselling author Luanne Rice and Joseph Monninger combine their unique talents to create a powerfully moving novel of an estranged husband and wife through a series of searching, intimate letters. By way of a correspondence so achingly real you’ll forget it’s fictio...more
Hardcover, 199 pages
Published
September 23rd 2008
by Bantam
(first published January 1st 2008)
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I wouldn't normally choose to read fiction written by two authors but in this case I figured the gimmick would work, since it's letters written back and forth between a divorcing husband and wife. I expected a chronicling of a dissolving marriage, and to avoid giving away too much I'll just say it wasn't that depressing and that the gimmick does work over all.
It's nitpicky of me to rag on this but it didn't ring true to me that the husband and wife are both beautiful writers consid...more
It's nitpicky of me to rag on this but it didn't ring true to me that the husband and wife are both beautiful writers consid...more
Kathy
rated it
Recommends it for:
Everyone. Any parent of only children.
Recommended to Kathy by:
I picked it up by accident. Thought it was the something else e
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Mais uma estreia. Foi o primeiro trabalho de Luanne Rice que tive oportunidade de ler e, apesar de não ter correspondido inteiramente às minhas expectativas, pode-se dizer que me "encheu as medidas".
Estava à espera de uma maior abordagem ao amor entre o casal e aquilo com que me deparei foi com uma história essencialmente em torno do amor pelo filho desse mesmo casal.
Talvez por não ser mãe e por não compreender o amor que liga os pais aos filhos, o livro não me ...more
Estava à espera de uma maior abordagem ao amor entre o casal e aquilo com que me deparei foi com uma história essencialmente em torno do amor pelo filho desse mesmo casal.
Talvez por não ser mãe e por não compreender o amor que liga os pais aos filhos, o livro não me ...more
An epistle is a letter sent to a person or group of people that is generally elegant, formal and didactic in nature. This is the form of Luanne Rice and Joseph Monninger’s collaborative novel, The Letters.
Sam and Hadley West have lost their only child, Paul, in a plane crash in Alaska, where he had gone to teach. The loss of their son throws their marriage into turmoil and they are now on opposite sides of continent waiting for their divorce to become final. Hadley, an artist, is hole...more
Sam and Hadley West have lost their only child, Paul, in a plane crash in Alaska, where he had gone to teach. The loss of their son throws their marriage into turmoil and they are now on opposite sides of continent waiting for their divorce to become final. Hadley, an artist, is hole...more
A grief-stricken couple retreat to opposite ends of the country. He is in Alaska. She is in Maine. Both grieve not only the loss of their only son, but the loss of their connectedness to each other. Due to the fact they are in remote locations, the only way they can keep in touch with each other is through handwritten letters.
At first they are insecure and a touch arrogant in their letters to each other. Eventually, they learn to depend on the natural honesty and legato tempo o...more
At first they are insecure and a touch arrogant in their letters to each other. Eventually, they learn to depend on the natural honesty and legato tempo o...more
This novel was a series of searching, intimate letters of an
estranged husband and wife. They are dealing with the death of
their adult son several years previously very poorly. The letters
are written when the husband goes to Alaska and travels by dog
sled (interesting info on how that works) to the site of the plane
crash. The wife is spending the winter at a cottage off the coast
of Maine. My favorite part is how the husband dares to initiate
the corres...more
estranged husband and wife. They are dealing with the death of
their adult son several years previously very poorly. The letters
are written when the husband goes to Alaska and travels by dog
sled (interesting info on how that works) to the site of the plane
crash. The wife is spending the winter at a cottage off the coast
of Maine. My favorite part is how the husband dares to initiate
the corres...more
I love letters. There is something so personal and fun about sending and receiving them. At times I am sad that due to email, texting and other electronic communications as well as cell phones we do so little letter writing anymore. When I saw the cover I thought this might be a book about Christmas, I guess it was all the trees and snow but that was not the case at all. In this novel Hadley and Sam are a married couple who are currently separated as they each come to terms with their 20 year ol...more
I first found this book in Sam's Club and after leafing through it, I thought, I'll have to get this when it comes out in paperback. I'm not a big fan of hardbacks because I don't keep very many books. Well, time went by and unfortunately, I forgot the name and authors of the book. I could only remember that the book had something to do with letters; I nearly drove myself insane searching for it! Finally, I found it by chance at Borders and decided to just buy it in hardback. I got hooked in the...more
A friend had checked this book out from our local library, then left it on top of my car in my driveway for me to read. She called me(before the book got ruined by rain, thank goodness) and told me to check the top of my car. I had over a week to read it before I needed to take it back to the library.
I opened the book to see what it was about and whether I should be glad she left me the book or irritated about the situation.
I loved the book and found it was a v...more
I opened the book to see what it was about and whether I should be glad she left me the book or irritated about the situation.
I loved the book and found it was a v...more
This book completely surprised me! I chose it because I was intrigued by the format. The story is completely told in letters between an estranged husband and wife who are trying to come to terms with the loss of their adult son. Sam and Hadley are living apart and are facing their devastating loss in dramatically different ways. Sam is traveling to Alaska to see the place where Paul died and Hadley is holed up in a cottage in Maine trying to grieve. While on his journey, Sam begins to write...more
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I really liked this book. It is a book of intimate letters written between an estranged married couple who have split up after the death of their only son. Sam travels across the Alaska tundra by dog sled in search of the exact place where their son lost his life on a plane crash. Hadley retreats to a small cottage in Maine where she begins to paint again. Now on opposite sides of the country, waiting for their divorce to be final, they begin to exchange letters. They express longing and truths ...more
Slow at first. I thought this was going to boring because the first few letters were sent in batches from the man, using a lot of exposition about his trip to the Antartic. However, as response letters from the woman come in, a drama about their relationship begins to unfold. We start to understand more about their lives, the events that brought them to decide divorce--the drinking, the affair, the abandonment--all to avoid dealing with the pain of losing their son. In the end, we can see ho...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Three years after the tragic death of their grown son, Sam and Hadley's marriage has fallen apart. Each gone their separate ways to come to terms with the loss of Paul and their marriage. Sam is in Laika Star, Alaska; Paul had been on his way there to teach. Sam is teamed up with a seasoned dog sledder to reach the spot where the plane carrying his son and the pilot crashed. It is a grueling hard journey physically and mentally. Hadley has retreated to a remote island off the coast of Maine...more
I really liked this book. It's in letter format, thus the title. The letters are from husband and wife. They lost their son in a plane crash in alaska. Since the loss they have not known how to go on, in life and with each other. The husband is trekking across alaska to find solace in seeing where his son died. The wife is spending a winter in a beach cottage. Writing letters is how they learn to communicate again. It's a quick read. More of a "married person who's ever gone through ...more
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For two smart, well-balanced people this husband and wife did not deal with their grief well. That was the part of the book I felt least sympathetic to: how they destroyed their marriage because of the death of their son. I know so many people who have dealt with grief so much more constructively that it was hard for me to identify with these two. I also found the letters overemotional. I wondered if a marriage that is dying can really be saved by a series of letters. Having said all that... it ...more
I read this book straight through without stopping or getting off the couch in less than 4 hours. It was written via a series of letters between a husband and wife who lost their 20 year old son in an accident. It has been three years since the accident, and they have separated. They are on opposite ends of the country, and start this back-and-forth dialogue via the mail. Really an emotional book at times, and it made me tear up more than once. Beautiful descriptions of Alaska and northern...more
It took be me a bit to get into his book, though in the end it was a happy ending. I felt sorry for Sam and Hadley, having lost their son, but with the fact that they had decided to divorce, I couldn't at first understand why they would want to write to each other. I guess it was the way for them to find their way back to each other, back to Paul. I felt sorry for Hadley, getting her hopes up that Paul might actually still be alive, and then as it turned out he wasn't. Why would that Eileen Kilk...more
This book was sad, yet hopeful for me. It is the story of Hadley and Sam West, the tragic loss of their only son Paul, and of finding their way back to each other.
The story is portrayed through a series of letters that Sam starts to write to Hadley after he embarks on a journey to Alaska. He wants to visit the spot where their son lost his life. Hadley, on the other hand, rents a small, haunted cottage where she begins to heal a bit and starts her painting again. They have sta...more
The story is portrayed through a series of letters that Sam starts to write to Hadley after he embarks on a journey to Alaska. He wants to visit the spot where their son lost his life. Hadley, on the other hand, rents a small, haunted cottage where she begins to heal a bit and starts her painting again. They have sta...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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This book's format is a series of letters between an estranged husband and wife coming to terms with the death of their grown son. Although I enjoy reading letters, I was a bit skeptical when I picked up the book. I expected the letter format to feel like a gimmick but it worked quite well for this story. The exchange between the couple makes for a great study in character development.
I really liked this book a lot. This story is written as letters between an estranged husband and wife who are separated and on the verge of divorce as a result of the fallout from the sudden death of their young adult son. They each go off on their own journeys (to search for themselves? their son? each other?) and stay in touch through letters.
I recommend this book to men and women if you are married - as there is some mention of marital intimacy that is important to the marriage ...more
I recommend this book to men and women if you are married - as there is some mention of marital intimacy that is important to the marriage ...more
The letters gives a very heart-felt, raw perspective of things that would be, can be said when we feel safe from others immediate reactions to one's own thoughts. I like how the story illustrates how things change. Things are never lost. Sometimes what happens is that to change form, things must 'break' to form into a new way of being, a new way of life- alchemy at its best :)
This book was sad, yet hopeful for me. It is the story of Hadley and Sam West, portrayed through a series of letters that they write to one another as they're trying to put their lives back together after a series of tragedies.
So, while this novel is sad in a way, it is also quite good. It shows us that the human spirit can eventually begin to heal from a tragic circumstance. It also shows us that love can seem to fade, yet only be in the background waiting to be rekindled. I enjoyed...more
So, while this novel is sad in a way, it is also quite good. It shows us that the human spirit can eventually begin to heal from a tragic circumstance. It also shows us that love can seem to fade, yet only be in the background waiting to be rekindled. I enjoyed...more
Again, I wish I could give 1/2 stars. This book is a 3 1/2. It is the story of a couple who are going through a divorce after losing their adult son in a plane crash. The story is told through letters, which makes for a quick read. The characters are real, and I care about them. The setting---he is in Alaska and she is on the East coast--is well described.
This book was written as if it were a collection of letters between an estranged married couple who had lost a son in a plane crash several three years before. The man is traveling to visit the sight of their son's plane crash in Alaska, and the woman has rented a house on an island in Maine where she has started painting again. I enjoyed the book because the letters seemed a likely medium through which to tell the story since the couple had been through so much and found this the only way they ...more
Rice is my "turn to" author. I know I will find a story I like. The Letters are a series of letters between an estranged couple who are coming to terms with their son's death. As they correspond, they come to terms with their past, who their son was, and who he turned out to be. Affirmation is a great thing in any relationship.
I like reading books that are written in letter format. This is a story of a husband and wife on the brink of divorce. They both suffered heartache over the death of their only son , lost their perspective and could not get on with their lives together without him. Through their letters they find understanding, healing and renunion.
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Luanne Rice is the author of thirty novels including the forthcoming Little Night (Viking/Pamela Dorman Books.) Five of her books have been made into movies and mini-series, twenty-two have been consecutive New York Times bestsellers and two of her pieces have been featured in off-Broadway theatre productions. She divides her time between New York City and the Connecticut shoreline.
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