Guest Blogger Lily Sawyer

Today, my friend and fellow author Lily Sawyer has come to visit and talk about her newest release. Please give her a warm welcome!

This story struck a personal chord for me. I suffer from depression and I felt this subject just doesn’t get the attention it deserves. I am hoping my story shed some light on a condition that’s very misunderstood. –Lily

Blurb:  Harry Goldberg appears ordinary. But he secretly suffers from depression–leading life alone except for his cat. Then Harry meets a new delivery man where he works–someone he is attracted to. Can anyone love him–emotional baggage and all?

Excerpt:
Harry had a wonderful job; he worked at a deli on Long Island. He loved to watch the looks customers gave him when he served them his special mile-high sandwich. Despite the huge piles of hot pastrami and corned beef on rye with a pickle and coleslaw on the side, they somehow left a clean plate.

The people around Harry told him that he was a likeable kind of guy with a great sense of humor. All his co-workers loved him. Truth was, he had them all fooled. When he left the deli at the end of the day he went home to an empty apartment; his only company, aside from assorted houseplants, was his cat. Tom was a grey and white shorthair Harry had rescued from the local pound. No one knew about Harry’s lonely existence, just like they didn’t know he suffered with depression. The only ones who knew, aside from his immediate family, were his counselor and a support group he went to from time to time.

Most people thought it was just the blues; at least that was what his parents thought at first. His mom was the worst. When Harry was fifteen, he’d buried himself in his bed and wouldn’t come out. She kept telling him stop being lazy, get his ass out of bed, and snap out of it.

Unfortunately, they didn’t understand what it was like to feel as he did. No one knew how much Harry wanted to be normal; he didn’t want anyone’s pity. No one could know the deep pain he felt. Some days it got so bad he just wanted to lie down, go to sleep, and never wake up.

* * * *

Nicholas could never stand being cooped up inside some stuffy office building. Nope, that was never going to happen. So when his uncle offered Nicholas a job with his delivery company after he graduated high school, he jumped at the chance. That was almost ten years ago–driving a truck was in his blood now.

Stern’s trucking specialized in delivering kosher food to all the Jewish delis and kosher markets on Long Island and in the five boroughs of New York City.

He checked the manifest; there was a new restaurant on the list. He’d been to Carle Place before but never to Nosh Deli. But a job was a job. He’d done so many deliveries he could do them in his sleep.

He loaded up his truck in Queens Village and headed east to Long Island. He took the local roads, completely avoiding the Long Island Expressway.

* * * *

Harry was handling the lunch-hour-rush crowd. He’d lost count of how many pastrami and corned beef sandwiches he’d made and how much homemade coleslaw and potato salad he’d scooped out onto the plates.

“Can I have a chicken on whole wheat bread, please?” Harry stopped his automaton-like movements, taking notice of the customer behind the voice–a blonde woman who appeared to be in her thirties, dressed in business attire.

“Bless you. Thanks for breaking the monotony.”

She laughed. “You must get tired of the same old orders every day.”

Harry was on the receiving end of that brilliant smile. The woman seemed to be flirting with him. He had to admit she was an attractive woman. He noticed there was no ring on her left hand. There was one problem, though–Harry was gay. He’d known that girls didn’t do anything for him that way since he was fourteen. It was one more thing his mother had nagged him about–dating women–until he came out to his parents. He couldn’t say they were thrilled, but at least they didn’t throw him out of the house. They just didn’t talk about it. Besides, Harry hardly ever went out. He had one experimental encounter with a buddy in high school. They had given each other a hand job and that was that.

Harry’s self-esteem was in the basement. Who in their right mind would want to date a guy who was a killjoy? Depression robbed Harry of being able to really enjoy life. He was glad no one at work was aware of the sad sack in their midst–and no one would find out if he could help it.

He buried himself in work, fixing orders for people like the woman who stood before  him–he wouldn’t let anyone get too close.

* * * *

About the Author:

Lily Sawyer has to credit her late mother for her interest in reading and writing. She used to take her to the library and opened up to her the world of books. She took a writing class in an adult enrichment program and got hooked. She started off writing stories set in various fandoms she was interested in like Star Trek and Brokeback Mountain. After getting some encouragement from family members and friends, she finally decided it was time to write her own original stories. Lily recently returned to drawing and was in an art class. Also loves to garden and loves everything about nature. Including going to the beach and looking up at the stars

You can purchase Lily's book at Silver Publishing!

Thanks for stopping by, Lily!

Until next time, take care!

♥ Julie

Lawless Review

Lawless  

Director/Studio/Author: John Hillcoat/Pie Films, Inc./Nick Cave

American release date: August 29, 2012

Format, Genre and length: Theatre/Historical Action/115 minutes

Publisher/Industry Age Rating: R

Overall Personal Rating: ★★★★

The Bondurant brothers—Forrest (Tom Hardy), Howard (Jason Clarke), and Jack (Shia LaBeouf)—are getting along as best they can in depression-era Virginia. They run a little diner and gas station in Franklin, but they have a more lucrative source of income that involves running moonshine. They don’t have to worry about the law—not only is the local constabulary in the know, but they’re also customers.

Synopsis:

Legend has it that the Bondurants are invincible, and sometimes the boys believe that story themselves. Forrest is short on words, but what he does say carries a punch. Jack is still young, but he’s eager to learn and he hates the way that they often blow him off. He plots and schemes with his best friend, a crippled young man named Cricket who’s a mechanical genius, experimenting with making his own brand of white lightning. When he first spies Bertha Minnix (Mia Wasikowska), he is smitten with the young girl. Unfortunately for him, she’s the daughter of a very protective minister, and when Jack shows up unexpectedly at one of their services, he’s not prepared to have his feet washed by Bertha, and bolts from the premises as though a fire was lit under him.

Bad news arrives in Franklin in the form of a new special agent, Charlie Brakes (Guy Pearce), who’s determined to do things his way, and to have everybody in the county knuckle under to his rule. He is a nasty piece of work, and right away he and the Bondurants butt heads.

A young woman named Maggie (Jessica Chastain) shows up one day looking for work, and Forrest hires her when she tells him she’s tired of life in the big city, she’s looking for something easier.

One day Jack witnesses a remarkable sight. He spies a man with a Tommy gun shoot up a man in cold blood. He knows who the killer is—the infamous Floyd Banner (Gary Oldman). He makes eye contact with Banner and the killer winks at him before he drives away. Later, when due to circumstances their paths cross again, that first meeting will stand Jack in good stead.

When the rest of Franklin gives in to Brakes and his bullying tactics, the Bondurants refuse to cave and find themselves standing alone. Jack is determined to pull his weight, so that he can be worthy of courting Bertha, even if he does run when he sees her preacher father heading in his direction. He gets his chance to shine when Forrest unexpectedly ends up in the hospital, showing that he is true Bondurant material. The brothers are doing well for themselves, but how long can that affluence last when Brakes is bound and determined that they will knuckle under to his authority?

Commentary:

Based on a true story, this is a tale of three brothers and their struggle to survive during hard times. The tagline for this film is: When the law became corrupt, outlaws became heroes. I read a criticism of the film, before I saw it, and one of the comments involved Tom Hardy’s accent, claiming it was thick, and hard to understand, and not well done, but I didn’t find that to be the case at all. I had no problem understanding him, and I thought his portrayal of Forrest Bondurant was well done. In fact, my daughter, who watched the movie with me, said she thought he could have used a little more of an accent, not less. I recently saw Tom in Tinker Tailor, Soldier, Spy, and that character and this were totally worlds apart. He has a rather chameleon-like quality, similar to another actor in TTSS, who also plays in Lawless, veteran actor Gary Oldman. Of Mr. Oldman’s performance, all I can say is I wish he’d had more scenes; he lights up the screen every time he’s on it. I liked Jason Clarke as the often volatile Howard. I used to watch him in Brotherhood, and before that I saw him in the film Rabbit Proof Fence. You wouldn’t know he’s Australian; he does accents very well indeed. Shie LaBoeuf is great as the young, up and coming Jack Bondurant. I loved his scenes with his friend Cricket, as well as his wooing of the young religious girl, played by Mia Wasikowska, whom I saw in Jane Eyre and Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland.

I enjoyed the plot and the writing, and there are some rather stunning visuals in this film. I grew to like and root for the Bondurants, and I prayed that they would not come to a bad end. If you want to know whether they do or not, you’ll have to see the film. Lawless is a violent film, so I wouldn’t recommend it for young children, but teenagers and up should be fine.  I rate this film 4 stars.