The angry young man grows up to be the angry middle-aged man. Now he's stuck in a dead-end job, married to a woman that detests him, and children that don't even know him. A close encounter with death makes him realize that he deserves more than what life has dealt him. Can he get it?
Size: 1247 KB (242,434 words)
Genre: Fiction
Sex Contents: Minimal Sex
Tags: Ma/Fa, Consensual, Romantic, Heterosexual, Safe Sex, Slow
Review by manddscott [other reviews by manddscott]
Reviewed: - (Review Updated: )
Another great story by Lazlo. Like several of his offerings, it holds some life lessons for all who read it. In this story, a very angry man nearly lets his anger destroy everything. Frankly, if I had been married to that shrew he called a wife, I would have been angry as well. Either that, or I would have been in jail for killing her.
This is the story of his metaphorical rebirth, as he rebuilds his life, finds love and friendship, and reconnects with his children and his parents. The story appears to take place in the late 1980s or early 1990s, simply based on the level of technology described. The "lightening" in the title is an intentional play on words. As the MC rebuilds his life, he lets go of the anger which was weighing him down.
For plot, it gets a 10. It is well-developed, and goes past the point of an A+ rating. The author mixes in romance with sex, loss, love and grief in a well-played manner.
Technical quality is where this story suffers slightly. It has a number of slight mistakes that drag the score down to an A (8) from a better score. In one spot, the character's name is even wrong as he refers to Sharon as Jennie by mistake.
For personal appeal, I give it somewhere between an A+ (9) and a 10. It is a great story, but I would only want to read it many times if I had long intervals between the readings. The life lessons are some I had already learned personally before reading the story, or I might be tempted to raise the score even more.
Review by fuzzywuzzy [other reviews by fuzzywuzzy]
Reviewed:
I am always surprised at Lazlo's ingenuity with his stories. They are always profoundly interesting, with undertones of a philosophical nature that keeps me at any rate on my toes for a deeper meaning. In this gem, Jerry is a man monster, I suppose the comparison is to a gorilla. At the same time he has a foul temper which is close to the surface ready to explode seriously emotionally damaging the recipients of his ire. His wife is the bitch from hell personified, and is dragging his daughter down with her.
His disgust at his life is so painful that in one sweep of his being he walks away from them all and finds a sort of inner peace with friends he helps in a slum. He meets and falls in love with Jenny, and re-unites with his son when his wife shows her true colors when she nearly kills the boy with a baseball bat. Things are so bad that he ends up with Melissa, the junior bitch from hell in his custody.
Slowly but surely his life begins to change for the better as it should for this is a really good love story and Lazlo allows us to observe intimately the interactions between the characters. Enjoy, as I did, and please tell Lazlo of your enjoyment.
p.s., The joke of the day, or the week, or the year, reminds me that it happened in real life to Lands' End, but they couldn't afford to fix the error of the misplaced apostrophe. Oh yes, the sex scenes aren't bad either.
Review by 54vette [other reviews by 54vette]
Reviewed:
This incredible story sort of struck close to home for me.
You see, as a big man who had rage and control issues, I can relate to the story as if it were about me to an extent.
(Note: I don't mean to impose any of my own personal life on anyone out there so, get a grip before you find yourself saying something you don't really mean because you don't know me or the author. Ok?)
Now, back to "Thunder and Lightening" by Lazlo Zalezac. First thing you may have noticed is that there seems to be typo in the title. Well, let me tell, there is NOTHING wrong with the spelling at all.
In fact, it's so much a point of the story that it deserves it's place.
This superbly written story (which is still 'in progress' at the time of this review) is about a man who has a big body and was stronger than most of the people around him. His own wife and daughter referred to him as a "neanderthal" or "an ape". The author's description of Jerry sort of reminds of the actor, Dan Blocker, who played Hoss Cartwright on TV's Bonanza.
Only Jerry wasn't like Hoss. In fact, the opening chapter of this story has Jerry (our hero) tearing one of his employees a 'new asshole', so to speak. His rage was definitely out of control. But, not to the point of doing physical damage to another human being. Not yet anyway!
The things that start changing Jerry was the night he got knocked on his ass by a lightning hitting the ground close to where his car ended up after an accident.
That coupled with his wife kicking him out made him decide it was time for him to seriously think about changing his ways.
Don't get me wrong. Jerry's wife is no picnic. In fact, you'll find out just what a class A bitch she can be.
It is just that Jerry decides to take control of himself and get a better grip on his rage before it ends up landing him in jail.
Anyone reading his work can tell that Lazlo definitely loves his characters. He treats them with so much care that you can't help but get involved with them.
I love Lazlo's style of writing. When asked by other writers about how do I choose the stories I review, I explain to them that one of the most important elements for me is the "flow" of it. Take any good hit song that you can sing. Even something as simple as "She Loves Me" by the Beatles. Listen to it's flow. Sure it's not as 'classy' as a "Sound of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel. But, I can almost bet you that you know ALL the words to "She Loves You" and not "Sound of Silence". The 'flow' is still there.
Well that's what I really dig about Lazlo's work. He knows how to keep the flow going. He doesn't jump around like a new age pulp fiction story. Not that there's anything wrong with 'pulp fiction' stories. I just like to know where I'm at that's all.
Lazlo keeps it 'grounded' and develops his characters with so much love and care that you can relate to them in a very meaningful way. Some of us may even identify with some of the characters. It's quality of 'real-ness' is excellent.
These are, after all, humans he's dealing with. People who go to work and/or school and just struggle to have a better life and get along with others.
To date, the story has taken Jerry through some seriously dramstic changes. He gets closer to his son and finds someone that actually loves him the way he is.
Everything about this story is positive. Even the parts where our hero gets physically hurt. (You'll have to read it to know what I'm talking about)
I love this author's work. Everything I've read from him has been superbly written.
Sure there are a few typos here and there. And there may even been some grammatical errors. But, the content is powerful as well as the statement it makes about not "judging a book by it's cover"
This one is on my 'must read' list. Please take the time to vote for this story and the other stories you read here on SOL. And, by all means, let the authors know what you think of their work. That's all the reward these people have and sharing such wonderful talent such as Lazlo (and many other authors whose work I happen to enjoy) is there way of giving to us all.
Read "Thunder and Lightening" by Lazlo Zalezac and find out why "Lightening" is spelled the way it is. :) :) :)
Enjoy!!!
54vette
