First Chapter Review: Chasing Perfection by Jeremy J. Banks

Author Jeremy J. Banks submitted the first chapter of Chasing Perfection: How to Create A Monster in the American South for review.

BLURB:  Peter Valentine has decided to commit suicide by both cutting his wrists and hanging himself from a tree. Before he dies, he wants the world to know why he is committing suicide and what they can do to prevent it from happening in the future. He wants to show how the isolationist small town mentality breeds monsters out of intelligent people. He sits alone in his bedroom for a week and writes out his life story in his own unique and cynical point of view, beginning with his religious fanatic mother Sylvia's decision to move the family from Saint Louis, Missouri to a small southern town called Prominence River. Peter's odyssey from boy to man is rife with sexual perversion, rage, isolation, alienation, and long buried family secrets.

COVER:  Powerful. Moving. It has the feel of someone locked up or trapped, which seems to be Peter's issue.

FIRST CHAPTER: It's 1994. Peter Valentine is in his grandmother's trailer getting ready for his first day of school. He'll be entering seventh grade at Prominence River Elementary. A small school in a small town, prejudices keep him from fitting in. Angry at his mother for bringing him to Prominence River, separated from the father who is his hero, Peter is stuck in a hell of everyone else's making.

KEEP READING: I'm not a huge fan of social commentary thinly disguised in fiction, or books where the whole plot revolves around social issues. I want to get to know the characters. I want to feel the characters' pain or joy or sorrow. Peter is a boy dealing with a great amount of rage. Torn away from his father and forced to live with his abusive mother who thinks he must know the people he came from, he's miserable and mistreated. I want to feel that, but I don't. I want to care about him, but I can't because everyone is swearing up a storm to the point where I'm distracted. There is so much anger, so much tension, that my head is spinning. Now, I'm not saying this isn't realistic. I'm not claiming it won't hit home for some. But with the hostility, vulgarity, and multiple grammar issues, I already feel at a disadvantage while trying to relate to it. Since the synopsis tells the reader the outcome, she knows this book won't have a happy ending. Does she continue to read hoping to find the purpose behind all this? Perhaps being unaware of the outcome would make the story more meaningful. 

I feel, in the end, the author might achieve his goal of bringing the issues he feels passionate about to light, but I needed to connect to Peter on a more personal level and couldn't do it.  

• File Size: 588 KB
• Print Length: 312 pages
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B008OPE072
• Currently $2.99 on Amazon 

The author submitted the first chapter of this book for a First Chapter Review. This review contains my honest opinions, for which I have received no monetary compensation of any kind.

Author Spotlight: Lian Dolan and Helen of Pasadena

Helen Fairchild, is leading a privileged Pasadena existence: married to a pillar of the community; raising a water polo- playing son destined for the most select high school; volunteering her time on the most fashionable committees. It only bothers Helen a tiny bit the she has never quite fit in with the proper Pasadena crowd or finished that graduate degree in Classics or had that second baby. The rigid rules of society in Pasadena appeal to Helen, the daughter of Oregon “fiber artists”, even if she’ll never be on the inside. And then along comes a Rose Parade float, killing her philandering husband and leaving Helen broke, out of her “forever” house, and scrambling to salvage her once-rarefied existence. Enter Dr. Patrick O’Neill, noted archaeologist, excavator of Troy, and wearer of adorable nubby sweaters. A job as Dr. O’Neill’s research assistant is the lifeline Helen needs to re-invent herself professionally, personally, and romantically. Helen’s world widens to include a Hollywood star, a local gossip columnist, an old college nemesis, a high-powered Neutron Mom, an unforgiving admissions director, the best Armenian real estate agent in the biz, and, of course, the intriguing Patrick O’Neill. While uncovering secrets about Ancient Troy alongside her archaeologist, Helen discovers something much more: a new sense of self and a new love.

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"Lian is 'sassy, the smart one'."
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Lian Dolan is a mother, wife, sister, friend, daughter, novelist, writer, and talk show host. She writes and talks about her adventures in modern motherhood for her website, http://www.chaoschronicles.com/ and her weekly podcast, The Chaos Chronicles. Lian has always used her voice to take on all aspects of motherhood, from common-sense parenting to all-consuming school volunteering to overcoming handbag envy. She is known for her humorous take on the day-to-day issues that face women everywhere. The Chaos Chronicles is currently being developed by Nickelodeon as a half-hour comedy.


Prior to The Chaos Chronicles, Lian spent a decade hosting Satellite Sisters, an award-winning talk show that she created with her four real sisters. Satellite Sisters has won 11 Gracie Allen Awards for Excellence in Women’s Media, including Talk Show of the Year in 2006. On air, Lian has interviewed everybody from Bill Clinton to Nora Roberts to Maya Angelou. Lian is the Executive Editor of the Satellite Sisters website.


In addition to her work on air, Lian is a writer and a weekly relationships columnist at http://www.oprah.com/. Previously published books include “Satellite Sisters UnCommon Senses,” published in 2001. Her writing has been featured in many national magazines including regular columns in O, The Oprah Magazine and Working Mother Magazine.


Lian has appeared numerous TV shows including The Today Show, CBS Sunday Morning and The Oprah Winfrey Show.


She lives in Pasadena, California with her husband and two sons. Her dream is to ride on a Rose Parade float. To read more about Lian Dolan, please visit http://helenofpasadena.com/.