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The Perfect Song
The Perfect Song Mendel is a frustrated song writer obsessed with his art. Poul is intent on becoming rich and will do almost anything to attain his dream, including taking the writer's works. Publisher J.W. Beasely turns the writings into music that becomes popular beyond his wildest dreams. Unbeknownst to him, Mendel's music changes society. He becomes an icon, an object of worship and a target for assassination. The three men's lives turn into a continental game of cat-and-mouse amidst love, murder, deadly riots and history's biggest manhunt. But in the end no one can stop Mendel in his quest for the perfect song-no one except himself. When Poul realizes the truth, it's too late.Or is it?Was the quest for a few decades or is it forever?
192 pages, Paperback
First published June 15, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 17, 2012
I'm going to start out by being perfectly honest: I've pretty much never met a self-published book (fiction or non, regardless of the press that prints it) that didn't suffer from the want of a good editor and a professional proofreader. And I've read a decent number of self-published books in the past few years, from so-called vanity presses as diverse as iuniverse and 1stbooks and so on.
So no, "The Perfect Song" by Damon is not perfect. What novel written from the heart and nurtured while working full-time over a span of years ever is? The point here is, it's one of the best self-published novels I've had the pleasure to come across.
"The Perfect Song" is full of big ideas on the nature of art, the nature of ethics, the nature of humans, and the nature of nature. All of these big ideas are couched in three characters: Mendel, the artist; Poul, the interface between artist and real world; and Beasely, the publisher. And these characters are definitely real, not just skin sacks to fill with "big ideas." By the end of the book, you've largely forgotten you're reading about ideas because somewhere along the line, the characters have become more important. Which is what good fiction should do.
There are three kinds of reviews I hate: the kind where the reviewer uses the review to vehemently discourse on what's wrong with the genre, the kind where the reviewer reveals 90% of the plot and it's twists without ever commenting on whether the book is any good or not, and the kind where the reviewer tries to decipher the author's influences and deeper meanings without ever consulting the author him/herself.
I think I've skirted the first problem successfully at the beginning of the review. So now let me try to skirt the second.
"The Perfect Song" is about Mendel, an artist who decides in early adulthood that he needs to devote his life to finding "the perfect song," the song that every other song ever written is just a shadow of. Along the way, his life intersects with and forever alters that of Poul, a money-hungry but almost terminally lazy drifter. Poul's life intersects with the status-conscious music publisher Beasely, and from there, as the cover copy states, begins "a continental game of cat-and-mouse amidst love, murder, deadly riots and history's biggest manhunt."
It's a game of cat-and-mouse that sweeps you along. This is the kind of book that you approach saying "okay, someone recommended it to me, I'll give it a try, a chapter a night," and before you know it, you're stretching that bed-time to get through "one more chapter."
I'm not even going to attempt to skirt the third type of review I hate. Suffice to say, there are shades of Plato and other great philosophers here. There is a ton of political and sociological commentary mixed in. What were the author's early and lifelong influences? I can't honestly tell you right now, even as well as I know him. If you really want to know, I'd go to www.theperfectsong.net and see if he answers the question there.
Full disclosure time: "Damon" (the author's pen name) is the father of a friend of mine. Now, I haven't seen "Damon" in person in about 10 years. His son, my friend Nathan, told me about the book and I searched it out when I had enough money to buy it. I'm not recommending the book because he's a friend, I'm recommending it because it's good.
So no, "The Perfect Song" by Damon is not perfect. What novel written from the heart and nurtured while working full-time over a span of years ever is? The point here is, it's one of the best self-published novels I've had the pleasure to come across.
"The Perfect Song" is full of big ideas on the nature of art, the nature of ethics, the nature of humans, and the nature of nature. All of these big ideas are couched in three characters: Mendel, the artist; Poul, the interface between artist and real world; and Beasely, the publisher. And these characters are definitely real, not just skin sacks to fill with "big ideas." By the end of the book, you've largely forgotten you're reading about ideas because somewhere along the line, the characters have become more important. Which is what good fiction should do.
There are three kinds of reviews I hate: the kind where the reviewer uses the review to vehemently discourse on what's wrong with the genre, the kind where the reviewer reveals 90% of the plot and it's twists without ever commenting on whether the book is any good or not, and the kind where the reviewer tries to decipher the author's influences and deeper meanings without ever consulting the author him/herself.
I think I've skirted the first problem successfully at the beginning of the review. So now let me try to skirt the second.
"The Perfect Song" is about Mendel, an artist who decides in early adulthood that he needs to devote his life to finding "the perfect song," the song that every other song ever written is just a shadow of. Along the way, his life intersects with and forever alters that of Poul, a money-hungry but almost terminally lazy drifter. Poul's life intersects with the status-conscious music publisher Beasely, and from there, as the cover copy states, begins "a continental game of cat-and-mouse amidst love, murder, deadly riots and history's biggest manhunt."
It's a game of cat-and-mouse that sweeps you along. This is the kind of book that you approach saying "okay, someone recommended it to me, I'll give it a try, a chapter a night," and before you know it, you're stretching that bed-time to get through "one more chapter."
I'm not even going to attempt to skirt the third type of review I hate. Suffice to say, there are shades of Plato and other great philosophers here. There is a ton of political and sociological commentary mixed in. What were the author's early and lifelong influences? I can't honestly tell you right now, even as well as I know him. If you really want to know, I'd go to www.theperfectsong.net and see if he answers the question there.
Full disclosure time: "Damon" (the author's pen name) is the father of a friend of mine. Now, I haven't seen "Damon" in person in about 10 years. His son, my friend Nathan, told me about the book and I searched it out when I had enough money to buy it. I'm not recommending the book because he's a friend, I'm recommending it because it's good.
December 16, 2025
I received this book as a free, advanced copy... 21 years ago. Some books just wait on your shelf until it's time to be read.
Part fever dream; part morality tale; part commentary on pop culture and religion, this book is meant to be experienced.
Part fever dream; part morality tale; part commentary on pop culture and religion, this book is meant to be experienced.
July 15, 2010
Recommended by my friend Dennis Miller who wrote it. He is working on his second book and about ready for third printing of this one.
17th July - I am on chapter eight and completely enchanted,. Good for you, Dennis. I'm loving it.
20 July - This is a very unusual book that suspends reality.
One of the several themes that runs through “The Perfect Song” is obsession/compulsion. All of the main characters, and all of the minor characters, which is almost everybody else on the planet, are unable to control their compulsions. Mendel can’t stop writing and discarding his songs. All the pulse of the planet flows through him to his music and is tossed to the wind. Poul can’t stop gathering them up and collecting the money they generate, although with his constant trekking he rarely has time to enjoy it. Mendel and Poul are a duality of art for art’s sake and art for commercial benefit. Beasley is the quintessential marketing genius who must turn it all into a great big planet-wide circus, because that’s all he knows how to do. It doesn’t matter to him that he might injure or betray as long as he sells music. He struggles between his ethics and his need to create the next big splash. The public at large follows the hype willingly and eventually separates into forces much like the “Big Endians” and the “Little Endians” of Gulliver’s Travels, fanatically following their own brand of absurdity.
This is a very unusual book – a blend of fantasy, mystery, and social commentary blending into humor as we recognize our own media-controlled world within it. The reader follows the lives of the characters to the end, hunting for the clues to resolve the puzzle within. I really liked it and look forward to more from this author.
17th July - I am on chapter eight and completely enchanted,. Good for you, Dennis. I'm loving it.
20 July - This is a very unusual book that suspends reality.
One of the several themes that runs through “The Perfect Song” is obsession/compulsion. All of the main characters, and all of the minor characters, which is almost everybody else on the planet, are unable to control their compulsions. Mendel can’t stop writing and discarding his songs. All the pulse of the planet flows through him to his music and is tossed to the wind. Poul can’t stop gathering them up and collecting the money they generate, although with his constant trekking he rarely has time to enjoy it. Mendel and Poul are a duality of art for art’s sake and art for commercial benefit. Beasley is the quintessential marketing genius who must turn it all into a great big planet-wide circus, because that’s all he knows how to do. It doesn’t matter to him that he might injure or betray as long as he sells music. He struggles between his ethics and his need to create the next big splash. The public at large follows the hype willingly and eventually separates into forces much like the “Big Endians” and the “Little Endians” of Gulliver’s Travels, fanatically following their own brand of absurdity.
This is a very unusual book – a blend of fantasy, mystery, and social commentary blending into humor as we recognize our own media-controlled world within it. The reader follows the lives of the characters to the end, hunting for the clues to resolve the puzzle within. I really liked it and look forward to more from this author.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews