From Helplessness To Hopefulness To Happiness: Book 1 HELPLESSNESS - What Happens To Brothers When We Leran Our Sisters Have Been Sexually Abused By Our Parents
GENRE
DRAMA MEMOIR
- Drama
- Suspense
- Mature Audience
Core Theme
TRAUMA, FAMILY, RETRIBUTION.
TIME PERIOD
1960s & '70s,1980s & '90s,2000s
COMPARABLE TITLES
PRECIOUS
CHARACTER LIST
NICKY/KEEPER CATRAN-WHITNEY (M/<10-50S) — LEAD/NARRATOR; SINCERE, STRONG, PASSIONATE, FIRMLY-CONVICTED, AND REFLECTIVE.
HENRY PERRIN (M/30S-60S) — SUPPORTING; NICKY’S STEP FATHER; A CALLOUS, SERIAL RAPIST AND SEXUAL ASSAULTER WHO PREYED UPON HIS STEP DAUGHTERS.
NICKY’S MOTHER (F/20S-50S) — SUPPORTING; MOTHER OF 8 AND WIFE OF HENRY; AN ENTIRELY MERCILESS AND COMPLICIT ENABLER TO HENRY.
JAMES (M/<10-50S) — SUPPORTING; NICKY’S OLDER BROTHER WHO STANDS BY NICKY’S SIDE DURING HIS FINAL CONFRONTATION WITH HENRY.
SHARON (F/<10-50S) — SUPPORTING; NICKY’S SISTER WHO WAS PREYED UPON AND ASSAULTED BY HENRY.
BRENDA (F/<10-50S) — SUPPORTING; NICKY’S OLDEST SISTER WHO WAS ALSO ASSAULTED AND VICTIMIZED BY HENRY.
Brief
A portrait of one family’s trauma. Follows a family band on the cusp of stardom as they are torn apart after their step father’s unyielding sexual predation of his step daughters. Years later, a fateful stepson decides to dive into his family’s trauma, all while bracing to stand up to his predator step father once and for all.
What We Liked
A key strength in this work is the author’s voice— Keeper’s narration stands out as exquisite, haunting, and robust with its emotion and reflections. Rarely are authors able to imbue their stories with as much heart, pain, and passion as Keeper. Audience are not ready for the depths of depravity that this work chronicles. Nor are they ready for the kind of heinous, monstrous villains this work presents. All in all, this work contains pulse-pounding drama in excess, and one would be unwise not to take a closer look, that is, if they can bear it.
Film: This work is a solid candidate for adaptation to TV for its potency and power. These qualities are largely thanks to the author’s voice and perspective— His pain, passion, and valuable findings and insights ring through loud and clear. One would be hard pressed to find a protagonist as noble, proactive, and well-motivated as Keeper. Moreover, there is a saying in screenwriting that a good movie is three good scenes and no bad ones. Here, the author seems to have more than a handful of great potential scenes, and they are led by the epic, gut-wrenching family meeting where the assault revelations come out, followed by the pulse-pounding final confrontation between Keeper and the tormenter in Henry. All in all, there is plenty here to level the audience with this work’s high stakes drama and harsh truths.
TV: This would an exceptional adaptation for TV in that its highly expansive, considered worldview
and cast of characters present endless angles and opportunities for arcs, storylines, and
catharses. Just like the HBO series Euphoria dedicates episodes to a single character’s backstory
and inner workings, this work would have plenty of well-rounded, interesting characters to choose from. Moreover, what is appealing is that this work has two key storylines— One in the past to chronicle the pain and suffering of the family, and one in the future following Keeper’s mission to avenge his sisters and to hold the monster that is Henry to account.
Key points:
1. The Narrator’s Voice— Sincere, passionate, convicted, and intellectual.
2. The 10 Minutes— An unforgettable, multi-layered centerpiece.
3. The Final Showdown— A memorable and uncommonly pulse-pounding climax.
4. The Intention— Both to expose a predator and to shine a light for victims.
5. The Villains— Henry is as heinous, memorable, and callous a predator as they come.
Synopsis
Now in his 50s, Nick “Keeper” looks back on the many years of sexual depravity and predation inflicted upon his sisters by his step father. He tells of Henry Perrin, the fateful predator, and he digs into Henry’s predatory instincts and insatiabilities, telling how Henry preyed upon his step daughters, Keeper’s young sisters. This leads us to a tense showdown— Keeper, in his 20s, heads to his mother and Henry’s house with a baseball bat and gives Henry the ultimatum to leave in the next 24 hours or he will be killed. Henry finally leaves.
Next, Keeper shares with us two raw, emotional, no-details-spared interviews with his sisters Brenda and then Sharon. In them, his sisters chronicle the graphic, heinous assaults from Henry.
Keeper then tells us of a fateful afternoon where bombshell that is Henry’s predation was dropped on him and his three brothers. During the unforgettable 10 minute family meeting, Keeper’s mother sat all parties down and revealed that Henry has been molesting the girls for years.
Before Henry can account for his heinous acts, he fakes a heart attack, and he ends up vacating the house without ever having to speak on his atrocities. Their mother cries that night, but Keeper was never sure why she was crying— For her children, or for Henry.
Two weeks later, Henry would be welcomed back into the house by Keeper’s mother, much to his utter internal devastation. In the present, Keeper bears witness to the testimony of Renee, one of his younger sisters. To Keeper’s utter astonishment and regret, he finds out that his standoff with Henry, casting him out once and for all was too late— Henry had already gotten to Keeper’s two youngest sisters. Renee proceeds to spin the terrible tales of her abuse. She tells how Henry pimped out one of Keeper’s sisters to an Arab oil baron in exchange for buying them a van, and she proceeds to tell how Henry drugged her and raped her, how she became pregnant at just 13, and how not her mother, but her rapist took her to get an abortion. It’s a terrible revelation that unequivocally crushes Keeper and further galvanizes his rage and mounting need for retribution.
A chance visit to Henry’s Facebook page reveals that a celebration of life service is to be held for his late wife from later in his life. Keeper recognizes the opportunity he is faced with, and he begins to prepare for a final showdown with the tormentor in Henry. The day arrives, and Keeper and James head to the church. There, they sit patiently through the service, and once it is complete Keeper approaches Henry. Henry feigns being happy to see them, but Keeper cuts right to the chase, eviscerating Henry for his crimes, cursing him, and placing photos of his victims at his feet for all of Henry’s family and community to see. Henry is virtually KO’d by the confrontation— He is speechless, deflated, embarrassed, and entirely defeated. As a final note, Keeper offers encouragement to other victims and generously gives his email address if anyone wants to connect with him.