SWEET DREAMS is a sad, but poignant story of nine-year-old Massimo who finds his father sobbing in anguish. He quickly learns that his mother had disappeared. Questions begin to circle in his young mind and that curiosity continues into his adulthood.
Forty years later, Massimo learns that secrets were kept from him and the woman who was his mother is not who he believes her to be. Oscillating between emotional moments to funny ones, author Massimo Gramellini weaves an interesting tale of secrets, growth and personal discovery. Written in first person with a few letters and newspaper clippings interspersed within, our protagonist learns first hand what it means to get to know someone past death. The first hand account of events puts readers in the forefront of the action, offering a great view of the emotion and heart behind Massimo's discovery.
Although different than the stories I'm used to, SWEET DREAMS is a refreshingly real story that held me captivated.
One snowy New Yearβs Eve, nine-year-old Massimo wakes up to
a long, anguished cry and the disconcerting image of his
father being supported by two strangers. Inexplicably, his
mother has disappeared, leaving only a vague trail of
perfume in his room and her dressing gown bundled up at the
foot of his bed. Where has she gone? Will she ever come
back? And will Massimo be able to say heβs sorry after
fighting with her the night before?
At turns poignant and funny, Sweet Dreamsβalready an
international sensationβis both the story of a secret that
has been kept hidden for forty years and the uplifting tale
of a boy who, as he grows into an adult, has to gather the
broken pieces of his life and realize that his mother was
not the woman he thought she was.
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