Customer Reviews

The Discovery of Dawn

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is an intriguing, if not wholly satisfying, novel by the former Mayor of Rome and until recently leader of Italy's main opposition party. It is told in the first person by an archivist of diaries, who feels compelled to solve the mystery of his father's life before he can tell his own story. The protagonist's experience, like that of all of Veltroni's generation, was deeply affected by the terrorism that engulfed Italy in the 1970s, and his gradual understanding of what that means is part of the story. As the narrator symbolically works to restore the overgrown garden of his family's empty country house, he discovers a way to explore the past--or is he exploring only his own imagination? Although Veltroni strongly hints that only what is written and read is real, he falls short of taking a position on the difference between imagination and reality, leaving readers to make their own judgments. But the questions raised are important ones, and the suggested answer intriguing. We may hope Mr. Veltroni will revisit some of these ideas in future works of fiction.

Save your money and time, do not buy the book; highly disappointing, I couldn't get through it. Boring, tasteless and a very bad prose. It would deserve a no star rating.