Nobody Knows What My Dreams Are [Paperback]

Patrick Clerkin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 4, 2008

Pat is a young man in his early twenties growing up in 1960's Dublin. With unhappy teenage years behind him, a huge inferiority complex, no close friends and no life plan he begins to wonder and worry about where his life is headed. Still living in Dublin's suburbia with his parents and two siblings, one cold January Saturday afternoon he heads into town where a chance encounter with Andrew, a strange 11-year-old schoolboy, changes his life forever.

Taking on responsibilities he had never even dreamt of before, Pat gradually discovers himself and finds that a very different life lies ahead for him than he could ever have imagined. Subsequently, he faces many challenging situations that require all his ingenuity and willpower to overcome but not without help from unexpected sources.

This story will make you laugh and make you cry and, hopefully, will help younger readers with life problems to believe that, no matter what, there is always a bigger picture.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

The author was born in Dublin in the 1940's and has lived and worked there to the present day.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing (February 4, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1425164188
• ISBN-13: 978-1425164188
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,320,472 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Finally, I was on my way", April 6, 2008

By 

Elliot "Son of Nietzsche" (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nobody Knows What My Dreams Are (Paperback)

"Nobody Knows What My Dreams Are" is set in Dublin of the 1960s. The narrator, Pat, a man in his 20s, still lives at home in an uneasy relationship with his parents, works unenthusiastically at a middle-of-the-road insurance office, and is generally uninspired by life. He has neither contentment, nor the motivation to seek it out. The course of his life is abruptly altered outside a cinema one Winter afternoon, when 11 year old Andrew - needing an adult to gain entry to the cinema - approaches Pat and asks him to assist. It transpires that Andrew's father died while Andrew was young, and his life is sullen, solitary and joyless. The two develop a symbiotic relationship whose impact upon each of their lives is incalculable.

The novel charts the course of this highly emotional, and at times volatile, relationship over a one year period, with particular focus upon the possibilities it raises for Pat to find a meaningful existence. Although the author's idealism is somewhat strained on occasion, the intensity which engulfs each chapter maintains the novel's compelling pace, and the air of anticipation keeps the pages turning. The vision of a Platonic 'ideal love' that emerges is beautifully captured - if, (perhaps inevitably?) the studied absence of Eros detracts from the relationship's authenticity. The 1960s setting is a significant choice in generating the atmosphere of optimism, cleverly providing a stark and desolate contrast to the joy that neither Andrew nor Pat would have the opportunity to experience today.

Poignant and thought-provoking, "Nobody Knows What My Dreams Are" deserves a widespread readership. The multi-layered thematic messages imbue the novel with broad relevance, regardless of the reader's age or gender, while ensuring that its appeal can be paradoxically specific. It will be fascinating to read more from Patrick Clerkin. Recommended.