Review of “Sogni di sangue” by Lorenza Ghinelli
This book is strange and perfect simultaneously. That is always a book only written in Italian by a famous Italian writer: Lorenza Ghinelli. The plot of this book, titled “Sogni di sangue” is cryptic, dark and with a mystery and horror background. Sogni di sangue, I can translate like “Bloody dreams” and also like “Blood dreams”, tells about the creepy relationship between a mother and her son.
The Son’s name is Enoch, what a strange name for a 13 year old guy only, while the mother is Dorotea, a cold and passionless woman who loves occultism. Enoch is a normal student, seemingly, with only one problem: he limps and for this, he is also forced to wear metal implants to walk and go to school easily. For this trouble, Enoch is bullied by his classmates. One night the guy comes to home with a swollen eye.
Dorotea takes care her son and help him to fall asleep and to forget his problems. But it is at this stage of the story that the book turns into a horror novel. While he sleeps, Enoch dreams horrible things, like for instance, to be inside the drain of the city, where he behaves like a reptile crawling on the ground that scares bugs, mice and people. Every morning Enoch awakes spotted with mud and dazed.
Meanwhile, his worst enemy, a classmate who oppressed and beaten him, missed just after visiting city’s drain. Too many mysteries wander inside the drain and at the home of Enoch and his mother. Is perhaps there a relationship, a link with the drain and that home? In the drain, an ancient Egyptian medallion is also found. The medallion was retrieved by Enoch during his weird dreams.
Could there be another explanation about the strange dreams of Enoch? Sogni di sangue is an enigmatic story where dreams and reality are closely intertwined. The author is very capable to keep the emotional strain up and to prevent readers discover the truth about Enoch’s dreams. During this reading, a book addicted can’t help to wonder if Enoch goes really to the drain or not! And which is the role of Dorotea in all this story? Is she involved in these awful dreams?
To discover the truth, you would need to read the book. Unfortunately, Sogni di sangue is written in the Italian language and I really hope it may be translated into English to let English people read and appreciate it. During this reading it is possible to discover if the dreams of Enoch are leaded by the strange rituals of Dorotea. Maybe the woman uses her son to revenge the endured wrongs.
Perhaps the Egyptian medallion is a magic tool used to transform people into animals. In short, this story is a real horror novel and suitable only for horror addicted readers. What is important and amazing is the style of writing: perfect, essential, made of proper words and short sentences that end with periods only. With Sogni di sangue, no needless word accompanies the book, only a proper writing for a perfect horror story!
Rosalba Mancuso is the journalist, born in Sicily, who founded three online magazines in English. On Advicesbooks Book Reviews, Rosalba shows her great passion for books, helping readers and book lovers choose and buy the best books she read and reviewed. She also worked as a contributor for printed publications and online magazines and as a bilingual Italian-English writer. Here, Rosalba also offers room to authors and publishers who want to get their books reviewed through the voice of an avid reader like her. You must also know that this book review magazine lives thanks to your help. Rosalba, in fact, earns a small commission, with no cost for you, when you buy books through the affiliate links you find in her book reviews. This book review magazine is also funded by services of editorial reviews and book press releases.
