This novel asks to dig into ourselves, not to stop at the appearance of those around us but to look deep inside each of them to understand their own story, their origins and their own self.
It is probably the most intimate novel of Marco Mazzanti and it is the one which leaves more questions and generates more astonishment in the reader.
It is the third and the latest book of the young author.

Back cover:
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.  It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us”. With these words Nelson Mandela has placed the mankind naked in front of mirror: he has stripped him of any barrier, protection and he has showed him for what he is. Who am I? This is the question that afflicts Demetrio. He looks for his place in the world. Demetrio is a “different” boy from everybody else, he sees himself like a monster through the reflection of people’s eyes, blurred by ignorance, in a world where the diversity is synonymous with ugliness, inadequacy.
In fact the primary interest of the man is to look for a place in society which matches his expectations and which is perfectly linked to greatness of his dreams. Man’s primary interest is to be accepted, to conform to others not to feel different.
Curiosity predominates in this book that through all its strength, it weaves strong nets, at the centre of them the truth makes itself elusive to man because of the awareness of its weight. It is just this desire for knowledge that draws Demetrio to undertake a travel in the quest for himself; he will arm himself only of desire for knowledge and trust in neighbour that not always, like in real life, they will pay him off.
This book represents the sound encounter between reality and myth. These two values are interwoven by the author without one dominating the other. We discover the reality through all those feelings described in the book whose raw and true humanity catches us unprepared.
The myth is embodied by the main character who leads the reader to wonder about supernatural. The fusion between these two so different worlds makes dream even more disenchanted readers because this is what the author does giving us a piece of his own imagination: he is a maker of parallel worlds where all is possible, where exists a green-haired boy who smells of tree. So the author gives us a delight that at every bite moves us away from our everyday life and he does it with great ability, through a genuine and charismatic writing which overwhelms the reader and kidnaps him sending him to another dimension.
The book represents the society where we live: there are characters that we would never want to meet and others who, thanks to their love and affection, make us better.
This is one of lessons that twenty-five Demetrio receives in the course of his life that will lead him to meet many people, some of which will help him more and more to get closer to the discovery of himself. Knowing himself is the keyword of this novel whose text asks to dig into ourselves, not to stop at the appearances of those who around us but to look deep inside each of them to understand their own story, their origins and their own self.
Roberta Balzano