Last Dream, The

Description: A mischievous and genre-spanning story collection from legendary film director Pedro Almodovar

'Almodovar's mind seems to be reporting from another world to illuminate, clarify, and challenge our own' KAVEH AKBAR

'Akin to a Spanish Angela Carter' TELEGRAPH

The Last Dream brings together twelve unpublished stories from Almodovar's personal archive, written between the late sixties and the present day. Delivering a tantalising glimpse into Almodovar's world, this wildly inventive collection reflects his most intimate obsessions, as well as his daring evolution as an artist.

Ranging from 'The Last Dream' - a beautiful chronicle of the death of Almodovar's mother - to a love story between Jesus and Barabbas;, a cult film director out in search of painkillers on a bank holiday weekend, the original story behind the film Bad Education, and a gothic tale of a repentant vampire, these stories delight and surprise.

The Last Dream is a celebration of the relationship between life and art, fiction and reality from an artist unafraid to write about our most intimate moments.

Translated by Frank Wynne

Review:
A heady mix of factual and fictitious, befitting of one of cinema's most imaginative storytellers... [the collection is] bracing, the book serving as an outlet for something Almodovar can't express from behind a camera... The Last Dream has its pleasures - some of them lurid, some rather poignant * Observer *

'The Life and Death of Miguel'...could have been written by Roberto Bolano at his height... It's fascinating that in fiction Almodovar prefers to inhabit [a] historical and often fantastical universe. To judge by The Last Dream, he's akin to a Spanish Angela Carter, or a cousin to the undersung Argentinian genius Silvina Ocampo. What his films and stories have in common is a vivid melodrama; a preoccupation with motherhood, outsiders and religion -- Camilla Grudova * Telegraph *

It's no surprise that Pedro Almodovar's The Last Dream is instantly fascinating, brimming with twisting narratives and unforgettable endings-Almodovar has given us three decades of such stories on the big screen. What's more surprising, what's actually thrilling, is witnessing this major artist fully flourish in a totally new medium. The characters feel as vivid and complex as anyone I might call to talk about them. Their resentments fester and erupt. They orbit - clumsily, hilariously, tragically - epiphanic moments of emotional and psychosexual clarity. There's a Borgesian uncanny braided throughout - like Borges, Almodovar's mind seems to be reporting from another world to illuminate, clarify, and challenge our own. This is not auxiliary fiction from a film director; The Last Dream stands alone as a major literary talent's virtuosic debut * Kaveh Akbar, New York Times bestselling author of Martyr! *

The stories in The Last Dream are like a kaleidoscope that reflects to you only the finest, most unexpected moments. The delicious blend of truth and fiction drops you intimately, with raw honesty, inside Almodovar's heart. I love this book! * Miguel Arteta, director of Beatriz At Dinner *

The Last Dream is an inspiring testament to one of cinema's great creative forces. These stories/ allegories/ dreams/ philosophical riffs and intense personal sketches shimmer with all of the vibrance, humour, provocation and humanity of Almodovar's entire body of work. A true delight * Sam Lypsyte, author of the New York Times bestseller The Ask *

Author Biography: Pedro Almodovar is a world-renowned, multi-award-winning film director and screenwriter whose many films include Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, All About My Mother and Talk to Her. Almodovar has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, five BAFTA Awards, two Golden Globe Awards and five Goya Awards.