"Sweeney writes with conviction and is emphatic in his opinions. He demonstrates facility with psychological terminology which he often utilizes when describing himself and the family dynamic . . . While children being raised by a grandparent has become more commonplace, there are few who can claim to have been raised by a great-grandparent. Sweeney's tribute to the man who was his hero and his role model during an often cruel and miserable childhood is a heartfelt one." - The BookLife Prize/Publishers Weekly
The Light of Other Days is a memoir about growing up in a turbulent household with an anxiety disorder, depression, sensory issues, and introversion while struggling with an absent father and an emotionally-distant stepfather. It is also a story about a wonderful relationship between a boy and his great-grandfather, a man who unwittingly filled a parental void in the midst of his own depression. Beginning in the blue-collar world of 1970s Philadelphia and ending over two decades later, The Light of Other Days follows the trials of adolescence and an internal monologue that was often louder than the outside world.