The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafón
“Barcelona, 1945 – Just after the war, a great world city lies in shadow, nursing its wounds, and a boy named Daniel awakes one day to find that he can no longer remember his mother’s face. To console his only child, Daniel’s widowed father, an antiquarian book dealer, initiates him into the secret of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a library tended by Barcelona’s guild of rare-book dealers as a repository for books forgotten by the world, waiting for someone who will care about them again. Daniel’s father coaxes him to choose a book from the spiraling labyrinth of shelves, one that, it is said, will have a special meaning for him. And Daniel so loves the book he selects, a novel called The Shadow of the Wind by one Julian Carax, that he sets out to find the rest of Carax’s work. To his shock, he discovers that someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book this author has written. In fact, he may have the last of Carax’s books in existence. Before Daniel knows it, his seemingly innocent quest has opened a door into one of Barcelona’s darkest secrets, an epic story of murder, magic, madness, and doomed love, and before long he realizes that if he doesn’t find out the truth about Julian Carax, he and those closest to him will suffer horribly.” – Goodreads
Last year it seemed like everyone on Goodreads was reading this book and loving it. I bought it last June but didn’t get around to reading it until a couple of weeks ago. What took me so long?! I wish I had read it sooner! This book was so good and to me, it lived up to its hype.
If you know me, you know that I love the 1940s/WW2 era. Though the setting of the book is in that time, I was unsure I’d like it because it takes place in Spain, specifically Barcelona. Nothing against Spain or anything, I just didn’t know too much of Spanish history of that time, except for the little I remember about Francisco Franco from a report I did back in elementary school a long time ago. But it turned out to be a great setting for the overall mood of the book. I thought the setting of Barcelona enhanced the overall secretive, mysterious, and eerie vibe. The book definitely had that ’shadowy’ noir feeling.
The plot itself was very interesting, with quite a bit of twists and turns. I liked that The Shadow of the Wind in the book was the catalyst for the events in Daniel’s life, which at some point somewhat mirrored the true tale of Julian Carax’s life. So much so that once I even thought perhaps Daniel was Julian’s illegitimate son. I was wrong about that, but some of my hunches were correct. Still, there were surprises left for me to read even when I figured out some of the secrets. This is a book that you can’t say from the beginning that you’ve figured out the whole plot. Some books practically give away how the rest of the book will go right from the beginning chapters, but this piece keeps you reading for more. You really feel the need to know what happens next to Daniel or what happened in Julian’s past that was so horrible that so many people are involved in keeping the secrets related to him.
My favorite characters were Julian Carax and Fermin Romero de Torres. I enjoyed the whole book but I have to admit I was more interested with Julian’s story. It was fascinating to follow him from an innocent child to a reckless, idealistic, hopeful teenager, and finally to an empty, angry, heartbroken man who can’t let go of the past. In contrast is Fermin, a very loquacious character, who knows a lot about a lot, and adds some comic relief when things get a little bit too serious. He too has suffered some injustices in the past, specifically under the violent hands of Inspector Fumero, who has ties to both Julian and Daniel’s stories. However, Fermin takes life as it comes and is lighthearted, in order to not succumb to the darkness and violence of his past. I think I’m going to have to also add the character of Miquel on that favorite characters list as well because I was just so touched by his loyalty and dedication to his childhood friend, Julian. It was amazing the lengths he went to help out Julian.
Overall, I thought this book had it all. It had a plot that was interesting enough to keep the reader wanting more, romance, doomed love, murder, mystery, and even some laughs. It had great characters, great settings, and a style of writing that was very easy to follow without losing its sophistication. I absolutely loved this book and it’s safe to say this is now one of my favorite books ever!
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Tags: bibliophilic, Carlos Ruiz Zafón, Challenges, family secrets, mystery, post-war, Spain:Barcelona
Reviews | admin | January 29, 2010 | 
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