La Sombra Del Viento / The Shadow Of The Wind (Autores Espa~noles E Iberoamericanos)
by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
|
|
| published
|
2003
by Planeta
|
| first published
| 2005 |
| binding
| Hardcover |
| isbn
|
8408043641
(isbn13: 9788408043645)
|
| pages
| 576 |
| literary awards
| Barry Award, 2005 - Best First Novel |
| date added
|
09-09-06
|
|
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Read in February, 2008
recommended to Jamie by:
The girl at the Ferry Building Bookshop
recommends it for:
Anyone. So good.
There's probably nothing much I "learned" in the introspective sense, but this is a novel like a novel ought to be. This is an epic film on paper, gloomy and engaging, smokey, noir with crumbling ruins, young love, disfigurment, lust, torture...the stuff of Dumas, DuMauier and, as of late, The Historian. I woke up at five a.m. and had to sweet talk myself back to sleep: all I wanted to do was read. One Friday, after work, I took sanctuary in The Hotel Biron, those little tables in t...more
There's probably nothing much I "learned" in the introspective sense, but this is a novel like a novel ought to be. This is an epic film on paper, gloomy and engaging, smokey, noir with crumbling ruins, young love, disfigurment, lust, torture...the stuff of Dumas, DuMauier and, as of late, The Historian. I woke up at five a.m. and had to sweet talk myself back to sleep: all I wanted to do was read. One Friday, after work, I took sanctuary in The Hotel Biron, those little tables in the dark, pages flickering with candles and drank a glass of wine in solitude, completely enthralled in the world of 1940's Barcelona.
I walked home from the train at night and found myself saying the characters names beneath my umbrella, hoping no one would hear me talking to myself, but they were, quite simply, too beautiful to ignore: Julian Carax, Daniel Semepere, Beatriz...Tomas, Penelope Aldaya and Nuria Monfort.
In a movie this would be too many people, but for this novel they were perfectly seamed, each point of view more entralling and taxing than the one before.
Most refreshing, clearly the author wasn't poisoned with the desire to simply keep the reader in the dark: instead this story, with attention, was something you could figure out--because that's the way life is. The mystery itself isn't supposed to shock you intensely into thinking a book is good, that's a dirty trick. Instead, the STORY carried you. You cared about the story and it was a tragity and mystery all the same, simply because you were invested in these people and what became of them. To know them so intimately from childhood to adulthood and old age, to know them through various degrees of point of view seperation--to hear there is no Penelope, and then to know she is a sister, a love, but to some non-existant...well, it's gothic literature at it's very best.
With a book like this I am almost, ALMOST tempted to give up my most pedantic and pretentious thoughts, paralells and character development--this story is a story and it's just that good. It is the Phantom of the Opera, those dark tunnels and pressure points, a lake with candles or drawing rooms with no fire in the grate and crazy wives being stored in attics over head. This is, quite literally a timeless tale, and yes, reading it will make you smarter, more interested, more cultured (the back of the book includes a walking tour of Barcelona. I missed Barcelona but I am quite determined to go now, with my copy of A Shadow of the Wind in hand, just like wanting desperately to visit Eastern Europe after I finished The Historian and see it all), but more importantly real life simply fades to black as you become completely, totally and fantastically helpless and wrapped up in the lives of others.
While there are fun hybrids--Crash Topics in Calamity Physics, for one, which combine a courses, authors, quotes and plot lines from a thousand famous novels, this book really makes that unnecessary. This is a classic without any help, no cheat cheats necessary. Read it. Read it. Read it....less
bookshelves:
fiction
Read in April, 2008
I bought a copy of this book last September at the library's book sale, but it languished unread on my shelf until yesterday. What prompted me to pick it up was this: I was browsing through the backlist and pre-orders at Subterranean Press because of an author I'd found who releases specialized, small run stories that I thought I'd like to read. (Caitlin R. Kiernan) Turns out her books now run about $40-60 a pop and are generally only available third hand. As I browsed down the list, I saw that ...more
I bought a copy of this book last September at the library's book sale, but it languished unread on my shelf until yesterday. What prompted me to pick it up was this: I was browsing through the backlist and pre-orders at Subterranean Press because of an author I'd found who releases specialized, small run stories that I thought I'd like to read. (Caitlin R. Kiernan) Turns out her books now run about $40-60 a pop and are generally only available third hand. As I browsed down the list, I saw that "The Shadow of the Winds" was priced at $75, and thought it was odd since the trade paperback was surely no more than $15.
Not only is this small press offering a $75 edition, they're also printing 26 copies of a $500 edition. That piqued my curiousity intensely--I knew the book was popular in literary circles, but I didn't think it had reached those heights. At the bottom of the page, the hook, line, and sinker read:
"We consider The Shadow of the Wind one of the most important books of the past twenty years, and aim to honor it with the lavish edition it so richly deserves."
I'm trying to read slowly: fifteen minutes here, thirty minutes there. This is a book that wants to be devoured, and I'm beginning to feel about it like I feel about Winterson's The Passion--sentences with lush philosophical gems sparkle in Zafon's beautiful prose, and I'm bending corners on the pages with the phrases that make me ache. (There are only four books that I've ever bent pages on).
The basic plot of the story runs something like this: the son of a Barcelona book-seller is taken to a graveyard of books to find and adopt one of them. He picks "The Shadow of the Wind" by Julian Carax and, after reading through the book in its entirety, realizes that it is the pinnacle of anything he's every read. After trying to find more books by Carax, however, the boy discovers a mystery that digs deep into both his life and the lives of those around him.
The truly interesting part is the way this novel is layered like Russian puzzle dolls, how each chapter reveals more plot within the plot. The amazing part comes when you realize the connections between the book you're reading and the book within the book: both novels are called "The Shadow of the Wind," both are the only known books in existence under the authors' names, and the main character is starting to resemble the author as well.
One more description to draw you in, taken from the Washington Post's review: "...If you love A.S. Byatt's Possession, Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude, the short stories of Borges, Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose, Arturo Perez-Reverte's The Club Dumas, or Paul Auster's 'New York' trilogy...then you will love The Shadow of the Wind.
Yes yes yes. Yes yes....less
Read in May, 2008
recommended to Davey by:
Lady in Bookstore
recommends it for:
Adult Readers
4.5 stars
Ooooh Hooo!! This is a good book! Carlos Ruiz Zafon, for those that don't know, is an acclaimed Spanish writer. This book was huge in Europe and was translated a few years ago into English. Zafon is a very capable writer and has done an extraordinary job here.
"The Shadow of the Wind" takes place post Spanish civil war, in the Gothic section of Barcelona. It is a book about a book (look up book burning in Barcelona). It has it all - unrequited love, murder, loneliness, ...more
4.5 stars
Ooooh Hooo!! This is a good book! Carlos Ruiz Zafon, for those that don't know, is an acclaimed Spanish writer. This book was huge in Europe and was translated a few years ago into English. Zafon is a very capable writer and has done an extraordinary job here.
"The Shadow of the Wind" takes place post Spanish civil war, in the Gothic section of Barcelona. It is a book about a book (look up book burning in Barcelona). It has it all - unrequited love, murder, loneliness, adventure, magic, adolescent angst, happiness, paramours, humor - I don't want to give it all away, but this is quite the enjoyable read.
My favorite character in the book is a guy named Fermin. I like him because of his wit and charm. He is one of those down-on-your-luck kind of guys, but the kind that still has the most beautiful and positive outlook in spite of his cruddy circumstances. I also like him because he is own man. Although he has the appearance of being skinny, comely and weak, he is full of faith and hope, a romantic, fighting the injustices that are brought upon the people. I felt like I could identify with his character. Fermin brings a lot of good humor to the book. I almost want to reread this book to glean some of the classic lines that he used to adopt into my own repertoire.
In one episode for instance, Fermin, because he was helping his friend Daniel, had just gotten beaten to a pulp by the crooked police (while said friend watched and did nothing). In spite of this, he held no ill will toward his cowardly friend, whatsoever. Shortly thereafter, he was in a bedroom being taken care of by the doctor, nurse, and Bernarda, his drunk girlfriend. Fermin suffered from broken ribs, lost teeth, loss of blood, cuts, contusions, and bruises, yet he was still shameless. He said that he felt "twenty years younger." And to let his friends know that he was alright, he had the doctor go out of the room and relate to them that as he was getting stitched up by the nurse, he had an "iceberg of an erection." Fermin also pinched the nurse's bottom and recited rhymed couplets "in praise of her firm and shapely thighs." Keep in mind that while he was doing this the proclaimed love of his life Bernarda, was in the room! Fermin was and is, my type of guy.
Clocking it at over 500 pages, I read this book in less than a week. It is just one of those books that makes you stay up at night reading. I loved this book. But I am biased - as some of you may know, I love good foreign books translated into English. Trust me on this one, though.
***If you would like to borrow this book, just let me know and I'll be more than glad to send it to you, or any of the other books that I have...and if you have any good reads that you would recommend and lend, I would love to borrow. I promise to read at least half of the book to try to at least get the idea of why you like it so much.
too-dah-loo,
Davey Baby...less
Read in April, 2008
recommended to Duc by:
Waldemar
recommends it for:
book lovers.
Among other subjects, this book is really about how one can loose motivation for life, (even to the point of self destruction) and for creativity and expressions. It is a round about way, (maze like) an adventure to recover that spark to write again. A key instrument of the recovery process is a Mont Blanc, Meisterstuck, presumably belonged to Victor Hugo.
Some biographical information on the author: Carols was born in Spain, is a screenwriter living in California. He wrote this book in S...more
Among other subjects, this book is really about how one can loose motivation for life, (even to the point of self destruction) and for creativity and expressions. It is a round about way, (maze like) an adventure to recover that spark to write again. A key instrument of the recovery process is a Mont Blanc, Meisterstuck, presumably belonged to Victor Hugo.
Some biographical information on the author: Carols was born in Spain, is a screenwriter living in California. He wrote this book in Spanish. Nothing gets lost in the translations. The book reads the same in English as it does in Polish. The style and structure remains the same. Much of this structure is 'filmic'. That is to say, this book can be made into a film easily. Was this intentional? The author's screen-writing background crafted a book that is both literate and filmic. Does this help or hinder the enjoyment of the book? Part of me thinks it does. I want to read a book for its medium unique in book form. Sometimes, I thought it was like reading a movie, everything fitted too neatly, in a way that is formulaic. I definitely wanted to find out more, much more about the mysterious author, Julian Carax. I did not get the sense of what his brilliance is or about any of the books which he had written. (Is it too far fetched to compare this book to the 'English Patient'? It has elements of secrecy, romance, betrayal and a burned patient whose story is being told in reflections and refractions of the other characters involved, as though in a prism.) I bring up the ‘English Patience’ as a comparison also for its style and structure. Ondaatje, wrote ‘The English Patience’ in a poetic tone and style. It seems difficult to translate this into the film, but the film version tells the same story, just in a different way and just as compelling. I guess this is what I mean by saying that a book should be a book and not a veiled screen play? It is ironic that, the book is about books and paean to books, yet the form is not true to its form. And that’s my main critical concern of this book. Having said that, I enjoyed it!
...less
Read in September, 2005
From the very first page the book grabs you and takes you away to a time and place set 55 years ago through the eyes of a young, innocent, extremely likable and intelligent boy named Daniel who lives in Barcelona, Spain during the political upheaval and the problems of the area caused by the war and revolution. Daniel has a host of very helpful characters around him including his father, a beggar, a blind older girl whom he is obsessed with, the writer of a novel that Daniel has read and loved a...more
From the very first page the book grabs you and takes you away to a time and place set 55 years ago through the eyes of a young, innocent, extremely likable and intelligent boy named Daniel who lives in Barcelona, Spain during the political upheaval and the problems of the area caused by the war and revolution. Daniel has a host of very helpful characters around him including his father, a beggar, a blind older girl whom he is obsessed with, the writer of a novel that Daniel has read and loved as a ten year old and a host of other colorful, interesting and well described characters.
The brilliance of the author is that he is able to give each character a very well defined and amazingly intricate role in defining Daniel's future, his relationship with women, his dedication to a cause, his sympathy for people in need and his hatred of those characters who are guided by revenge and selfishness. There is a lot of clever and fun humor and precious insights from the philsopher beggar who becomes Daniels best friend and guide. There is real love and passion from a father who is simple, hard working, has lost his wife (Daniel's mother) and is trying to do the best thing for his son. And there is real feeling and coming of age love from Daniel toward several beautiful females who all help define his life and growth. These relationships are real, sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes sexual and always touching.
The book also gets into the dynamics of the father and son role and how important that role is in guiding a young man into adulthood. There are four different such relationships in the book each describing a different part of growing up both from Daniel's perspective and from the viewpoint of each of the man's love for Daniel.
The book is literature. It is a complicated, humorous, fun, serious, sometimes amazingly sad and serious work. As others here have mentioned, it could be condensed a bit, but on the other hand, it is such an enjoyable read, that cutting any of it out would have been a mistake. Real readers, be prepared to get lost in this world for a few days. I think you'll love it.
...less
Read in June, 2008
Good book with a somewhat gothic atmosphere. Plot is nicely complex. The story unfolds gradually but without leaving one feeling as if the plot is progressing slowly. Numerous storylines and bits of mystery and deception keep one engaged.
Characters are largely undeveloped, although it's not so noticable as to detract much from the quality of the book; plot, not character development, is definitely the important aspect of this novel. Fermin Romero de Torres is a colorful, larger-than-life ...more
Good book with a somewhat gothic atmosphere. Plot is nicely complex. The story unfolds gradually but without leaving one feeling as if the plot is progressing slowly. Numerous storylines and bits of mystery and deception keep one engaged.
Characters are largely undeveloped, although it's not so noticable as to detract much from the quality of the book; plot, not character development, is definitely the important aspect of this novel. Fermin Romero de Torres is a colorful, larger-than-life character but, if one looks closer, even his development is shallow. The female characters, with the possible exception of Nuria, are especially undeveloped; their main purpose is simply to serve as objects of desire and sources of conflict for the male characters. Nuria has the added role of actually revealing key aspects of the story. Zafon allows her to speak and tell her part of the story from her own perspective. Jacinta also gets to tell part of the story as her own but she remains nothing more than a sketch of a Good Mother in terms of development.
Interestingly, biological mothers are largely absent from the text, become lost to their children at some point, or if present, are almost entirely silent and certainly ineffectual. Interestingly, there's a tiny thread of the Quest for the Lost Mother(as opposed to the more common Quest for the Father) in Daniel, the narrator and protagonist, although this thread is not emphasized.
In another interesting twist, it is Daniel (and in another way, Julian as well) who is subject to mysterious, threatening forces--the traditional role of the gothic heroine. While various female characters may also be said to live in or become entrapped in such circumstances to varying degrees (notably Sophie, Penelope, and to a lesser extent Beatriz) their stories are always side-pieces subordinate (albeit sometimes vital) to the stories of Daniel and Julian....less
bookshelves:
fiction,
mystery-suspence-thriller
Read in May, 2007
**SPOILER FREE REVIEW**
I found this novel by accident, while quickly browsing shelves at the local library, and let me just say it was the best accidental find i've had in years. From the very first line to the end i loved it, and as a reader i am not easily pleased by anything. I love stories out of the ordinary that captivate my imagination and run away with it. That is exactly what "The Shadow of The Wind" did.
Right off the bat the plot intrigued me, Daniel Sempere is taken ...more
**SPOILER FREE REVIEW**
I found this novel by accident, while quickly browsing shelves at the local library, and let me just say it was the best accidental find i've had in years. From the very first line to the end i loved it, and as a reader i am not easily pleased by anything. I love stories out of the ordinary that captivate my imagination and run away with it. That is exactly what "The Shadow of The Wind" did.
Right off the bat the plot intrigued me, Daniel Sempere is taken to the a secret labyrinth of forgotten books, or the place where books are brought for their final rest after the world has forgotten their existence, and told by his father to pick one to always care for and protect. He chooses "The Shadow of The Wind" and his life is forever changed by his fascination with the book, its author and his determination to uncover the mystery surrounding the doomed fate of all other works by the author.
What fascinated me most as Daniel started to get entangled in the mysterious web of the book and its author's history, was how Daniels life began to mirror Carax (the author of the book). The writing is almost poetic yet simple to follow and enjoy, their are subplots that run alongside the major plot so the book isn't one dimensional and boring.
Overall this is a fascinating read that is sure to take you on an adventure that will make you wish there were more pages to read after you turn the last page. Highly recommended for those who are not afraid to explore other worlds or allow a book to engulf their senses completely. ...less
"Every book, every volume has a soul. The soul of the person who wrote it, and of those who read it and lived and dreamed with it. Every time a book changes hands, every time someone runs his eyes down its page, its spirit grows and strengthens." ~ Carlos Ruiz Zafon
This is a great mystery set in post-war Barcelona. The characters are rich and unforgettable. I loved the twists and turns, the story kept me hooked, it was hard to put down and it often kept me reading into the night. ...more
"Every book, every volume has a soul. The soul of the person who wrote it, and of those who read it and lived and dreamed with it. Every time a book changes hands, every time someone runs his eyes down its page, its spirit grows and strengthens." ~ Carlos Ruiz Zafon
This is a great mystery set in post-war Barcelona. The characters are rich and unforgettable. I loved the twists and turns, the story kept me hooked, it was hard to put down and it often kept me reading into the night. The literary references in it could easily provide you with a year's worth of reading... intertesting to see which books the author listed throughout, perhaps a roadmap of his tastes that lead to his own love of books. I think I know how I'll spend part of my summer ;)
The Aeneid by Virgil
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw
The Complete Stories by Franz Kafka
Theological-Political Treatise: by Benedictus de Spinoza
Pepita Jimenez, A Happy Boy, Skipper Worse by Bjornstjerne Bjornson, Alexander L. Kielland Juan Valera
The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri
Nana by Émile Zola
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse by Vicente Blasco Ibanez
Sandokan: The Pirates of Malaysia by Emilio Salgari
The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne
The End of the Affair by Graham Greene
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
La Dame aux Camelias by Alexandre Dumas
Candide by Voltaire
I think it's time I picked up Hugo's Les Miserables, I've never read any of his works even though he's inspired several of my favourite writers, including Verne and Dumas....less
bookshelves:
cultural-awareness,
to-read,
wanna-buys
recommended to Fenixbird by:
Diane, Scottk, Becca & Peggy
recommends it for:
Barcelona Spain 1950's literary tone
Hunting for this one...on the basis of Diane's outstanding recommendation (in group's Did you Get Any Books for Christmas??) WOW! lot & lots of people's favorite book~ set in 1950's Barcelona..here is a portion of a shared review by Publisher's Weekly: "from Publishers Weekly:
Ruiz Zafón's novel, a bestseller in his native Spain, takes the satanic touches from Angel Heart and stirs them into a bookish intrigue à la Foucault's Pendulum. The time is the 1950s; the place, Barcelona....more
Hunting for this one...on the basis of Diane's outstanding recommendation (in group's Did you Get Any Books for Christmas??) WOW! lot & lots of people's favorite book~ set in 1950's Barcelona..here is a portion of a shared review by Publisher's Weekly: "from Publishers Weekly:
Ruiz Zafón's novel, a bestseller in his native Spain, takes the satanic touches from Angel Heart and stirs them into a bookish intrigue à la Foucault's Pendulum. The time is the 1950s; the place, Barcelona. Daniel Sempere, the son of a widowed bookstore owner, is 10 when he discovers a novel, The Shadow of the Wind, by Julián Carax. The novel is rare, the author obscure, and rumors tell of a horribly disfigured man who has been burning every copy he can find of Carax's novels. The man calls himself Laín Coubert-the name of the devil in one of Carax's novels. As he grows up, Daniel's fascination with the mysterious Carax links him to a blind femme fatale with a "porcelain gaze," Clara Barceló; another fan, a leftist jack-of-all-trades, Fermín Romero de Torres; his best friend's sister, the delectable Beatriz Aguilar; and, as he begins investigating the life and death of Carax, a cast of characters with secrets to hide. Officially, Carax's dead body was dumped in an alley in 1936. But discrepancies in this story surface. Meanwhile, Daniel and Fermín are being harried by a sadistic policeman, Carax's childhood friend. As Daniel's quest continues, frightening parallels between his own life and Carax's begin to emerge. Ruiz Zafón strives for a literary tone, and no scene goes by without its complement of florid, cute and inexact similes and metaphors (snow is "God's dandruff"; servants obey orders with "the efficiency and . . ."...less
bookshelves:
adultfic,
booktalked
My favorite book since <i> Blindness<i>. A must read for bibliophiles and a pretty good mystery, if you like that sort of thing. Below is my booktalk for this one, also from library school.
The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
On Daniel Sepere’s 10th birthday, his father takes him to a cemetery. Instead of holding people, however, this cemetery is an underground library, and it is the final resting place of books. It...more
My favorite book since <i> Blindness<i>. A must read for bibliophiles and a pretty good mystery, if you like that sort of thing. Below is my booktalk for this one, also from library school.
The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
On Daniel Sepere’s 10th birthday, his father takes him to a cemetery. Instead of holding people, however, this cemetery is an underground library, and it is the final resting place of books. It is the Cemetery of Forgotten books, and it houses books that have been abandoned by their owners. Daniel’s father says “According to tradition, the first time someone visits this place, he must chose a book, whichever he wants, and adopt it, making sure that it will never disappear, that it will always stay alive. It’s a very important promise. For life. Today it’s your turn.”
Daniel’s chosen book is called the Shadow of the Wind, by Julian Caráx. He reads it, and he just loves it. He asks his father for more like it, but there are none. Oh, Julian Caráx wrote many books, but there are none to be found. And why not? Because someone has been systematically burning them all.
Who is the strange man burning these books? Why does he do it? And why does he call himself by the name of one of Caráx fictional characters? Where is the mysterious author now? Was he, as some believe, killed nearly 20 years ago in a duel on the morning of his wedding? What is it his past that everyone who knew him is so desperate to hide? Daniel has to find out. Not because he’s curious, but because if he doesn’t, the same terrible secret that so tortured Caráx may come for him. The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafón.
...less
Read in January, 2007
recommends it for:
Everyone
This is my favorite book of all time! It is my goal in life to have everyone read this. There wasn't a dull moment and it keeps you guessing.
"The time is the 1950s; the place, Barcelona. Daniel Sempere, the son of a widowed bookstore owner, is 10 when he discovers a novel, The Shadow of the Wind, by Julián Carax. The novel is rare, the author obscure, and rumors tell of a horribly disfigured man who has been burning every copy he can find of Carax's novels. The man calls himself Laí...more
This is my favorite book of all time! It is my goal in life to have everyone read this. There wasn't a dull moment and it keeps you guessing.
"The time is the 1950s; the place, Barcelona. Daniel Sempere, the son of a widowed bookstore owner, is 10 when he discovers a novel, The Shadow of the Wind, by Julián Carax. The novel is rare, the author obscure, and rumors tell of a horribly disfigured man who has been burning every copy he can find of Carax's novels. The man calls himself Laín Coubert-the name of the devil in one of Carax's novels. As he grows up, Daniel's fascination with the mysterious Carax links him to a blind femme fatale with a "porcelain gaze," Clara Barceló; another fan, a leftist jack-of-all-trades, Fermín Romero de Torres; his best friend's sister, the delectable Beatriz Aguilar; and, as he begins investigating the life and death of Carax, a cast of characters with secrets to hide. Officially, Carax's dead body was dumped in an alley in 1936. But discrepancies in this story surface. Meanwhile, Daniel and Fermín are being harried by a sadistic policeman, Carax's childhood friend. As Daniel's quest continues, frightening parallels between his own life and Carax's begin to emerge. Ruiz Zafón strives for a literary tone, and no scene goes by without its complement of florid, cute and inexact similes and metaphors (snow is "God's dandruff"; servants obey orders with "the efficiency and submissiveness of a body of well-trained insects"). Yet the colorful cast of characters, the gothic turns and the straining for effect only give the book the feel of para-literature or the Hollywood version of a great 19th-century novel."...less
Read in July, 2007
Loved this book. Interesting plotline, great writing, wonderful characters, very gothic elements.
It takes place in Barcelona, post Spanish Civil War, and concerns a young boy named Daniel whose father takes him to a place called "The Cemetary of Forgotten Books." Daniel is allowed to choose one of beloved, preserved books to keep and protect and he takes "The Shadow of the Wind," a novel by mysterious author Julian Carax. He reads it, falls in love with it, and then atte...more
Loved this book. Interesting plotline, great writing, wonderful characters, very gothic elements.
It takes place in Barcelona, post Spanish Civil War, and concerns a young boy named Daniel whose father takes him to a place called "The Cemetary of Forgotten Books." Daniel is allowed to choose one of beloved, preserved books to keep and protect and he takes "The Shadow of the Wind," a novel by mysterious author Julian Carax. He reads it, falls in love with it, and then attempts to find more books by Carax but, oddly, there are none to be found. He is told that a strange man called Lain Coubert (named after a character in Carax's "Shadow of the Wind) had been seeking out Carax's books for decades and burning all of them.
When Coubert finds out that Daniel has a copy of "The Shadow of the Wind," he seeks him out and tries to make him part with the book, but Daniel refuses. With Coubert on his tail, he begins a quest to learn the truth about Julian Carax: his life, his death, why all his books are being burned. With the help of his amusing friend Fermin, he is able to locate various people who once knew Carax and, piece by piece, he is able to put together the mystery.
The only thing that sometimes bothered me was the romantic interests in the story. The girls loved by Daniel and Julian were so perfect, they bordered on boring. Clearly out of the mind of a male author. They were all terribly beautiful, terribly young, terribly kind and wonderful and I just wanted a little more reality in their love stories. But maybe I'm just being cynical.
All in all, a fantastic book. I highly recommend! ...less
bookshelves:
fiction
Read in October, 2005
I was drawn to "Shadow of the Wind" by its cornerstone premise of a love for books, a love so encompassing that one becomes nearly so immersed in a good story, richly told, that life and art blur boundaries. What a magical process that is! And so I opened the cover and began turning the pages...
A boy wanders through the dusky corridors of a cemetery of forgotten books, brought there by his father. He is allowed to choose one. The reader thrills to the possibilities, just as the ch...more
I was drawn to "Shadow of the Wind" by its cornerstone premise of a love for books, a love so encompassing that one becomes nearly so immersed in a good story, richly told, that life and art blur boundaries. What a magical process that is! And so I opened the cover and began turning the pages...
A boy wanders through the dusky corridors of a cemetery of forgotten books, brought there by his father. He is allowed to choose one. The reader thrills to the possibilities, just as the character thrills, searching for that most special book. He chooses "The Shadow of the Wind" by a mysterious author, Julian Carax. The author's books seem to disappear from bookshelves everywhere, no one knows why or who is stealing them, later burning them to total destruction. The boy, Daniel, becomes enmeshed in the book, its author, and the mystery surrounding both.
The story about the story unfolds with an array of colorful, well developed, unforgettable characters. Love stories in Daniel's life, as he reaches adulthood, appear to run parallel to the tragic love stories of author Carax's life. Secrets tunnel into further secrets, and the human suffering as a result of all these hidden places in hearts and homes, spanning generations, escalates to an almost unbearable level. But we bear along. For Zafon's writing is lush and rich and enticing. He brings a fictional world built around a fictional work as alive as our own reality, so that we are lost in the story, in the way that wonderful books invite us to lose ourselves for a moment in time, to emerge covered with the fine golden dust of literary art. ...less
Read in January, 2008
This is a good story and I can understand why it is a best seller. It has all the makings of an excellent novel; an original idea, many characters, 'coming of age' elements, atmosphere, the romance of Barcelona etc. In parts this book was fab, but I felt that sometimes the writing was a bit laboured and at times, particularly three quarters into the book, almost a chore to read. (This could of course be partly due to the fact it's a translation) At this time (around when they are visiting Jacint...more
This is a good story and I can understand why it is a best seller. It has all the makings of an excellent novel; an original idea, many characters, 'coming of age' elements, atmosphere, the romance of Barcelona etc. In parts this book was fab, but I felt that sometimes the writing was a bit laboured and at times, particularly three quarters into the book, almost a chore to read. (This could of course be partly due to the fact it's a translation) At this time (around when they are visiting Jacinta, Daniel and Bea are meeting up, they are piecing together the story of the four friends...)I was desperate for something to happen, or a twist to be realised, and found the book quite frustrating to read. I must say that when Nuria picks up the narrative towards the end, the story really picks up. I think I was a bit sick of Daniel as well!
The other thing I would say about 'The Shadow of the Wind' is that the characterisation could have been stronger. I realised at about 300 pages in that I didn't really know Daniel at all, there's his desires, intrigues and occasional cowardice but if I had felt more for him, maybe I would have seen more than just a great plot in the novel? Also, minor characters like Fortunaty and Arguilar seemed to change nature on the author's whim to suit the plot. I know that when there are so many characters, it's hard to give them all multiple dimensions but I thought that more could have been done with them...
But that aside, it's good book centred around a big plot which, in my opinion is the reason it's done so well. It would probably adapt well for screen
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Read in December, 2007
recommends it for:
mystery lovers, fans of the bittersweet
This is translated from the Spanish--a good translation as far as I can tell, as it maintains a reals sense of clever language. The author has a tendency to begin and end each chapter with evocative statements.
This is essentially a mystery, set in the 1940s in Spain. A young boy, Daniel Sempere, is taken by his father to the Cemetery of Lost Books where he is told he must choose one book that will be his to look after during his life. He chooses "The Shadow of the Wind" by Julia...more
This is translated from the Spanish--a good translation as far as I can tell, as it maintains a reals sense of clever language. The author has a tendency to begin and end each chapter with evocative statements.
This is essentially a mystery, set in the 1940s in Spain. A young boy, Daniel Sempere, is taken by his father to the Cemetery of Lost Books where he is told he must choose one book that will be his to look after during his life. He chooses "The Shadow of the Wind" by Julian Carax and becomes fascinated by the author himself, whose life and death are shrouded in mystery and melancholy. As our protagonist matures, his obsession with Carax begins to have dire consequences; a mysterious burned stranger threatens him and he comes under the scrutiny of a brutal murderous police inspector. It turns our that the burned man has sought out nearly all extant copies of Carax' work and burned them; it is up to Daniel to unravel the mystery of Carax life and preserve what is possibly the only remaining copy of any of his books.
Some of the secondary characters in this novel are the most memorable, especially Fermin, the bum who ends up working for Daniel's father at the family bookstore. There are also strong and complex female characters, although one might wish that Beatrix was more fully developed.
One of my favorite things about the book is the way the primary story parallels both the story of Julian Carax' life AND the story (as much of it as we ever learn) in Carax' novel, "The Shadow of the Wind." Clever, but not overly self-conscious.
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bookshelves:
audiblecom,
audiobook
Read in May, 2007
Downloaded from Audible.com
This is one of my all-time favorite audiobooks.
Narrator: Jonathan Davis
Publisher: Penguin Audiobooks, 2005
Length: 18 hours and 10 min.
Publisher's Summary
Barcelona, 1945: Just after the war, a great world city lies in shadow, nursing its wounds, and a boy named Daniel awakes on his 11th birthday 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 ...more
Downloaded from Audible.com
This is one of my all-time favorite audiobooks.
Narrator: Jonathan Davis
Publisher: Penguin Audiobooks, 2005
Length: 18 hours and 10 min.
Publisher's Summary
Barcelona, 1945: Just after the war, a great world city lies in shadow, nursing its wounds, and a boy named Daniel awakes on his 11th birthday 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 volume from the spiraling labyrinth of shelves, one that, it is said, will have a special meaning for him. And Daniel so loves the novel he selects, 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 one 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.
An uncannily absorbing historical mystery, a heart-piercing romance, and a moving homage to the mystical power of books, The Shadow of the Wind is a triumph of the storyteller's art.
Translated by Lucia Graves....less
Read in February, 2008
recommends it for:
Everyone
When Daniel's father first takes him to the Cemetary of Forgotten Books I thought I want to live there! - in this insane world where books are the ultimate prize, guarded and treasured, it's secret passed on from parent to child. When Daniel wanders through the maze of books searching for the one he would take home I walked along side him, I could remember what it was like to discover that book that changes your life - Shadow of the wind is a love letter to reading. The sentiment is so familiar ...more
When Daniel's father first takes him to the Cemetary of Forgotten Books I thought I want to live there! - in this insane world where books are the ultimate prize, guarded and treasured, it's secret passed on from parent to child. When Daniel wanders through the maze of books searching for the one he would take home I walked along side him, I could remember what it was like to discover that book that changes your life - Shadow of the wind is a love letter to reading. The sentiment is so familiar to me I actually found myself nodding like a looney in vehement agreement as I read one part where a character describes the love of books in that single moment when you read something which is so true to what you feel that it stuns you. Someone has taken the thought out of your own mind - captured on page a feeling you thought was unique to you only to see it in front of you and to feel connected and understood because of it. Shadow of the wind is a lush story which is both dark, often heartbreaking and utterly moving. I laughed and fell in love with Fermin - Daniel's eccentric and charming older best friend, and cried at the tragedy of a young Julian who fell in love with Penelope at first sight and who would never know the terrible secret that would keep them apart and lead ultimately to her death. This is a book that is an absolute must own your own copy. I stumbled across it by chance, but feel a little like Daniel upon reading, when I finished and finally realised what a gem I had discovered. ...less
bookshelves:
fiction
I just finished this book by Carlos Ruiz Zafon today while sitting at my desk at work. It was recommended by a friend, and I picked it up immediately after reading the last novel I read, and was again astounded, but in a different fashion. Here is something similar to Marisha Pessl's Special Topics in Calamity Physics, I think, in that it tells a story with a youth as a narrator and winds up in thick mystery that is improbable a touch but charming nonetheless. However, this story is perhaps a li...more
I just finished this book by Carlos Ruiz Zafon today while sitting at my desk at work. It was recommended by a friend, and I picked it up immediately after reading the last novel I read, and was again astounded, but in a different fashion. Here is something similar to Marisha Pessl's Special Topics in Calamity Physics, I think, in that it tells a story with a youth as a narrator and winds up in thick mystery that is improbable a touch but charming nonetheless. However, this story is perhaps a little darker (Gothic, mind you) and I think Zafon has a touch more insight into how to really captivate his reader enough to care about his descriptions.
In this story, a young boy, Daniel, who lost his mother and has lived with his father, a bookseller, his whole life, is initiated into an order an individuals who care for and tend to old and lost literature. Daniel chooses a single book and vows to protect it for the rest of his life, an act which draws him into the lives of the author, all he affected, and the strong current at work surrounding these people. At turns the plot was predictable, but it did not lessen the pleasure of reading what you knew came next. There were oh-so-many parallels, and definitely plenty of dots you could still connect after a second read.
Zafon is working on another piece of fiction right now, a prequel to this novel that is tentatively due for release next Spring. I think I will probably pick it up when it does come out, but maybe not in hardback....less
bookshelves:
favorite
recommended to Amy by:
Rita
LOVED, LOVED, LOVED this book! It kept me interested from page one. It is a cloak and dagger type dark mystery/love story taking place just before WWII in Barcelona. Having been there, I felt like I could visualize the scenery. The story unfolded beautifully, and the mystery surrounding it kept me wishing I had a nightlight in my room, since I am a bedtime reader. I literally had nightmares after reading every night, but it was worth every one of them! The story begins with 10-year-old Dani...more
LOVED, LOVED, LOVED this book! It kept me interested from page one. It is a cloak and dagger type dark mystery/love story taking place just before WWII in Barcelona. Having been there, I felt like I could visualize the scenery. The story unfolded beautifully, and the mystery surrounding it kept me wishing I had a nightlight in my room, since I am a bedtime reader. I literally had nightmares after reading every night, but it was worth every one of them! The story begins with 10-year-old Daniel waking up from a nightmare and not remembering his deceased mother's face. His father, the owner of a rare book store, takes him, in the middle of the night, to an old "graveyard" of forgotten books. Daniel is allowed to choose one book with the promise that he will keep track of it forever (every book there is the only known copy of that particular book). He chooses "The Shadow of the Wind" by an author he has never heard of. He loves the book and wants to read more of the author, but, as he searches for more books, he discovers every copy has been burned by a mystery man. While Daniel tries unravelling the mystery behind the author, he also needs to keep his book safe and winds up in an illicit love affair (the novel takes place over several years). The way Daniel's life parallels that of the mysteriou 
