In Praise of Carlos Ruiz Zafon
If you're here you'll know I'm a writer, and there comes a time for every writer when they feel the need to bow down in awe of someone who's skill is infinitely better than theirs. Today I'd like to do that to Carlos Ruiz Zafon, Spanish author of The Shadow of the Wind and The Angel's Game.
I read The Shadow of the Wind a few years ago and it was an astonishingly good book. A mystery story set in early 20th Century Barcelona, it had everything: exquisite writing, wonderful characters and fantastic plot twists.
The wife recently bought me The Angel's Game for Christmas and while I've only read a few pages so far it looks to be along the same lines. When I write I do my best to write well, but sometimes I find myself reading a book that I just can't touch. One day, I hope, but certainly not now.
Here's a little paragraph for you from page 30 of The Angel's Game -
"More than once I too hoped that would happen, but my father always came back and found me alive and kicking, and a bit taller. Mother Nature didn't hold back: she punished me with her extensive range of germs and miseries, but never found a way of successfully finishing the job. Against all prognoses, I survived those first years on a tightrope of a childhood before penicillin. In those days death was not yet anonymous and one could see and smell it everywhere, devouring souls that had not even had time enough to sin."
Read it aloud. It's like poetry, perfectly flowing and rhythmical. And that last sentence ... it's literature as art. I've heard a lot of popular fiction writers criticising literary fiction because of its verbosity, when to me that shows an underlying envy of someone who has mastered their craft. When one puts pen to paper it is with the attempt to write something that comes alive off the page, and Carlos Ruiz Zafon does that with ease.
His stories are just brilliant too. If you haven't read The Shadow of the Wind and you like deep, involving mysteries with insane plot twists all wrapped up in beautiful prose, I suggest you give it a try.
CW
26th January 2012
I read The Shadow of the Wind a few years ago and it was an astonishingly good book. A mystery story set in early 20th Century Barcelona, it had everything: exquisite writing, wonderful characters and fantastic plot twists.
The wife recently bought me The Angel's Game for Christmas and while I've only read a few pages so far it looks to be along the same lines. When I write I do my best to write well, but sometimes I find myself reading a book that I just can't touch. One day, I hope, but certainly not now.
Here's a little paragraph for you from page 30 of The Angel's Game -
"More than once I too hoped that would happen, but my father always came back and found me alive and kicking, and a bit taller. Mother Nature didn't hold back: she punished me with her extensive range of germs and miseries, but never found a way of successfully finishing the job. Against all prognoses, I survived those first years on a tightrope of a childhood before penicillin. In those days death was not yet anonymous and one could see and smell it everywhere, devouring souls that had not even had time enough to sin."
Read it aloud. It's like poetry, perfectly flowing and rhythmical. And that last sentence ... it's literature as art. I've heard a lot of popular fiction writers criticising literary fiction because of its verbosity, when to me that shows an underlying envy of someone who has mastered their craft. When one puts pen to paper it is with the attempt to write something that comes alive off the page, and Carlos Ruiz Zafon does that with ease.
His stories are just brilliant too. If you haven't read The Shadow of the Wind and you like deep, involving mysteries with insane plot twists all wrapped up in beautiful prose, I suggest you give it a try.
CW
26th January 2012
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Jenny
(new)
Jan 28, 2013 07:45AM
I think one of the signs of great literature is that it doesn't need to be verbose. Great literature should read like poetry. It should have rhythm. It should conjure up the whole picture in a few words. I have never understood why people who consider themselves expert enough to criticise other authors think that repetition is a no-no. They've obviously never read The Highwayman. I shall read Carlos Ruiz Zafón on your recommendation. I have great faith in your good taste.
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Jenny, read Shadow of the Wind first. I'm still only a few pages into The Angel's Game (got sidetracked by the Hunger Games Trilogy and when I'm done with that I'm going to finish reading a book called Domingo's Angel ...). Best thing about Shadow of the Wind is it has an absolutely excellent plot. It possibly shares top spot as the best book I've ever read alongside The Time Traveller's Wife. The prose is quite literary, but there's a really great mystery story in there. It did take me a couple of tries to get into it, but then I'm a notoriously slow starter. Once I got about 50 pages in though I couldn't put it down.
I'll do that. I can probably get it in Spanish. Written Spanish is very literary and can be almost unreadable, but I think Carlos may be an exception. If it's too heavy going, I'll get the English translation.I loved The Time Traveller's Wife, too. SUCH a clever book. You should read Seb Kirby's Double Blind. It reminded me of it. Not because the plot was similar, but because of its complexity and the way the author made it seem simple. I really enjoyed it.
Got another free download on AWTF this weekend. I'm better geared for it this time, I think. Already had a lot of responses, including one who begged me to remind her again once it was actually free, as she was afraid she'd miss it. The other news is I've been approached by a literary site/publisher asking for my short stories. I don't think this has ever happened before. I've always approached them. Keeping my fingers crossed.
Love
Jenny
xx
Good luck with it eh, the promo and the publisher. Sounds great! Do you have any more novels in the works? I think you'll be able to forge ahead once you get something longer self-published. In my experience so far a short story can only go a certain distance. None of mine have made more than a few dollars. I think only two have paid back the stock photo cost so far ($10). I have a few more marketing tips for you, but I'll send those on a PM!
You ARE fab. I have another novel in the pipeline but I don't write as fast as you. Probably not ready till the middle of the year. I'm dallying with a new publisher who wants it and claims they give all profits to the authors. I may give in to the flattery. And then I was going to self-pub my other short stories and the other site wants them. My only fear is editors. I wanted to kill the last one. And I do really, really want to try self-pubbing a novel. Talk about indecisive!
Just go for it. Unless you're with a big publisher the promo push will be pretty much a non-event anyway, so you might as well try it yourself. I really like being in control of my books. I think the only thing I miss is having paperbacks in bookshops.
