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The Shadow of the Wind

(El cementerio de los libros olvidados #1)

Carlos Ruiz Zafón,

Lucia Graves (Translator)

4.26 · Rating details · 419,515 ratings · 32,362 reviews

Barcelona, 1945: A city slowly heals from its war wounds, and Daniel, an antiquarian book dealer's son who mourns the loss of his mother, finds solace in a mysterious book entitled The Shadow of the Wind, by one Julian Carax. But when he sets out to find the author's other works, he makes a shocking discovery: someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every ...more

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Paperback, US / CAN Edition, 487 pages

Published 2005 by Penguin Books (first published 2001)

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Average rating 4.26 ·

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· 419,515 ratings · 32,362 reviews

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Jul 29, 2008 Annalisa rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: some language and sex

Recommended to Annalisa by: book club

Shelves: book-club, historical-fiction, magical-realism, mystery-thriller, favorites, prose, setting

I read the opening few pages and instantly knew 3 things:
1. I was going to love this book.
2. I needed a whole pad of post-its to mark quotes.
3. I wanted to read this in Spanish for the rich poetry the language would add.

A young boy Daniel is taken by his father to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books and told to salvage a book which he must take stewardship over. He choses a novel—or maybe it chose him—that touches him, stirs his desire for literature, and forever entangles him with the fate of the ...more

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Jan 17, 2008 Jamie rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: Anyone. So good.

Recommended to Jamie by: The girl at the Ferry Building Bookshop

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, 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.

**I write on books and other stuff at www.snapshotnarrative.tumblr.com ...more

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Oct 27, 2010 Tanja (Tanychy) St. Delphi/James rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: Everyone

Recommended to Tanja (Tanychy) by: a friend

Shelves: favorites, my-little-library

The fact is that I’ll never be able to write a real review for this book. Here is why :

1. I’m not good enough.
I’m not now and I’ll never be. It doesn’t matter how many books you have read or how smart you are, you’ll never be good enough for that. You won’t be able to find exact words and it’s not just you. Only person who can is the author himself, but I think he already said everything he wanted.
Don’t believe me?
- “Books are mirrors - you only see in them what you already have inside you.” ...more

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Jan 05, 2009 Daniel Teo rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: own, novels

After reading The Shadow of the Wind, I was left with somewhat mixed feelings. On the one hand, this is such a beautifully written book, and is in essence an ode to literature. On the other hand, there are some serious flaws which distracts from the whole experience.

The best thing about the book, in my opinion, is Zafon's skill in artistic writing. It reminds me of why I love to read in the first place, and makes me wish I could write as beautiful as this. The book contains lots of memorable After reading The Shadow of the Wind, I was left with somewhat mixed feelings. On the one hand, this is such a beautifully written book, and is in essence an ode to literature. On the other hand, there are some serious flaws which distracts from the whole experience.

The best thing about the book, in my opinion, is Zafon's skill in artistic writing. It reminds me of why I love to read in the first place, and makes me wish I could write as beautiful as this. The book contains lots of memorable quotes as well, definitely a good thing as far as I'm concerned.

So after about 50 pages in, I was ready to love this book as I seldom loved another book before. But as the story progressed, that resolution started to diminish slowly but surely. Ironically, one the more obvious flaws is Zafon's overuse of stylistic writing. It seems like everyone acts or talks in a very elaborate manner, even in the simplest of situations, and this can really become tiresome after a while.

The plot also isn't as ingenious as the hype would make you believe. Zafon does a good job creating a sense of mystery early on, and there are obvious parallels between the main character Daniel Sempere, and Julian Carax, the writer whose past he is trying to uncover. But ultimately, the stories of Daniel and Julian are seperate ones, and they just happen to interconnect with one another more by chance than by design.

By far the most troublesome flaw is the way the mysteries are "resolved". All too often, answers are given by having some side character or another tell his or her story for pages. Nowhere is this more evident than at the end of the book, where literally every single detail is revealed in the form of a (very) long letter, even details which the writer of the letter never could have known, since she wasn't even involved in those events. It's as if Zafon did not have a clue or the motivation to write a logical conclusion, and decided to just dump all the information in one place.

With a bit more attention to actual plot and character development, this could have been one of my favourite books. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed reading the Shadow of the Wind. It's just a shame that it falls some way short of its potential. ...more

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Jan 30, 2018 jessica rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favourites

riveting. mysterious. haunting. imaginative. charming. sentimental.

the list of adjectives is endless. and whilst this book is all of these, the one thing that i will forever remember about this book is how it makes me appreciate the art of storytelling. i didnt feel like i was reading a novel; i felt as if someone very dear was sitting next to me and telling me their favourite tale. i was enamoured with the nuances of the language and swept up with all the action. it was an absolute pleasure to ...more

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Sep 26, 2009 Jon Cox rated it did not like it

Shelves: fiction-serious-adult-stuff, romance

I can't believe someone actually published this book. Even worse, in my opinion is the fact that this book is on the New York Times Bestseller List. How is this possible? It must only mean that there are a lot of people out there that think very differently from me. Don't you be one of them. Seriously. Don't be fooled by this book. It is insipid, lame, and poorly written.

First. The prose is so overblown that the author uses three adjectives for every single noun. Count them. He evidently was I can't believe someone actually published this book. Even worse, in my opinion is the fact that this book is on the New York Times Bestseller List. How is this possible? It must only mean that there are a lot of people out there that think very differently from me. Don't you be one of them. Seriously. Don't be fooled by this book. It is insipid, lame, and poorly written.

First. The prose is so overblown that the author uses three adjectives for every single noun. Count them. He evidently was told that to be a writer you have to make everything as descriptive as possible, and then he decided that meant that each noun had to be modified three, always three, and only three times. Argh.

Second. The author must have looked up every word he could in a thesaurus and chosen the one that was most obscure or had the most syllables. Who is he trying to impress? Maybe it was the translator's fault? Maybe not. Either way, this style is used even when describing what the ten year old character sees and says. Which brings me to my next point.

Third. Every character in this book speaks with exactly the same voice. All you hear is the authors voice, not any different characterizations. And that voice demonstrates the problems I described in my first and second points. But that's not all. There is an even worse, and definitely fatal, problem with this book.

Fourth. This story was written as a mystery. Nine years lurch by as the character slowly tries to unravel the details of the main conflict. I actually don't have a problem with this in theory. Unfortunately, after three quarters of the book, and numerous new characters, the mystery is no clearer. So what does the author do about it? He has one of the characters write a 30 page (or so) letter to the main character telling him what really happened. Ta-da. The mystery is solved. The author is such a terrible writer that he can't even solve his own mystery. He has to use a cheap cop-out to clear everything up.

I can't respect that. Sorry. I can't believe so many other people have.

Boycott the book. Really.

...more

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Dec 31, 2018 Mark Lawrence rated it it was amazing

This is a book about books, a story about stories. It starts and ends in a library of sorts, themes and plots are echoed across decades, tied together by actors who find their roles changing, and by a pen that links two cycles of the story and has its own tale that started before and goes on beyond.

"the art of reading is slowly dying, it's an intimate ritual, a book is a mirror that offers us only what we already carry inside us, when we read, we do it with all our heart and mind, and great ...more

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Jul 29, 2013 Maxwell rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, i-own-it, 2014, 2015, translated, 2016, 2017

Fourth reading: May 7-17, 2017
Of course I love this book soooo much. It's my all-time favorite. This is the 4th year in a row I've read it, and it never gets old. If you haven't already read this at my suggestion, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!

Third reading: May 14-21, 2016

Second reading: May 23-25, 2015-
Okay, I can confidently say, upon re-reading this, that it is one of my all-time favorite books. It was just as surprising and enchanting and delightful as the first time I read it, if not more so. Fourth reading: May 7-17, 2017
Of course I love this book soooo much. It's my all-time favorite. This is the 4th year in a row I've read it, and it never gets old. If you haven't already read this at my suggestion, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!

Third reading: May 14-21, 2016

Second reading: May 23-25, 2015-
Okay, I can confidently say, upon re-reading this, that it is one of my all-time favorite books. It was just as surprising and enchanting and delightful as the first time I read it, if not more so. The writing is impeccable. The weaving together of so many storylines and characters is remarkable. I can't gush enough about this book, so I will just say EVERYONE GO READ THIS NOW PLEASE. You won't regret it.

First read: May 12-17, 2014-
Everything about this novel was captivating. The story follows Daniel, a young boy, whose father is a bookseller. He is taken to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books and allowed to pick out one book that he is expected to 'save' or, in a sense, remember throughout his life. He picks a novel by Julian Carax titled "The Shadow of the Wind," and is immediately sucked into the story. From there, the novel follows Daniel as he begins to learn more about the illusive author, Julian Carax, and about the web of lies and intrigue that he gets trapped in.

The writing is absolutely gorgeous. The book is full of incredible quotes, wonderful, beautifully strung out sentences. I never underline in books. This book, however, required a pencil at the ready at all times, because I couldn't pass up underlining some amazing parts.

Though the plot isn't super strong, there is a mysterious and magical quality to the book that propels you through it, page after page. The characters feel so real, and thus their lives seem to be playing out for you in such a real way that you are concerned and invested, wanting to know what happens next.

I loved the setting of Barcelona. This is also a book translated from Spanish, which is even more impressive on the part of the translator. I think the translation was incredible.

Overall, this is a book that I will return to again in my life, I am sure. It is captivating and a new favorite. 5/5. ...more

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Jul 08, 2007 Simon rated it it was amazing

It's been a couple years since I read this book so I shouldn't and won't go into details, but the effect has lingered all this time. There's no other book I'm quicker to recommend than this one. It's not that it's particularly important in a lot of the ways "important" books are, it's just that it works as pure reading pleasure (and sometimes, isn't that enough?); so I find reviews from people desperate to discover structural flaws and stylistic cliches to be totally missing the point. Buy it ...more

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Oct 20, 2019 Whitney Atkinson rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, made-me-cry, read-in-2019, full-five-stars, favs-of-2019

I loved this book so much that I feel like my tears should speak for themselves and I don't even need to review it. At the same time, I want to shout from the rooftops about how good this book is. So here I am.

This book is the perfect mix of dark brooding mystery with a wistful romance and a melancholy, bookish main character. There's so many elements that are effortlessly held afloat by the gorgeous, melodic, and yet digestible writing. I tabbed the everloving sunshine out of this book because ...more

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Jul 03, 2015 Matthew rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, book-a-book-club, mystery, historical-fiction, own, general-fiction, coming-of-age, tear-jerkers, revenge, 2015

This is an excellent piece of literature. It contains poetic storytelling, shocking twists, thoroughly developed characters, symbolism, humor, romance, betrayal, action, sentimentality, nostalgia, and much, much more.

For book lovers it is perfect because it revolves around the mysteries of a little known author (Julian Carax) that the main protagonist, Daniel, stumbles across in a secret stash of literature called the Cemetery of Forgotten books. From there it quickly develops into a fantastic ...more

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Jun 20, 2017 ❄️Nani❄️ rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, historical, crime-mystery-thriller

Rereading the series in preparation for one of my most anticipated releases of the year, The Labyrinth of the Spirits.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<><>~~~~~~~~~~

ALL THE STARS.

Welcome to The Cemetery of Forgotten Books.

** Hauntingly beautiful.

** Gothic & atmospheric.

** A book about the love of books.

what more could a reader ask for?

** And the best part? This book was never even on my radar until I heard someone talk about it by chance. I was intrigued by what they said and bought it that same ...more

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Jul 21, 2016 Alienor ✘ French Frowner ✘ rated it it was ok

Shelves: yes-i-m-disappointed, in-a-minority-here, historical, 2016-reads

2/2.5 stars. Look, it's not my thing to mince my words, so I'll give you my opinion and ultimately, you'll decide what to make of it anyway : as far as I'm concerned, The Shadow of the Wind is overrated and, to say the truth, a bit of a smokescreen. Despite its obvious qualities, I have to admit that I'm a little baffled of its status given that all the flaws, if found in some random YA book, would be called out without any doubt.

Caricatures as characters, from Daniel the Romantic whose ...more

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Oct 17, 2016 Kevin Ansbro rated it it was amazing

Shelves: magical-realism, human-imagery, romance, human-cruelty, wry-humour, human-kindness, coming-of-age

"Every book, every volume you see here, has a soul. The soul of the person who wrote it and of those who read it and lived and dreamed with it."

In post-civil war Barcelona, ten-year-old birthday boy, Daniel Sempere is taken by his father to a top-secret, labyrinthine library called 'The Cemetery of Forgotten Books' and is asked to select whichever one of the dusty publications calls out to him from an exhaustive succession of shelves.
He chooses an obscure novel, The Shadow of the Wind written ...more

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Jul 08, 2007 Lola rated it it was amazing

Shelves: mystery_suspence, fiction_literature

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 ...more

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Jun 04, 2018 Hannah Greendale rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: gothic, audiobook

Sound the alarm! Unpopular opinion to follow! (Making this review a bit more personal than usual, because I can't slam a one-star review on this highly popular title without giving some explanation for my disappointment).

To put it simply: verbose and wearying. Zafón seems to have swallowed a thesaurus and proceeds to regurgitate synonyms with unrelenting force. In The Shadow of the Wind, a man does not simply urinate, he "discharge[s] his generous, steamy cascade."

The Shadow of the Wind is an ...more

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Dec 20, 2012 Warwick rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, spain, barcelona

Dire. The writing is along Dan Brown lines, with flowery metaphors mixed until they become meaningless. From page 1: "My father sighed, hiding behind the sad smile that followed him like a shadow all through his life." How can he be hiding behind it if it's following him? Then on the next page someone is described as having "vulturine features", but in the following sentence he has an "aquiline gaze". This sloppiness is everywhere.

The whole thing feels like it desperately wants be seen as some ...more

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May 31, 2007 Kelly rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Recommends it for: gothic/Romantic lit freaks

Shelves: fiction, did-not-finish, goth-goth-baby, 21st-century, partialprejudicedandignorantopinion

Trying too hard. I wonder if I hadn't read this right after Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell if I would have liked it better. They were both trying to pay homage to the gothic/Romantic era writers, except that Strange and Norrell was brilliant, and this one was.. eh. I appreciated what the author was trying to do, but he didn't do it well enough to keep me reading. Yes, Romantic lit is full of cliche, but the thing is to do it in an intriguing way and with enough wit to keep your audience ...more

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Apr 09, 2017 Margitte rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: crime-novel, fiction, historical-fiction, reviewed, family-sagas, suspense, drama, 2017-read, spain

After finishing this book, I was totally blown away by the number of GR friends who already read it. It was really the greatest thrill.

At last, yes, at last! It was finito! What a read it was. Honestly, I thought it was never going to end, that the saga beginning in 1945, after the Civil War in Spain, was just too dragging and too detailed for my sensitive soul. Emotionally I shut down around the halfway mark, hanging onto the picturesque, descriptive prose for dear life, sensing a light at the ...more

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Sep 07, 2013 Nataliya rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2013-reads, location-is-the-true-protagonist, recommended-by-my-colleagues

"Books are mirrors: you only see in them what you already have inside you."

Well, I wonder then what part of me I saw inside this book - a book I adored despite its imperfections, despite its frequent veering into melodrama, despite (or maybe because of?) its densely Gothic atmosphere.

Whatever it was, it was enough to make me lose myself completely in the rich setting of mid-20th century Barcelona, in the world of seductive dangerous power of literature and perils and passions of young love, and the contrasts of idealistic innocence with the weariness of experience, all against the rich tapestry of the city full of beauty and secrets and vividness, all told in a lavish idiomatic language that makes you forget you're reading a translation.

And over all of this gothic surreal passion turned into words hangs a real grim presence of those in power who can come after you whenever they please, and who will try to silence you whenever they feel like it.

"I told her how until that moment I had not understood that this was a story about lonely people, about absence and loss, and that that was why I had taken refuge in it until it became confused with my own life, like someone who has escaped into the pages of a novel because those whom he needs to love seem nothing more than ghosts inhabiting the mind of a stranger."

This is really a story within a story. Narrated by a young Daniel Sempere, it chronicles his transformation from a child to a young man in a Francoist post-war Spain, his loves and obsessions, his brushes with the world of mysteries and reality - both of these worlds equally dangerous and fascinating. But Daniel is really a medium through which we learn the heart and soul of this book - the story of Julián Carax, a man who wrote a book that finds its way into Daniel's life, a man whose past and present shape the course of all the events in this narrative, Julián Carax who seems to be the embodiment of both driving force and destructive force in the pages of this novel.

“There are few reasons for telling the truth, but for lying the number is infinite.”

This book left me in an enchanted daze, and I'm still struggling to figure out why or how. What was it exactly that made it so easy for me to overlook the imperfections and blemishes of this story - the not-uncommon sexist male gaze, the telenovela-like melodramatic developments, the sometimes strange choices of inserting exposition into the narrative flow.

"A story is a letter that the author writes to himself, to tell himself things that he would be unable to discover otherwise."

And the only answers I can find are these - it was the fantastic engrossing atmosphere and the sincere unabashed love of literature, combined with the language that sings to you in all its exuberant beauty.

The atmosphere is built on a classic Gothic setting. The foreboding darkness haunts the story, complete with foreshadowings, strange haunted old mansions, dark secrets waiting to be unearthed, feverish passions and dark past tormenting the characters, emotional epistolary confessions, menacing villains, and dark stormy nights in abundance. Shadows are everywhere, and things lurk in them, be sure of that. And destiny seems to reach in with its meddling hand and place things in necessary to it order. And the tortured, passionate love stories - oh yes, they are here, too.

"Memories are worse than bullets.”

And yet the framing setting of 1950s grounds the Gothic atmosphere, forces it into reality. And the pervasive sharp humor makes the story quite self-aware of its own stylized nature, making the elements that can easily turn annoying into fascinating bits instead.

"Every book, every volume you see here, 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 pages, its spirit grows and strengthens."

Daniel, a son of a bookshop owner, has a special connection with books - after all, he was introduced by his father to the mysterious place known as Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a place in the heart of Barcelona where abandoned books are stored, a place from where he is allowed to 'adopt' a book - and what calls to him is the book by an obscure writer Julián Carax, a Barcelonian himself, a man long-dead, a man whose remaining books are hunted and burned by a mysterious stranger.

"I began to believe that Julián was not a man, he was an illness."

It's Julián Carax, his elusive past and present, the enigma that surrounds the man and is impossible for Daniel to resist that form the cornerstone, the centerpiece of this novel. Julián, a tragic hero of the Gothic novel, whose life and character are slowly revealed bit by bit, until you realize you are just as enchanted with him as the people who have met him seem to be - and all that without Julián ever making an appearance himself. And by the time we see the warning signs of Julián's single-minded destructive obsession, it is too late to turn back, and we begin to understand the strange obsession with him that more than one character carries.

"There are worse prisons than words."

This book is an example of the journey, not the destination. The plot twists are not pivotal. The reveals that come are not that important, and there are plenty of clues for the reader to come to the conclusions well before they are revealed.

What is important, however, is allowing yourself to step into the world Zafón creates, into the early- and mid-century Barcelona, under the shadow of gothic buildings, into the world that no longer exists.

Lovely, lovely book; not perfect but engrossing and beautiful, and well-deserving of the attention it has received. Reading it is a quite an experience. 4 stars.

"Once, in my father's bookshop, I heard a regular customer say that few things leave a deeper mark on a reader than the first book that finds its way into his heart. Those first images, the echo of words we think we have left behind, accompany us throughout our lives and sculpt a palace in our memory to which, sooner or later—no matter how many books we read, how many worlds we discover, or how much we learn or forget — we will return."

...more

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Jul 23, 2011 Arah-Lynda rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: top, i-said

Here is one for those of us who absolutely adore great literature. It is almost as though The Shadow of the Wind was written for book lovers everywhere. An adrenaline laced, pulse pounding, suspense filled, dark and romantic, gothic adventure, peopled with brilliantly developed, colourful, charismatic and ultimately,unforgetable characters. It really should come with a warning as it will keep you reading late into the night and long after you should have put it down. Fantastic! A must read ...more

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Jan 13, 2018 Peter rated it it was amazing

Shelves: literary-fiction, favorites, top-10

Foreboding
Mysterious, atmospheric and compelling!

“I still remember the day my father took me to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books for the first time. It was the early summer of 1945, … 'Daniel you mustn’t tell anyone what you’re about to see today’ my father warned.”

The wonderful opening line that sets the scene for an eerie and mysterious story waiting to unfold over the next 400 pages. A captivating foreboding story that changes the air around you as you read.

The tradition for those that are fortunate to visit the ‘Cemetery of Forgotten Books’ for the first time, is that they get to choose a book to adopt. Daniel on his first visit chooses ‘Shadow of the Wind’ by Julian Carax, or the book chooses him. Daniel along with his father, his father’s friend Barcelo and his niece Clara, investigate what happened to the author, only to realise that this is a mysterious and heart-breaking story and this book that Daniel owns may be the last surviving version of ‘Shadow of the Wind’. Their research uncovers the dramatic events that befell Julain Carax and his beloved Penelope.

Years later, out walking one night through a misty Barcelona, a mysterious rasping voice calls Daniel from the shadows and offers any amount of money for the book. By match-light, Daniel sees a burnt, grotesque, and mutilated face telling him he wants the book, and for his sake and the sake of his friend Clara he better give it to him. When Daniel asks what he wants to do with the books, the voice whispers “Burn them”.

Needless to say, Daniel keeps the book and searches for the history and truth behind it and its author. It is a wonderfully written story with subtle complexities and layers, leaving the reader feeling a blanket of chilling apprehension as you urge Daniel forward to uncover the good, the bad and the retribution surrounding Carax. The characters offer depth and range, and you’re not quite sure what intentions are genuine and where your sympathies will lie at the end. The hot, misty, atmospheric Barcelona is extremely well characterised and seems to seep in through your skin which adds to the suspense and mystery.

One of my favourite books of all time and the first of a fantastic series. I would highly recommend this book.
...more

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Mar 26, 2007 Jordan rated it did not like it · review of another edition

This book SEEMED like it was going to be so good - a dark mystery set in post-war Barcelona, with tragic love and a place called The Cemetary of Forgotton Books... what's not to love? (To be honest, I'm not a fan of tragic love, but everything else at least seemed great). But while I was vaguely curious to see how everything pieced together, I didn't like or care about any of the characters, and dialogue like "Sometimes I no longer know who you are," kept me at a distance. The book never went ...more

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Apr 27, 2017 Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin rated it it was ok

*****VERY UNPOPULAR OPINION TIME*****

The majority of my friends love this book to death but I didn't. Some of my friends didn't love it so I don't feel so alone thank goodness.

I tried reading the paperback awhile back and put it down. Then I picked it up again and the beginning was so good. I thought we were going to go on some kind of crazy journey when I read about the cemetery of forgotten books. It just never went where I thought it might go.

I finally got the audio version on Overdrive and ...more

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Jun 09, 2019 Dem rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction

The Shadow of the Wind is wonderfully atmospheric, descriptive and a totally compelling read.

Barcelona 1945 and the aftermath of the Spanish civil war. An antiquarian book dealers son called Daniel mourns the loss of his mother. His father takes him to the secret and mysterious cemetery of Forgotten books, Daniels choses a book called the Shadow of the Wind by Julian Carax and when he sets out to discover the authors other works, he makes a shocking discovery and here the story begins.

A ...more

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Mar 22, 2013 Tea Jovanović rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: read-for-pleasure

I remember taking a Canadian edition with me to vacation in Dubai... And when we went to see Golden souk, instead of, like true female, enjoying all the displayed golden wonders, I found first bench and finished the book, while my family ohed and ahed over so much gold in one place...
one of the five best books I've read in last 10 years

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Oct 07, 2008 Will Byrnes rated it really liked it

A fun read, intriguing, fast-paced, with interesting and engaging characters.

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Mar 13, 2017 Raeleen Lemay marked it as dnf

Shelves: adult-fiction

DNF'd on page 221

In theory, I should have loved this book. Structurally and plot-wise it reads sort of like a Spanish version of The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, but I just didn't connect with this story or the writing. Since I was still curious to see how the book ends, I read the plot summary on Wikipedia (I know, I'm terrible) and after doing that I'm glad I decided to stop reading. The book certainly goes in a direction that I didn't see coming, but I don't think it would be worth slogging ...more

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Apr 06, 2013 Amy | shoutame rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, adult

Where do I begin? This is by far my favourite book of the year so far and I have already bought the second in the series so I can quench my obsession with Carlos Ruiz Zafon's gorgeous writing.

The story begins in Barcelona just after the Spanish Civil War, a young boy named Daniel lives alone with his Father and helps run the family bookshop. One day Daniel's Father takes him to a place knows as 'The Cemetery of Forgotten Books' - a labyrinthine place completely packed with beautiful and rare Where do I begin? This is by far my favourite book of the year so far and I have already bought the second in the series so I can quench my obsession with Carlos Ruiz Zafon's gorgeous writing.

The story begins in Barcelona just after the Spanish Civil War, a young boy named Daniel lives alone with his Father and helps run the family bookshop. One day Daniel's Father takes him to a place knows as 'The Cemetery of Forgotten Books' - a labyrinthine place completely packed with beautiful and rare books. Daniel is allowed to spend some time there and pick out one book that he can to keep, this is how he come across 'The Shadow of the Wind' - a gripping novel written by one Julian Carax.

After falling in love with the book Daniel sets out on a mission to find out more about it's illusive author, he also discovers that a mysterious cloaked figure is hell bent on destroying any remaining books by Julian Carax, including the one that Daniel now owns. We are then thrown into an epic adventure with twists and turns at every corner, Zafon tells such a brilliantly thought out story that you won't want to put down!

The themes explored in this novel are too many to list but some more prominent ones include; forbidden love, murder, adultery and family ties. Zafon spins such a intricate tale that won't fail to surprise! I laughed, I cried and also found myself longing to be working alongside Daniel as he uncovers the mysteries surrounding 'The Shadow of the Wind'.

Zafon's writing has to be one of the most beautiful I have ever read. I was constantly finding myself sitting back from the book just to take in the profound nature of what was written on the page. I was taken aback by the flow and poetic feel that permeates this novel, this all the more surprising as this book was originally written in Spanish, I can't even begin to imagine how striking this novel must be to those who can read it the way the Zafon intended it to be.

The characters were fantastically built up, my favourite would have to be Fermin, Daniel's partner in crime, who aids his younger friend in his quest - Fermin has to be one of the most intellectually funny characters that I have ever read.

The conclusion of the story was great and I can't wait to read the next in this brilliant series of books. A definite five out of five and I highly recommend to anyone who is a lover of books and literature surrounding books! ...more

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Nov 29, 2011 Diane rated it it was ok

Shelves: unfinished, bookishness, mysteries-thrillers, modern-fiction, spain

This novel started off very promising, but soon devolved into bad writing and ridiculous plotting. I finally had to abandon it after 200 pages because I didn't want to waste another minute on it. I'm going to give the writer the benefit of the doubt and wonder if this was poorly translated from the Spanish.

The story is set in Barcelona in 1945. What I liked about the beginning was the idea of a young boy being drawn into a secret world of readers. Daniel was 10 when his father took him to the This novel started off very promising, but soon devolved into bad writing and ridiculous plotting. I finally had to abandon it after 200 pages because I didn't want to waste another minute on it. I'm going to give the writer the benefit of the doubt and wonder if this was poorly translated from the Spanish.

The story is set in Barcelona in 1945. What I liked about the beginning was the idea of a young boy being drawn into a secret world of readers. Daniel was 10 when his father took him to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, which was a dusty and hidden library, and he was told to choose one book to protect. Daniel fell in love with an out-of-print novel and tries to find out more about the mysterious author.

"Once, in my father's bookshop, I heard a regular customer say that few things leave a deeper mark on a reader than the first book that finds its way into his heart. Those first images, the echo of words we think we have left behind, accompany us throughout our lives and sculpt a palace in our memory to which, sooner or later -- no matter how many books we read, how many worlds we discover, or how much we learn or forget -- we will return. For me those enchanted pages will always be the ones I found among the passageways of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books."

Daniel soon finds out that the book he chose is valuable because it is the very last copy -- all the others have been burned. There's no point in summarizing the rest of the plot because it quickly becomes absurd. Absurdity is always relative, of course, and the degree to which disbelief must be suspended varies by genre. This book was grounded at the beginning, but the mystery aspect was so silly that it became farcical.

I had high hopes for this novel but was very disappointed. I thought it might be similar to the modern gothic style of "The Thirteenth Tale," which I really liked, but the bad writing made me quickly tire of it. There were too many cliches, too many florid descriptions and too many long speeches from preposterous characters.

Looking at reviews from GR friends, I see everything from 1 stars to 5 stars on this book. It is possible that if I come back to this at another time and in another mood, I may like it more, but for now, it's just OK. ...more

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About Carlos Ruiz Zafón

Carlos Ruiz Zafón

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Carlos Ruiz Zafón is a Spanish novelist. Born in Barcelona in 1964, he has lived in Los Ángeles, United States, since 1994, and works as a scriptwriter aside from writing novels.

His first novel, El príncipe de la niebla (The Prince of Mist, 1993), earned the Edebé literary prize for young adult fiction. He is also the author of three more young-adult novels, El palacio de la medianoche (1994), Las ...more