The Shadow of the Wind (The Cemetery of Forgotten Books, #1) in Crazy Challenge Connection

Nov 30, 2014 Chaitra rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: translated, historical-fiction, mystery, romance, gothic, first-of-a-series, historical-mystery

I own this book and I'm certain I have read this before. However, not a single thing came back to me when I read it again. I didn't like it this time around, and that's not really a surprise. It's popular and I don't usually agree with popular tastes. It's still disappointing, doubly so when it turns out that I do not like the first book of a series, which I feel compelled to finish regardless.

Here are the problems I had with the book, and there are several. Firstly, it's a Gothic romance, with I own this book and I'm certain I have read this before. However, not a single thing came back to me when I read it again. I didn't like it this time around, and that's not really a surprise. It's popular and I don't usually agree with popular tastes. It's still disappointing, doubly so when it turns out that I do not like the first book of a series, which I feel compelled to finish regardless.

Here are the problems I had with the book, and there are several. Firstly, it's a Gothic romance, with all the florid prose it entails. It's a style of writing that I think is better off forgotten. I am not sure how much of it is the fault of the translation, but I think far too many words were used to describe a plot that I couldn't sympathize with in the first place. That's another problem. It's also a tragic love story (or several tragic ones), and I can't really stand those either - all those delicate, beautiful women (there aren't any other kind), falling in love with personality-less men at the very first sight. I thought these people couldn't see past the ends of their own nose, so to speak.

But what I hated the most was that I felt cheated - I was promised, I thought, a book that is a paean to literature, a book about the love of books. It wasn't. It was about the impossible love stories and the implacable enemies to those stories. Yes, it is bracketed by an author and his books. But there is nothing that suggests an overarching love for literature - anything beyond that author and his one book is not addressed, despite that the main character working in a bookshop. He's too busy being dazzled by every woman he meets, I suppose. An interesting concept is introduced, that of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, but its really a means to an end, and doesn't take up more than 4-5 of the 485 pages.

I can see how the majority of its readers would like this book, I can see the appeal. But it wasn't for me. I tried, but soon tired of its language and that of its characters, none of whom I could care about. I'm not even bringing up the sexism in the book (I lied, I brought it up), because even though I hated that too, I can excuse it as a product of those times. The plot, on the other hand, I could not. 1 star. ...more

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Jan 18, 2020 BookishStitcher rated it liked it

Maybe because I'd hyped this up in my head as an amazing lyrical book, it just couldn't live up to it. There were some brilliantly worded sentences, honestly I almost dnf'ed it a couple of times because I just didn't care about the characters. ...more

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Mar 24, 2016 Megalion rated it really liked it

Shelves: from-shelfari, year-read-2014

As a book lover, a book centric plot is always a particular pleasure.

Shadow of the Wind is particularly unique however.

This line from the summary captures it well: "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." The quest was to find more books from the author of a book he finds and loves.

I would also add the word "bizarre" to the above description.

Not a book for everyone ...more

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Jan 17, 2015 Olivermagnus rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2023, historical-mystery, magic, zfeb-2023

Daniel Sempere was ten years old in 1945 when his father, a bookseller, took him to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books in their home city of Barcelona, Spain. A place known only to a select few, the tradition was that on his first visit, the visitor would find a book that would be "his." He would, from then on, have to ensure the book never disappeared, for that was the mission of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books. It was place to rescue unwanted books, those discarded from libraries and liquidated f ...more

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Sep 27, 2018 Nina rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: series

I seem to feel quite different about this book compared to the rest of the world.
I am wondering to which account this is due to the audio book, but I wouldn't have loved it if I read the physical version I am sure.
One problem I had because of listening to it, was the names. I got them confused a lot of the times and was often not sure who the person is, we are talking about right now. This also lead to distraction, trying to figure out who is who, while the book continued and lost track of it.
In ...more

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Oct 09, 2016 Jan rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: zz-finished-in-2016, historical-fiction

This was just not for me...I will say the writing was lyrical and beautiful at times. But at 200 pages into it I had had enough and just didn't care. Oh well... ...more

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