I enjoyed The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón.
I chose this novel at my book club’s Christmas Book Exchange. My friend said it was recommended to her by a college student from England who fell asleep reading it on a train.
When he awoke a lady was waiting to ask him how he was liking the book because it was her favorite. How could I pass up that sort of recommendation?
Besides, that recommendation is perfect for this book!
The blurb from the book jacket…
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 Julián 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 book Carax has written. In fact, Daniel may have the last of Carax’s books in existence. Soon Daniel’s seemingly innocent quest opens a door into one of Barcelona’s darkest secrets — an epic story of murder, madness, and doomed love.
I agree with Stephen King’s praise on the cover, this is “one gorgeous read.” The story is compelling and unusual. I particularly appreciate Ruiz Zafón skill at turning a phrase.
“Six years later my mother’s absence remained in the air around us, a deafening silence that I had not yet learned to stifle with words.”
– first page of The Shadow of the Wind
The Shadow of the Wind
Barcelona is the Perfect Setting for the Story
Reading novels, set in places I’ve visited, is fun for me.
My daughter and I explored Barcelona several summers ago. Although my sense of direction was impaired the entire time, I would return in a heartbeat. The architecture is magnificent (especially the free-flowing structures designed by Catalan Modernista movement star Antoni Gaudí). The food and cava are delightful. And the people nice (and it’s easy to find an English speaker).
A three-day stay is not enough to recognize all the streets traversed in The Shadow of the Wind. Still, with the help of the map in my copy of the book, I easily envision Daniel’s saga.
The story works in any setting. However, the age-old streets and the coastal weather of Barcelona lend an additional layer of mystery to the novel.
One Other Thing about The Shadow of the Wind
Without giving anything away, for me, the parallels between the two main characters was too close. The narrator, Daniel Sempere, and the novelist who wrote the book Daniel becomes obsessed with, The Shadow of the Wind, Julián Carax, have three major similarities. Both are sons of shopkeepers. Their mothers have flawed presences in their lives. And each falls in love with the sister of a friend.
I had some difficulty keeping the two lives unjumbled, especially when reading the novel at bedtime.
Have you read it?
