Shadow of the Wind
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Paperback: 487 pages
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics); Later Printing edition (January 25, 2005) ISBN-10: 0143034901
From Publishers Weekly
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.
Wow!
Wow, wow, wow! What a good book!!!
I have been sooooo lucky with the RIP this year!! I've really enjoyed EVERYTHING I've read!! I really thought I'd have a difficult time coming off of Drood, and I admit I am still thinking on Wilke Collins and Charles Dickens..but this book....
Wow!.
Loved it, loved it , loved it!! I want this next book now!! NOW! dang it! lol.
This really is a few stories rolled into one. It's amazing how he wrote this and intertwined everyone's life.
Why was the book Daniel found so important?
Why did others want to buy it?
Who was burning all the books?
Exactly who is Julián Carax and is he dead or not?
Question after question arises as you read this book you find you have a harder and harder time putting it down.
When you begin this book, be prepared for an excellent story.
Be prepared to not be able to figure out all the answers until you read them.
And be prepared find yourself reading more than usual!
Thanks to this challenge I am really going to have a difficult time trying to choose "my favorite read" of the year!
I cannot review this or any book really. If I like the book , as I do this book and others, then I don't want to tell anything that might take away from the total enjoyment you will have when YOU read it.
If I gave ratings this would be a 5 star rating.. 5 of 5 that is! Go get this book and enjoy yourself!
posted by DesLily | 5:18 AM
18 Comments:
It's brilliant that you've had so many great reads for the RIP challenge, Pat. I've had this one on my tbr pile forever and now you've reminded me about it I'll try to get to it before the end of the year. I've always had a feeling I would really like it if I only I could stir myself to read it! You're doing great with the challenge too - I've just finished my third. The 13th. Tale will be my fourth.
I goe extremely lucky this year! two rereads that I knew i'd like and the other 3 all really good books!
Glad you enjoyed it! I keep meaning to try reading Zafon, but his books are always out at the library.
Oooh, and this one is already on my shelf! So glad you're on such a streak of winners, Pat!!!
Jenny: now I want his new book..which i just sent for. I'll chastise myself later.
Debi : yeah I had a good streak going! I think it ended..EAch of the last 5 books (ok so two were rereads) i knew I'd be captive within reading the first page or two... that's not happening with the Woman in White..not sure I will continue it or not.. I'll try a few more pages.. I want to stay on this roll if I can! lol and I have other books that I can go to.
Since you just had such a fabulous read yourself do me a favor and don't go to kesterwood right away LOL.. books that follow always disappoint when you have such an emotional read!!
I really need to read this! It has been on my TBR pile forever and I have even started it a couple times... Maybe in October...
Dammit Pat! Dammit dammit dammit!! I avoided putting this on my wishlist for so long :p Actually, I think it's been on my wishlist, but I've avoided buying it. But I do know that I have your exact taste in horror and mystery books...Now I want it :(
I borrowed my mother's copy of this recently and it's right here on my computer desk, actually! I'm glad you loved it and I hope I do too :D
I am still reading an Irish Country Doctor, then I have a new book I want to start called The Snow Empress. It takes place in fuedal Japan. I usually like historical novels. Just finished the second of books about Ghengis Khan. Both those books were quite good at getting the feel of the cultures and time frames.
Haven't read any books by this author, but it does sound interesting. I have been a bad girl, as I have been reading a lot of Star Trek fanfiction on the net. There is a lot more out there since the new movie. Well on to it. Loved the pictures at the pond from the weekends post by the way. Vala3
hey kelly: wow I can't imagine starting this book and setting it down!! I hope you read it someday. It's a good book! Really good mystery!
I love you too Chris lol..
I hope you do too Nymeth! I was prepared to set it down thinking it wouldn't be for me.. but was very surprised how quick I was sucked into it lol
a few of my recent reads have had a lot of history in them, though historial Fiction not all reality. Reading is great no matter what our preferences are Vala.. even fan fic! lolFans will take characters where no "writer dares to tred" lol lol ok well they dare, but they want to be published!
I hope you do NOT read anything "bad" about the new McCoy. I think Urban did a fantastic job!
You have totally convinced me to read this!
she: lol well if you enjoy mysteries you will enjoy this.. it's also about books so who couldn't like a mystery about books? lol
Oh, I'm so glad you loved it! It's my book club pick for next month... I'm waiting for it from the library and I can't wait to read it!!
Daphne: I already find myself jealous of those who are about to read this book! It is one I will read again some day
Thanks for visiting my blog! I'm glad you liked Shadow of the Wind - I haven't read it yet but I just gave it to my father-in-law for his birthday. I've only heard good things about it so I'm hoping he likes it. I'm always nervous about giving books that I haven't read. I'm hoping to borrow it from him as soon as he's finished :)
Heather
bookgirl77: it's a mystery and yet a comfortable read, like someone telling you a story from long ago... I think he'll like the book!
I really, really loved this one. I read it before I started blogging but I wish I had written my thoughts down about it :( I did copy down my favorite quotes from the book at the time though!
"Well this is a story about books."
"About books?"
"About accursed books, about the man that wrote them, about a character who broke out of the pages of a novel so he could burn it, about a betrayl and a lost friendship. It's a story of love, of hatred, and of the dreams that live in the shadow of the wind."
Bea says the art of reading is slowly dying, that it'a an intimate ritual, that a book is a mirror that offers us only what we already carry inside us, that when we read, we do it with our all our heart and mind, and great readers are becoming more scarce by the day.
Soon afterward, like figures made of steam, father and son disappear into the crowd of the Ramblas, their steps lost forever in the shadow of the wind.
ooo...you have me salivating. I have a wonderful collectible copy of this book. I spent the money on it because so many people I trust have enjoyed it and your review, filled with questions that I now want to know the answers to, has really got me intrigued. Great review, no secrets revealed and yet lots of things that have me hooked. Makes me wish RIP was starting over. I'm doing some Tolkien reading right now and am itching to start reading some sci fi again...and itch that is only going to grow stronger watching Star Trek this weekend.
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