Book Review: The Shadow of the Wind
Written by Carlos Ruiz Zafón Translated by Lucia Graves Published February 1, 2005 by Penguin Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Thriller 487 pagesI just finished reading The Shadow of the Wind for the second time and I almost forgot how wonderful the book is. The book’s first sentence hooked me: I still remember the day my father took me to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books. In 1945, Daniel Sempere is taken to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books in Barcelona, Spain. He is only ten, but his life will forever change. Daniel was raised among books, since his own father is a book seller. He cannot tell anyone the secrets within the walls of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books. His father tells him to pick a book to protect as his own. Daniel moves through the maze of bookshelves until he picks his book: The Shadow of the Wind by Julián Carax. That night Daniel falls in love with the book and desires to read more books by the author. However, Daniel cannot read anymore books written by Carax, because someone has been trying to remove the books from existence. This leads Daniel onto a literary quest to discover more about Julián Carax and why his books have suddenly disappeared.
The Shadow of the Wind is almost magical as your curiosity increases with thrills, scandals, rumors, passion, and suspense. I highly recommend this book. Carlos Ruiz Zafón wrote a sequel,The Angel’s Game, that unfortunately I didn’t think matched The Shadow of the Wind. However, you’ll find reappearing characters and the story somewhat continues.
This is a place of mystery, Daniel, a sanctuary. 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…In this place, books no longer remembered by anyone, books that are lost in time, live forever, waiting for the day when they will reach a new reader’s hands. In the shop we buy and sell them, but in truth books have no owner. Every book you see here has been somebody’s best friend.
Carlos Ruiz Zafón (The Shadow of the Wind, pages 5-6)
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This entry was posted in Book Review, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Mystery and tagged Barcelona, Book Review, Carlos Ruiz Zafón, Historical Fiction, mystery, The Shadow of the Wind, thriller.
February 2, 2012 at 12:11 am
sounds awesome, just the kind of book i would love to read … i will look at my local library!
February 2, 2012 at 7:21 pm
It’s a great book! You’re sure to enjoy it!
February 2, 2012 at 7:11 am
This one is already on my spring TBR list. It sounds so good! And I love that cover.
February 2, 2012 at 7:21 pm
I would move the book up on your TBR list, since I enjoyed it so much. The cover does look mysterious.
February 4, 2012 at 6:20 am
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