The Shadow of the Wind
Registered by KansasKiwi on 11/16/2005
5 journalers for this copy...
Trade-size paperback.
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From the Publisher
Barcelona, 1945—A great world city lies shrouded in secrets after the war, and a boy mourningthe loss of his mother finds solace in his love for an extraordinary book called The Shadow of the Wind, by an author named Julian Carax. When the boy searches for Carax's other books, it begins to dawn on him, to his horror, that someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book the man has ever written. Soon the boy realizes that The Shadow of the Wind is as dangerous to own as it is impossible to forget, for the mystery of its author's identity holds the key to an epic story of murder, madness, and doomed love that someone will go to any lengths to keep secret.
Book has arrived safe and sound; unfortunately book that I've promised you still hasn't reached me but I didn't forget about that :)
Thank you so much!
Thank you so much!
Oh I really don't know what to think about this book. On one hand it was very enjoyable read but now when I finished reading I cannot ignore that taste of disappointment in my mouth.
I never liked comparison (especially) with Borges and then Márquez, Eco, etc. I mean usually you don't do that. I have general attitude that we should let time to make that comparison (I'm wondering have they read Borges at all?) but I realized that book doesn't have anything with that and I decided to be ... neutral before I read it.
I must admit that I found some fabulous elements which are reminded me at Borges indeed, little Márquez and indeed little Eco and my expectations were bigger and bigger. I mean Cemetery of Forgotten Books, labyrinth-library where are the last copies of forgotten books which are waiting one reader who'll bring them back in life and become their life-long guardian is magnificent idea! (although something similar can be seen in masterpiece Encyclopedia of Death by wizard Danilo Kis)
Unfortunately, I'm afraid Mr Ruiz Zafón didn't know what to do with this great idea and the story started to melt away and he gotten off the subject. There are too many themes (at the end superficially done), too many characters (some of them very unconvincingly described) and the result: Book with such en enormous artistic, high, magical potential has become only one interesting read with huge bestselling potential. (of course maybe that is what Mr Ruiz Zafón wanted from the beginning)
You cannot compare book that'll be forgotten in a few months with Borges. Oh no. Only what you'll achieve is be ridiculous in public and discredit your literary judging.
I'm sure many will enjoy in this novel; I admit I enjoyed but simply I had really big expectations which aren't fulfilled. I'm sure this book will find new home very soon (there are so many candidates).
KansasKiwi thank you once again for sharing this with me :)
This is Carlos Ruiz Zafón!
UPDATE: 13.06.'06
This book is traveling back on the other side of Atlantic where it came from to me. Its European visit is over and is going now to Kyrissaean. Enjoy :-)
I never liked comparison (especially) with Borges and then Márquez, Eco, etc. I mean usually you don't do that. I have general attitude that we should let time to make that comparison (I'm wondering have they read Borges at all?) but I realized that book doesn't have anything with that and I decided to be ... neutral before I read it.
I must admit that I found some fabulous elements which are reminded me at Borges indeed, little Márquez and indeed little Eco and my expectations were bigger and bigger. I mean Cemetery of Forgotten Books, labyrinth-library where are the last copies of forgotten books which are waiting one reader who'll bring them back in life and become their life-long guardian is magnificent idea! (although something similar can be seen in masterpiece Encyclopedia of Death by wizard Danilo Kis)
Unfortunately, I'm afraid Mr Ruiz Zafón didn't know what to do with this great idea and the story started to melt away and he gotten off the subject. There are too many themes (at the end superficially done), too many characters (some of them very unconvincingly described) and the result: Book with such en enormous artistic, high, magical potential has become only one interesting read with huge bestselling potential. (of course maybe that is what Mr Ruiz Zafón wanted from the beginning)
You cannot compare book that'll be forgotten in a few months with Borges. Oh no. Only what you'll achieve is be ridiculous in public and discredit your literary judging.
I'm sure many will enjoy in this novel; I admit I enjoyed but simply I had really big expectations which aren't fulfilled. I'm sure this book will find new home very soon (there are so many candidates).
KansasKiwi thank you once again for sharing this with me :)
This is Carlos Ruiz Zafón!
UPDATE: 13.06.'06
This book is traveling back on the other side of Atlantic where it came from to me. Its European visit is over and is going now to Kyrissaean. Enjoy :-)
Look what arrived today -- mail from Serbia! Thanks so much, zzz!! And thanks also for your fun note!
Don't worry, I haven't paid much attention to the reviews and all talk about this book, so I'm not likely to be disappointed by big expectations. I just know that it's been very popular, the translation into English is supposed to be very well done, and it sounds like a good read. ;D So I've been warned -- I won't even think about comparing this to any other books! And certainly not to any authors beginning with "B"!
Don't worry, I haven't paid much attention to the reviews and all talk about this book, so I'm not likely to be disappointed by big expectations. I just know that it's been very popular, the translation into English is supposed to be very well done, and it sounds like a good read. ;D So I've been warned -- I won't even think about comparing this to any other books! And certainly not to any authors beginning with "B"!
Finished! I've been working my way through this book for the last couple weeks each night before bed, and I'm glad I took my time with it. There are a lot of wonderful dry comments woven into the text and I wanted to catch them all. I also loved the setting and wanted to enjoy my sojourn into Barcelona unhurriedly.
Speaking of the text, the translation is indeed fantastic -- this doesn't even feel like a translation at all, and I enjoyed the writing style. It says in the beginning of the book that Lucia Graves oversees poetry translations, the hardest translations out there!
And what to say about this book? It's much more accessible than I was expecting, but after zzz's warning I was very careful to go into this book with as little forethought as possible! Perhaps that made the difference, because I liked this book very much! Well, actually the first half of the book was interesting but not compelling, but once I was midway through I didn't want to stop reading.
I agree with zzz that there are a lot of themes and characters filling this book, so things like the Cemetery of Forgotten Books become more of a convenient plot device instead of an integral part of the story. I loved the characters though! Especially Fermin! His voice was a great reflection of some of Zafon's other tones! By the end of the story I was only sorry that we didn't know enough about some of them. Neither Penelope nor Bea are ever really fleshed out -- we see them almost entirely through the eyes of people who love them and never know much about them as individuals. I didn't really notice it until Nuria finally got her say near then end of the book, but in fact most of the female characters end up being plot devices just as much as the Cemetery of Lost Books. Except for Nuria, it's the men who are the real people in this story. Come to think of it, I found the weakest point of this novel to be one specific character -- Fumero. Again, he was so much the same old bad guy that he was pure plot device instead of a character. He stood out as a sore spot when he was placed against some of the other characters who were so well done.
So yes, there were flaws, and this isn't necessarily lofty future classic material. But it was interesting all the way through, had a great setting, and I know I'll remember this story and the people in it for a long time. Several things that would happen were obvious right from the beginning, but I had a very satisfied glow about me as I finished the book. Technically the ending was probably tied up a little too neatly, but I've been very frustrated lately by books with ambiguous endings so I loved having everything spelled out for me! (I was once told by a literature professor that it's a bad trait of Americans to prefer such closed endings. But you know, I never liked her anyway!)
I'm very happy to have read this -- thanks so much for sharing it!
Speaking of the text, the translation is indeed fantastic -- this doesn't even feel like a translation at all, and I enjoyed the writing style. It says in the beginning of the book that Lucia Graves oversees poetry translations, the hardest translations out there!
And what to say about this book? It's much more accessible than I was expecting, but after zzz's warning I was very careful to go into this book with as little forethought as possible! Perhaps that made the difference, because I liked this book very much! Well, actually the first half of the book was interesting but not compelling, but once I was midway through I didn't want to stop reading.
I agree with zzz that there are a lot of themes and characters filling this book, so things like the Cemetery of Forgotten Books become more of a convenient plot device instead of an integral part of the story. I loved the characters though! Especially Fermin! His voice was a great reflection of some of Zafon's other tones! By the end of the story I was only sorry that we didn't know enough about some of them. Neither Penelope nor Bea are ever really fleshed out -- we see them almost entirely through the eyes of people who love them and never know much about them as individuals. I didn't really notice it until Nuria finally got her say near then end of the book, but in fact most of the female characters end up being plot devices just as much as the Cemetery of Lost Books. Except for Nuria, it's the men who are the real people in this story. Come to think of it, I found the weakest point of this novel to be one specific character -- Fumero. Again, he was so much the same old bad guy that he was pure plot device instead of a character. He stood out as a sore spot when he was placed against some of the other characters who were so well done.
So yes, there were flaws, and this isn't necessarily lofty future classic material. But it was interesting all the way through, had a great setting, and I know I'll remember this story and the people in it for a long time. Several things that would happen were obvious right from the beginning, but I had a very satisfied glow about me as I finished the book. Technically the ending was probably tied up a little too neatly, but I've been very frustrated lately by books with ambiguous endings so I loved having everything spelled out for me! (I was once told by a literature professor that it's a bad trait of Americans to prefer such closed endings. But you know, I never liked her anyway!)
I'm very happy to have read this -- thanks so much for sharing it!
The Cemetary of Lost Books and the devil that haunts the streets of Barcelona are very appropriately making tracks toward.....
...my Secret Spookee! Happy Halloween!!!
...my Secret Spookee! Happy Halloween!!!
I'm happy to be part of trying new things. Especially reading about and in another country.I sure will be traveling with this story. The story itself sounds interesting. I shall see. Thank you to my spooky spook Alexis for making my first Halloween exchange the best :D
I think the concept of The Cementary of the Forgotten Books was a great one. To believe there is a portal to bring back what could be great authors is cool. But I don't think this author was using this as a mainstream but a tool to read around it. Yes there are many themes in this book as well as characters. They all bring something to the table though. And eventually they all come back intertwined with each other.
Seems like mostly stories need a bad guy to feed off of. And Fumero was the one. Yes I rooted for the main character Daniel but there were some intresting ones too that I liked and was happy to see their lives change for better. One in particular, Fermin.
I agree the women characters aren't as upfront as the men. But it has to be kept in mind back in that time women were not in front but silenced.
My daughter did tell me that USA seem to like to package everything up at the end so there is no loose threads. And this story has done that. I'm happy to know what has happened to these characters. And for that there is no comparison to keep in mind. Although I think we forget that an idea has to come from somewhere. Every story is unique and there seems to be a link to something else we might have read. As long that its not copied action to action.
I'll be looking forward to reading the next two books and see where the story takes me. I hope if just for my sake I can write this on my blog with a little more thoughts I have.
Seems like mostly stories need a bad guy to feed off of. And Fumero was the one. Yes I rooted for the main character Daniel but there were some intresting ones too that I liked and was happy to see their lives change for better. One in particular, Fermin.
I agree the women characters aren't as upfront as the men. But it has to be kept in mind back in that time women were not in front but silenced.
My daughter did tell me that USA seem to like to package everything up at the end so there is no loose threads. And this story has done that. I'm happy to know what has happened to these characters. And for that there is no comparison to keep in mind. Although I think we forget that an idea has to come from somewhere. Every story is unique and there seems to be a link to something else we might have read. As long that its not copied action to action.
I'll be looking forward to reading the next two books and see where the story takes me. I hope if just for my sake I can write this on my blog with a little more thoughts I have.
on it's way to ciloma
Happy Reading!
Happy Reading!
This one arrived safely in the mail today. Thanx a bunch!!
