~The Shadow of the Wind
My dear readers, whomever you may be,
Welcome! I have decided, after long months pondering how best to actively join the internet community, to write a blog about the thing I know best. Not, though some of my friends may disagree, the Broadway musical but books.
We hear, every so often, of the dying art of the book, how teenagers today don’t have the time or the inclination to devote to the quiet art of reading. We are surrounded by interactive and social media which feeds us driblets of information in scattered fragments and disjointed “updates”. Bookstores are closing, from the tiny neighborhood store which is silent and smells of paper and binding glue to the giants like Borders which play music over speakers and where you have to step around people reading in the aisles.
People simply don’t read enough. And it’s not just those of us who have grown up in the era of online social networking. My parents, as an example, rarely sit down to read a book unless they’re on vacation. My dad looks on my overflowing bookshelves with the affectionate exasperation of someone who doesn’t quite grasp why I would feel the need to burden myself with the care of so many books (a habit which has recently become far more of a burden with four moves in the past two years).
But enough about me for now. What you are really here to read is a book review. Am I right? Of course I am.
Book One:The Shadow of the Wind
By: Carlos Ruiz Zafón
The Shadow of the Wind is a mystery novel, a coming of age tale, a romance, a condemnation of corruption and the disparity of wealth. But above all, it is a love letter to the beauty of the art of writing.
The novel takes place in post Civil War Barcelona in the 1930’s and 40’s and is the coming of age tale of a booksellers son, the motherless Daniel Sempere.
On a misty early morning not long before Daniel’s eleventh birthday his father brings him to a place where the mystery begins: The Cemetery of Forgotten Books. A rabbits warren of dusty tomes crammed onto scarred and battered bookshelves, Daniel is allowed to take one book from it’s depths. He chooses (or rather is chosen by) The Shadow of the Wind. A book by an author he has never heard of: Julián Carax.
Daniel spends an entire night captivated by the lurid tale (which is never told to the curious reader) and resolves then and there to read every novel by Carax. But here is where the mystery begins, for Daniel discovers that though several Carax novels were published, very few remain in circulation. For some man has gone about for the last few years burning every copy of Carax’s novels that he could get his hands on.
Thus Daniel, curious and desperate to read more of Carax’s novels, is thrust into a world of shadows, childhood friendships gone awry, betrayal, doomed love, and tortured souls. As he grows to adulthood, Daniel’s life and that of the mysterious author become intertwined as more and more of the tragic tale comes to light.
Ruiz Zafón writes that “few things leave a deeper mark on a reader then the first book that finds its way into his heart. Those first images, the echo of words we think we have left behind, accompany us throughout our lives and sculpt a palace in our memory to which, sooner or later—no matter how many books we read, or how many worlds we discover, or how much we learn or forget—we will return.”
The words are meant to apply to Daniel and The Shadow of the Wind but, they ring as a universal truth. Those who do not have a book like that simply haven’t read enough books. And I am sure that, if I had not already found such a book, The Shadow of the Wind would have been mine.
The prose is elegant and deftly weaves together Daniel’s life as he grows towards maturity and the mystery of Julián Carax and his disappearing books. Through Daniel’s eyes we discover the truths and lies that surround the tragically doomed figure just as we watch Daniel himself grow into himself and learn about the beauty and harsh reality of the world.
It is, quite simply, a page turner. There is no part of this book where the action slows down to the point of boredom and monotony (the downfall of quite a few otherwise excellent books) and yet the author takes the time to flesh-out each character to the point where they seem to jump off the page. He describes the flawed people which populate this novel with vivid language and subtle clues, giving us young Daniel’s impressions with startling clarity.
The mystery of the novel is compounded by the unreliability of it’s narrator. For, in his innocence, Daniel is prone to believe whatever he is told by a pretty woman. Just when you think that you know the truth of the history behind the burning books, a new discovery is made that twists the events into a whole new truth.
There is a sadness inherent in each character, even the young and unformed, which, while at times overblown, is heart wrenching and draws the reader into a deeper sympathy with Daniel and Carax, who to the end remains a mystery.
The Shadow of the Wind is a beautifully written and well-crafted novel. Occasionally over-sad but always captivating and engaging. Ruiz Zafón keeps you guessing to the very end. And after all, isn’t that what a good mystery is supposed to do?
