Carlos Ruiz Zafón (1964–2020)

Read Around the World Spain

“A story is a letter the author writes to himself to tell himself things he would be unable to discover otherwise.”

“The art of reading is slowly dying, that it's an intimate ritual, that a book is a mirror that offers us only what we carry inside us, that when we read, we do it with all our heart and mind, and great readers are becoming more scarce by the day.”

The Shadow of the Wind by Spanish author Carlos Ruiz Zafron is a worldwide bestselling novel, having sold more than 15 million copies and won many awards.

It is a story within a story, beginning in Barcelona in 1945 with Daniel Sempere, a boy whose father owns a bookshop. Daniel’s father takes him to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a secret place where rare and banned books are kept. Daniel chooses the book The Shadow of the Wind and takes it home. He discovers that the book, written by the mysterious author Julián Carax, is the only copy left and not only is the author missing, but someone has been burning all of his other books. Daniel becomes obsessed with Carax and his book and begins to search for the truth behind the stories. Daniel finds other people are also searching for the book, including a frightening, burned and disfigured man called Lain Coubert who tries to get it from Daniel.

When Daniel is working for his father in the bookshop he meets the beggar and vagrant Fermín Romero de Torres. His father takes Fermín in and gives him a job. The flamboyant, philosophical and humorous Fermín becomes a great friend to Daniel and a lynchpin of the story. The two embark on a quest to uncover the mystery of what happened to Julián Carax. In the background the evil Inspector Francisco Javier Fumero is always lurking, already responsible for persecuting and torturing Fermín in his former life as a spy.

The story of Julián’s life gradually unfolds: his childhood friendship with Miquel Moliner who grows up to be a wealthy publisher, and his star-crossed romance with Pénélope, daughter of the wealthy Don Ricardo Aldaya. The story seems to parallel Daniel’s own life in many ways.

This was an engaging, atmospheric, larger than life read. The mystery is complex and the characters enigmatic. The setting in 1940s and 50s Barcelona is appealing and lends to the gothic magical feel of the story. Despite the darkness of the tale there is also a warm humour that runs through it, with lines like this:

“People talk too much. Humans aren't descended from monkeys. They come for parrots.”

“God, in His infinite wisdom, and perhaps overwhelmed by the avalanche of requests from so many tormented souls, did not answer.”

“The clear, unequivocal lucidity of madmen who have escaped the hypocrisy of having to abide by a reality that makes no sense.”

I think the audiobook probably made the book a little harder to follow and keep all the characters straight, and I did wonder why all the Spanish characters had English accents. Overall this was a great read and I can see why so many people are absorbed by it. 4.5 stars… (more)

This books marks the welcome return to Literary Fiction for me and what a book to welcome be back.

This is a powerful read that will draw you in with a great story that stands on its own in the Spanish Literary Tradition. There is a hint of the many genres and authors that Spain claims not just in the books in the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, but also in the writing itself. Following young Daniel from his first visit to the Cemetery and claiming his book, to his first feelings of love to discovering passion betrayed as well as fulfilled, to the arrival of Fermin and Fumero, and the other more Picaresque characters that live and breathe between the covers of this book, you will find yourself transported to Post Civil War Barcelona and travel with Daniel though his life and city. Just as he discover himself, this book will challenge you to discover new thoughts and ponder lasting questions....what any good piece of literature does.

Simply put, this is an amazing read that cannot be speed read. The beauty and vibrancy of both Zafon's writing and Graves' translation will remind you how powerful the choice of words can be and make you pause to revel in the beauty and ambience that paragraph or exchange of dialogue can convey. This literally, is a book that you will move into and one that will occupy your thoughts long after it is finished.

I read this book as part of a Read along hosted by the publisher and these opinions are my own… (more)