The Shadow of the Wind

It would take a lot for me to rate a book as 5 stars, but here is one. There is little to criticise about this book as it is very nearly perfect, however it does divulge a lot of the plot, or history of Julian, in large chunks. It has a fluent, eloquent writing style, despite it being a translation, that makes it a pleasure to read, and it includes many subplots, that in itself contain subplots, all of which are precisely explained. It's a magical book which lets you appreciate the art of reading at a level that is rarely experienced. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for one of the best reads of their life.

Zafón's storytelling skill is quite remarkable, his prose doesn't just take you into the story, it completely transports you. In only a few sentances. Zafón crafts a world of remarkable visions and events--just a little bit magical (as all the best stories really are) but grounded in characters who live, breathe, and merrily cavort off the page and into your heart.

But Zafón isn't just a strong storyteller with an exact sense of prose (and my compliments to the excellent translation!), Shadow of the Wind connects to people, it's almost a watershed. It's been a long time since I've been so excited about a book. I tell -everyone- to read it: best friends, my mom, relatives, people I work with--they're all hearing raves from me. And I don't do that lightly, but this book is joyous and sad, heartfelt and even wise.

But most important of all is that Shadow of the Wind is true. It's one of those rare books where you don't just hear 'their' story, it becomes your story as well. To loosely quote Caráx, "it holds up a mirror and a window to your soul," because it teaches us about who we are--about the communities that bind and define you.

And every single moment Fermín Romero de Torres was 'on screen' I had the biggest grins on my face, truly one of the great characters of literature.

I've not a single criticism or reservation about this book, and that puts Zafón on an extremely short list with Mark Twain, Frank Herbert and Orson Scott Card.

As a military spouse, I only keep the books that have made an impact on me and that I know I will read again. This is one of those books. I stayed up until 3AM so I could finish reading it and it was wonderful. This book is all about how books can affect your life, particularly the good ones. I find myself thinking about the characters and the story at different times during the day, wishing there were more. This book is written like a classic - nothing too overdone but but everything is woven together beautifully. I'm anxious for his next book!

The enthusiastic praise and adulation which critics have accorded the english publication of Carlo Ruiz Zafon's first novel, "The Shadow of the Wind", may trouble the reader who begins the book, worried that little might match his expectations. After all, reviewers who compare a writer's work to a combination of Umberto Eco, or Jorge Luis Borges, or Gabriel Garcia Marquez, or other literary giants, compel the reader to expect to be transported when they open the book.

Not to worry.

Once started, the single downside for the reader will be knowing that the experience must end. The plot is quite complex, the jacket cover's synopsis will give the reader all he needs to know. The important thing is to read it slowly and carefully.

A mystery story, a fairy tale, a love story (actually several love stories), a passion for literature, a treatise on politics, a bawdy tale, with love, hate, courage, intrigue, loss of innocence, humor, cowardice, villainy, cruelty, compassion, regret, murder, incest, redemption, and more. Add to this delicious mixture characters who come alive, and whose thoughts and feelings you will feel deeply.

What a great pleasure to discover; an extraordinary first work, one which towers over the endless and repetative volumes which inhabit today's "Best Seller" lists. Read it, and become hypnotized.

Edward Jawer
Wyncote, Pa.
ejawer@comcast.net

I finished reading this intensely seductive and rewarding masterpiece two days ago. Since then I've been unable to get it out of my mind, and I think you won't either. The characters, the plot and specially the extremely powerful and clever brand of storytelling deployed here seem to have left me under a spell that I can't remember experiencing with any other book I've read in the last 25 years. The promise of the magic first few pages, a stunning and seductive journey to a wonderful place called "the cemetery of forgotten books", not only doesn't let down, but steadily builds up into a magnificent saga of intrigue, romance, passion, murder, satire and even spine-chilling touches of gothic suspense. This is literature of the highest order, but I think it is also the most intelligent, often wickedly so, piece of entertainment I've come across. It manages to be at the same time an epic love story, a spellbinding mystery about enigmatic books, a meditation on the power of literature and the boundaries between fact and fiction and a grand saga in the tradition of the 19th century classics. I could see a lot of Dickens and Victor Hugo here, but somehow powered and intensified by an mesmerizing cinematic drive that places the reader inside the story and its world. I read for hours on end, marveled by the language, the wonderfully drawn characters and the many secrets of the story. I felt echoes of Poe, Borges, Garcia Marquez, Eco, Wilkie Collins, Balzac and many others. But the voice here was entirely original, unique, unlike anything else I've read before. And modern, very modern, despite the references to those classic novels. I think a book like this comes once in a reader's lifetime. It becomes much more than a engrossing read, it reminds you why you are a reader and makes you much more aware of the power of great literature to touch your life. Above all, I don't remember having this much fun in ages, and at the same time I was moved, sometimes to tears, sometimes to terror, sometimes to hysterical laugh, beyond what I had thought a book could take me to. As I was reaching the conclusion, I felt I did not want it to end. I would reread scenes or chapters, much like young Daniel does in the novel when he finds the book that will change his life. In many ways this shadow of the wind made me a young Daniel, made me experience again the thrills of first love, the times when life held mystery and promise and I dreamed some day I could find and experience such a extraordinary work of fiction as this one. I recommend this novel 100%. I would even urge you to read it and not miss what most possibly will be one of the most intense, engrossing, rewarding and magical experiences in your life as a reader.