The Shadow of the Wind

The Shadow of the Wind engaged me from the very first page where I was introduced to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books. 

“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.”

“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.”

And what book lover would not be enchanted by such a notion?

Ten-year old Daniel Sempere is brought to this mysterious place by his father. Tradition has it that each person who enters this place for the first time must adopt a book which, from then on, accompanies him. He becomes caretaker of that book making sure the book lives on.

Daniel selects The Shadow of the Wind by an obscure writer named Julián Carax. He is so enamored by the book that he decides to find out more about the author and his other works.  He discovers that someone has been secretly collecting all of Carax’ books and burning them.  He becomes obsessed with uncovering the truth and little does he know that this obsession and his chosen book, whose plot will mysteriously parallel events in his own life, will change his life forever.   And so the adventure begins…

This is a fast-paced novel whose twists and turns, plots and sub-plots will leave you glued to the text. Ruiz Zafón writes very well and can build up the suspense to an almost unbearable level. Strangely enough, I didn’t mind that the characters were stereotypical or that there was an overabundance of characters that would appear and reappear pages and pages later often prompting me to ask, “Who’s this again?” The puzzle solver in me simply wanted to solve the mystery.

I was quite taken by this book, well, for at least three-quarters of it.

I love to second-guess mystery novels. With my twisted sense of humor, I jokingly conjured up a ludicrous resolution worthy of a daytime telenovela. To my surprise, I found the author had indeed chosen the same.  Oh c’mon Señor Ruiz Zafón, I was only kidding! Despite my initial shock and disappointment, I continued to read the final section of the book hoping the author would redeem himself. He does actually manage to tie up loose ends satisfactorily. But by this time, the story had lost its steam for me.

Despite its flaws, the book was fun to read.