This is a story about books... About a character who broke out of the pages of a novel so that he could burn it.
The Shadow of the Wind
by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Genre: Historical Fiction
About: At age ten, Daniel stumbles across a forgotten book, a book that was never supposed to be found. Every other book by the author has been burned. Fascinated by the mystery, Daniel delves into a dangerous past, not realising his own fate has become entwined with its dark secrets.
The Good
I was so intimidated to read this book. The blurb didn't tell me much and, this being a classic beloved by so many, I was afraid I wouldn't click with the writing style. But the writing is beautiful. Descriptions of the city, of the people, of even the weather are so evocative of life. A few lines and you see exactly the image of what you're supposed to. It's cinematic with details that stick to you like memory.
Barcelona is written as though the city itself is lying in wait for the characters. The history of the times shadows the events of the story, threatening to silence every hope you might have for these characters. And you will hope for them. There are so many characters to love - we jump around in timelines and I caught myself often wanting to stop longer and freeze the characters in their happy moments.
It's a novel that knows what it is to love a story. Carlos Ruiz Zafon sets out to entertain us with a mystery, with femme fatales and grotesque villains, but he also writes a story that is grounded in real moments. It's surprisingly humorous, and this is needed as he doesn't pull away from the ugliness of human nature either.
The Bad
I appreciated the mystery surrounding the characters and enjoyed uncovering their secrets, but felt disappointed somehow that so many of them go through years of needless misery. The true villain of the show prolongs this misery for decades, pulling everyone into this web of hatred, and although we get the backstory, it doesn't feel like enough for how much evil this one person does.
The Somewhat Iffy
I've read a lot of books lately that are books within a book within a book and it's not my favourite troupe. I think that in this novel it's brilliantly clever and masterfully done, but when character lives are written in parallel to other character lives, it makes them less real to me. The way Daniel's life bleeds into Julian's life is really interesting and increases the mystery of both these characters, but it also makes their journeys seem more fictitious. The Shadow of the Wind is a fictitious story based off Julian's life that plays out again in Daniel's life, and really cements in my mind how I'm reading a story, rather than getting lost in the story.
Overall
A haunting read, with utterly endearing characters and hope and tragedy chasing each other through the pages.
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