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A review by phidgt
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
4.0
You know it’s going to be a good read when it starts off like this:
“I STILL REMEMBER THE DAY MY FATHER TOOK ME TO THE CEMETERY OF Forgotten Books for the first time. It was the early summer of 1945, and we walked through the streets of a Barcelona trapped beneath ashen skies as dawn poured over Rambla de Santa Mónica in a wreath of liquid copper.”
“The Shadow of the Wind” is a book about books; a story about stories. This book is about sadness; love lost and love found, heartbreaking loneliness, hope and redemption.
The novel takes place in Zafón’s native Barcelona and was originally written in Spanish. I always feel like I might be missing out on some of the more intricate details and meaning in a translated book. As far as the plot goes, I really can't get into it. The story is such an interwoven web of stories that the subplots have subplots - so saying anything would give too much away.
Suffice it to say that, in my humble opinion, the writing is beautiful.
I leave you with one more quote from the book:
“ONCE, IN MY FATHER’S BOOKSHOP, I HEARD A REGULAR CUSTOMER SAY that few things leave a deeper mark on a reader than 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, how many worlds we discover, or how much we learn or forget—we will return.”
Magical.
“I STILL REMEMBER THE DAY MY FATHER TOOK ME TO THE CEMETERY OF Forgotten Books for the first time. It was the early summer of 1945, and we walked through the streets of a Barcelona trapped beneath ashen skies as dawn poured over Rambla de Santa Mónica in a wreath of liquid copper.”
“The Shadow of the Wind” is a book about books; a story about stories. This book is about sadness; love lost and love found, heartbreaking loneliness, hope and redemption.
The novel takes place in Zafón’s native Barcelona and was originally written in Spanish. I always feel like I might be missing out on some of the more intricate details and meaning in a translated book. As far as the plot goes, I really can't get into it. The story is such an interwoven web of stories that the subplots have subplots - so saying anything would give too much away.
Suffice it to say that, in my humble opinion, the writing is beautiful.
I leave you with one more quote from the book:
“ONCE, IN MY FATHER’S BOOKSHOP, I HEARD A REGULAR CUSTOMER SAY that few things leave a deeper mark on a reader than 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, how many worlds we discover, or how much we learn or forget—we will return.”
Magical.