"Shadow of the Wind" by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is almost a love letter to literature itself. I can't remember who did the English translation, but they were incredible. It begins the morning Daniel can't remember his mother's face and his father takes him to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books. He can choose one book and picks a book by Julian Carax and falls in love with it. When he tries to find out more about the author and other books by him, he discovers a mystery instead. Not only did Carax have almost no success, but there are almost no copies left - a mysterious stranger who calls himself by one of Carax's characters has been buying or stealing any copy and burning it.

I loved this book, the poetic writing, the mystery, the characters. Be forewarned there is some language (though very judiciously used, I never felt it to be gratuitous) and a few love scenes (which, with one slight exception are relegated to poetic descriptions, albeit, slightly dirty poetry).

I like that on the back cover it says "even the subplots have subplots". This is an amazing read and very engrossing!



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