Books: The Shadow of the Wind

The Shadow of the Wind
by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Copyright 2001
500 pages

This is one of the best books I have read in a long time.

The book was a bestseller in Spain, where the novel takes place. It is set in the 1950s but bounces around in time a bit (my only complaint with the novel - I was never sure what era I was in).

Daniel Sempere, a motherless boy, is 10 years old when his father takes him to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books. He discovers a novel called The Shadow of the Wind, by Julián Carax, an obscure author. Sempere is taken with the book and sets out to learn more about the writer.

He is accosted by a stranger who offers to buy the book, and then Daniel learns that someone has purchased and burned all copies of the book found.

The novel follows Daniel as he grows up, still entranced with the book and its author. He has a teenage crush ona blind woman who knows something of the book, meets Fermin, a man with a mysterious past who knows much about books and life in general, and falls for his best friend's sister, Bea.

The story turns into a mystery as Daniel, now a young adult, begins in earnest to learn how Carax allegedly died and why someone wants the books burned.

Along the way there is a corrupt policeman who happens to have grown up with Carax, lots of tension, and just good literature.

This is not an insipid book by any stretch of the imagination. It reminded me of a Joseph Conrad book, perhaps, or any other well-written book of quality.

4.5 stars