The Shadow of The Wind Review

The Shadow of The Wind

By: Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Plot: "Barcelona, 1945: A city slowly heals in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, and Daniel, an antiquarian book dealer’s son who mourns the loss of his mother, finds solace in a mysterious book entitled The Shadow of the Wind, by one Julián Carax. But when he sets out to find the author’s other works, he makes a shocking discovery: someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book Carax has written. In fact, Daniel may have the last of Carax’s books in existence. Soon Daniel’s seemingly innocent quest opens a door into one of Barcelona’s darkest secrets--an epic story of murder, madness, and doomed love."

Characters: 

• Daniel- The main protagonist in this book, his father brings him to the Cemetary of Forgotten Books and he chose the novel The Shadow of the Wind. He has excelent character growth, he begins as a confused and young child but in the end he is a secure and strong adult with a family. The perseverence he exudes was very admirable, he never once gave up on his hunt to discover Julian Carax. The friendship with other characters such as Fermin and Clara gave Daniel a very relatable persona that added another layer of depth to this wonderful story.
• Fermin- He began a beggar and ended as a respectable buisiness man. He has a rough past however to Daniel and his father for all they have done to help him get onto his feet in the world. This character I felt was amazing, he filled the trope of rags to "riches" which to me is very important to illustrate in novels so that each person knows that they can do anything as long as they dream and work hard.
• Daniel's Father- He is a major supporting character, he is a very reclusive person in the story. He owns the Semper and Sons bookshop, we see very little of him in the grand scheme of things, however I feel that he held the story together like glue because Fermin is in "debt" to him and obviously Daniel is in the care of him.
• Bea- Bea is a mystic girl when the story begins, although throughout the book we see her grow from the vain and snobby girl to a sensible and loving girl. She is a character to watch as you read this book, her character arch is very intriguing and completes almost a 36o degree transformation.
• There are other Characters I would love to gush about, however it would spoil quite a lot so I will not go into it just read the book!

Setting

• Barcelona, an amazing place for the atmosphere that Zafon is able to create!
• The setting is a place that I sincerely want to visit after this book ended
• The setting holds a rich history that grabbed me and immersed me into old world Barcelona, with a twist of mystery and intrigue.
• FULL AND UTTER EMERSION!   

Writing: 

• As a translated work this novel has a very beautiful and lyrical way that you will just want to savor and immerse yourself into this old world Barcelona.
• This novel is written as a combination of a classic such as Wuthering Heights and All the Light We Cannot See with beautiful prose and the best depiction of setting I have ever read!

Quote: "He led us through the garden until we reached the spiked gate and then stopped at a reasonable distance from the exit, gazing at the street that wound its way down toward the real world, as if he were afraid he would evaporate if he ventured out a few steps farther."(Zafon)

Rating: *****/***** 5/5 stars

This novel may be my favorite book of the entire year! If you all want to read a book that describes the style of book that I love to read, read this and you will know what perfection in a book for me is!