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Product Description: Barcelona, 1945—A great world city lies shrouded in secrets after the war, and a boy mourning the loss of his mother finds solace in his love for an extraordinary book called The Shadow of the Wind, by an author named Julian Carax. When the boy searches for Carax’s other books, it begins to dawn on him, to his horror, that someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book the man has ever written. Soon the boy realizes that The Shadow of the Wind is as dangerous to own as it is impossible to forget, for the mystery of its author’s identity holds the key to an epic story of murder, madness, and doomed love that someone will go to any lengths to keep secret. Customer Reviews: Rating: 
Date: 2008-07-04
An unbelievable read!
It's rare to come across a book as breathtaking and superbly narrated as this one. A novel that makes you wish it were shorter so that you could finish it one read but then makes you yearn for more pages beyond the last, so the story and the spell never ends. Rating:
Date: 2008-07-02
Love Love Loved It!
I love this book, read it so fast that by the time I was nearing the end, I had to slow myself down because I didn't want it to end! I have since read it two more times. Love the characters, the plot, the writing. Rating: 
Date: 2008-06-26
I wanted to be there..
This book, "Shadow of the Wind" was one of the best I have read in a long time. I found it in a library cast-off sell. Oddly enough; after reading it, I discover that it may be the book that found me. If you don't understand the premise behind that statement than you need to read the book. This book is excellent and I thoroughly enjoyed every second of reading it. It was the best ten cents I have ever spent. It is one of the books that I will read once or twice a year for the next ten years.
I'm not much of an academic; just an average reader with a voracious appetite for good books. That being said, I don't deem myself qualified nor interested in reviewing the details of the book line after line. What I will tell you is that if you're looking for a book that will hold your attention and keep you interested until the last page; you will find it in "The Shadow of the Wind". Rating: 
Date: 2008-06-25
The shadow of a Novel
Among other subjects, this book is really about how one can loose motivation for life, (even to the point of self destruction) and for creativity and expressions. It is a round about way, (maze like) an adventure to recover that spark to write again. A key instrument of the recovery process is a Mont Blanc, Meisterstuck, presumably belonged to Victor Hugo.
Some biographical information on the author: Carols was born in Spain, is a screenwriter living in California. He wrote this book in S...more Among other subjects, this book is really about how one can loose motivation for life, (even to the point of self destruction) and for creativity and expressions. It is a round about way, (maze like) an adventure to recover that spark to write again. A key instrument of the recovery process is a Mont Blanc, Meisterstuck, presumably belonged to Victor Hugo.
Some biographical information on the author: Carols was born in Spain, is a screenwriter living in California. He wrote this book in Spanish. Nothing gets lost in the translations. The book reads the same in English as it does in Polish. The style and structure remains the same. Much of this structure is 'filmic'. That is to say, this book can be made into a film easily. Was this intentional? The author's screen-writing background crafted a book that is both literate and filmic. Does this help or hinder the enjoyment of the book? Part of me thinks it does. I want to read a book for its medium unique in book form. Sometimes, I thought it was like reading a movie, everything fitted too neatly, in a way that is formulaic. I definitely wanted to find out more, much more about the mysterious author, Julian Carax. I did not get the sense of what his brilliance is or about any of the books which he had written. (Is it too far fetched to compare this book to the 'English Patient'? It has elements of secrecy, romance, betrayal and a burned patient whose story is being told in reflections and refractions of the other characters involved, as though in a prism.) I bring up the `English Patience' as a comparison also for its style and structure. Ondaatje, wrote `The English Patience' in a poetic tone and style. It seems difficult to translate this into the film, but the film version tells the same story, just in a different way and just as compelling. I guess this is what I mean by saying that a book should be a book and not a veiled screen play? It is ironic that, the book is about books and paean to books, yet the form is not true to its form. And that's my main critical concern of this book. Having said that, I enjoyed it! Rating:
Date: 2008-05-27
A B- for Zafon
The Publisher's Weekly review and the one by Steve Koss have it about right. The book's concept and plot are intriguing, but the quality of the writing and some completely implausible incidents and details don't hold up to close attention. That said, I read all 470 pages and finished them feeling torn between being satisfied to see how it all ended and thinking that I'd wasted my time. If you don't expect or demand a literary quality of writing and if you can suspend disbelief, it's a pretty fun ride. |
