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The Shadow of the Wind
by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

The Shadow of the Wind Cover

About This Book

ISBN13: 9780143034902
ISBN10: 0143034901
Condition: Standard
All Product Details

Powells.com Staff Pick

When you start a novel with your protagonist selecting any book they want from a place called the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, you're going to get a bookseller's attention. Ruiz Zafon's novel works on so many levels for me. As a story, it resonates emotionally, with strong characters that I always looked forward to returning to. On another level, it makes me want to visit Barcelona, where much of the book is set. This one's a keeper! Mike H., Powells.com

This is a large, great read that weaves together multiple love stories, a ghost story, and a mystery. The exotic Barcelona setting juxtaposes the medieval and Mediterranean with the bleached, chilled world of civil war and Franco's dictatorship. The characters are strong whether comic, courageous, or cruel. Best of all, it begins in the Cemetery of Forgotten Books. What delight! Kathi, Powells.com

Okay, never mind that The Shadow of the Wind starts off in a wonderfully mysterious bookstore and that there's a romantic element that is not schmaltzy, but "timeless" in the best sense of the word. What I loved was how I thought I knew where the author was taking me, but was instead sidetracked and detoured by the different characters and subplots. Ruiz Zafón's language conveys a true storyteller's gift of music, timing, and enchantment.
Recommended by Mimi, Powells.com

Review-a-Day   (What is Review-a-Day?)

"The Shadow of the Wind has an innocence that doesn't prevent it from being thoroughly enthralling; at heart, the novel is a story of star-crossed lovers, bold young heroes, their lovably eccentric sidekicks and a cruel, dastardly villain. There are no fiendishly clever twists or secret codes, but Ruiz Zafón doesn't need them. He sweeps you along with the sheer riverine force of his sincerity and passion." Laura Miller, Salon.com (read the entire Salon.com review)

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

The international literary bestseller — more than one million copies sold worldwide.

Barcelona, 1945 — just after the war, a great world city lies in shadow, nursing its wounds, and a boy named Daniel awakes on his eleventh birthday to find that he can no longer remember his mother's face. To console his only child, Daniel's widowed father, an antiquarian book dealer, initiates him into the secret of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a library tended by Barcelona's guild of rare-book dealers as a repository for books forgotten by the world, waiting for someone who will care about them again. Daniel's father coaxes him to choose a volume from the spiraling labyrinth of shelves, one that, it is said, will have a special meaning for him. And Daniel so loves the novel he selects, The Shadow of the Wind by one Julian Carax, that he sets out to find the rest of Carax's work. To his shock, he discovers that someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book this author has written. In fact, he may have the last one in existence. Before Daniel knows it his seemingly innocent quest has opened a door into one of Barcelona's darkest secrets, an epic story of murder, magic, madness and doomed love. And before long he realizes that if he doesn't find out the truth about Julian Carax, he and those closest to him will suffer horribly.

As with all astounding novels, The Shadow of the Wind sends the mind groping for comparisons — The Crimson Petal and the White? The novels of Arturo Pérez-Reverte? Of Victor Hugo? Love in the Time of Cholera? — but in the end, as with all astounding novels, no comparison can suffice. As one leading Spanish reviewer wrote, "The originality of Ruiz Zafón's voice is bombproof and displays a diabolical talent. The Shadow of the Wind announces a phenomenon in Spanish literature." An uncannily absorbing historical mystery, a heart-piercing romance, and a moving homage to the mystical power of books, The Shadow of the Wind is a triumph of the storyteller's art.

Review:

"If you thought the true gothic novel died with the 19th century, this will change your mind. Shadow is the real deal....Be warned, you have to be a romantic at heart to appreciate this stuff, but if you are, this is one gorgeous read." Stephen King, Entertainment Weekly

Review:

"The Shadow of the Wind will keep you up nights — and it'll be time well spent. Absolutely marvelous." Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)

Review:

"To call this book...old-fashioned is to mean it in the best way. It's big, chock-full of unusual characters, and strong in its sense of place....This is rich, lavish storytelling, very much in the tradition of Ross King's Ex Libris." Keir Graff, Booklist

Review:

"Beautifully translated by Lucia Graves, it's a compulsive page turner: Never mind the improbabilities; the reader gets hooked by Daniel's strange odyssey and the innumerable offbeat characters he encounters along the way." Peter Green, The Los Angeles Times

Review:

"Wind is wondrous....While managing to hit just about every genre, The Shadow of the Wind is ultimately a love letter to literature, intended for readers as passionate about storytelling as its young hero. (Grade: A)" Rebecca Ascher-Walsh, Entertainment Weekly

Review:

"Ruiz Zafón strives for a literary tone....Yet the colorful cast of characters, the gothic turns and the straining for effect only give the book the feel of para-literature or the Hollywood version of a great 19th-century novel." Publishers Weekly

Review:

"[S]uperbly entertaining....[A]nyone who enjoys novels that are scary, erotic, touching, tragic and thrilling should rush right out to the nearest bookstore and pick up The Shadow of the Wind. Really, you should." Michael Dirda, The Washington Post Book World

Review:

"The melodrama and complications of Shadow...can approach excess, though it's a pleasurable and exceedingly well-managed excess. We are taken on a wild ride...that executes its hairpin bends with breathtaking lurches." Richard Eder, The New York Times

Review:

"It's a mesmerizing read that swallowed this reader's soul, at least for the hours I spent in its company." Maya Muir, The Oregonian (Portland, OR)

Review:

"Zafón's writing is so epic and vague, he fails to engage the reader even when describing real-life events....The combined effect of the foggy setting and soggy writing is of being lost in a swamp." Jennie Yabroff, The San Francisco Chronicle

Review:

"[A]n over-the-top, operatic melange....It's so chock-full of hokum that it makes The Da Vinci Code look like a work of the starkest realism. In short, it's a hoot." Charles Matthews, San Jose Mercury News

Review:

"[T]he secrets and lies, murder and intrigue that are described on every page make for an unusual and engaging read that will leave readers clamoring to know which of the characters will be around by the last page to tell their tales." Angela Smith, San Antonio Express-News

Review:

"[A] deeply flawed creation....The novelty and wit dry up before the novel's protracted conclusion, an exhausting and, alas, risible affair that reads like an out-of-context merging of opera and 1930s Universal horror films." Gregory Miller, San Diego Union-Tribune

Review:

"[Shadow] follows a traditional narrative; what is outstanding is the metaphysical concept of books that assume a life of their own as the author subtly plays with intertextual references....[A] meticulously crafted mosaic." Library Journal

Review:

"It's part detective story, part bildungsroman, part soap opera, but the biggest flaw in The Shadow of the Wind is that it simply has too many parts....The novel's structure, too, is hopelessly fractured." Bill Vourvoulias, Newsday

Review:

"Lucia Graves...has rendered Ruiz Zafón's distinctive sensibility with the seamless invisibility of a good translator. Her unsung efforts make it possible for the English-reading world to enjoy this gem of a novel." Robert Weibezahl, BookPage

Review:

"[S]tylishly written and informed by a love of books....Ruiz Zafón embeds these concepts within a deft thriller, a populist work of genre fiction that looks beyond its own conventions, even if it doesn't venture too far." Kansas City Star

Review:

"[A] compelling labyrinth of stories that gracefully unfolds in layers, as if the novel were a Russian nesting doll....But this is also a book about love's poetic power to heal the wounds of the past and offer second chances." Miami Herald

Review:

"Readers may find, as they are hypnotically drawn in by the blurred layers of reality and easy identification with the characters, that they are exploring The Shadow of the Wind in the company of new friends." Rocky Mountain News

Synopsis:

The international literary sensation — a runaway bestseller in Spain — is about a boy's quest through the secrets and shadows of postwar Barcelona for a mysterious author whose book has proved as dangerous to own as it is impossible to forget.

Synopsis:

This best-selling Spanish novel (translated into English by Lucia Graves) begins with a young boy named Daniel, who discovers a strange, forgotten novel in a bookstore: it's called The Shadow of the Wind, and the rumor is that its author is being plagued by a man who is trying to track down copies of the book so he can destroy them. As the story moves out of the 1940s and Daniel grows up, he becomes consumed with investigating this bizarre story and the life of the book's author, and the search for the truth takes him not only into the lives of others but deeply into his own background.
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About the Author

Carlos Ruiz Zafón, thirty-nine, grew up in Barcelona. The Shadow of the Wind has spent more than a year on the Spanish bestseller list, much of it at number one, and has sold in more than twenty countries.
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What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 11 comments:
Sue Fisher, April 25, 2008 (view all comments by Sue Fisher)
THANK YOU FELLOW READERS! I feel exactly the same -- this book is extraordinary and so beautifully written. I've been trying to get my bookgroup to read it -- and now I have an abundance of proof that they MUSt read it! Thanks again! (Also, another "I can't put it down book" is the Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. If you enjoyed Shadow, you will enjoy this too.)
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eakirk, January 21, 2008 (view all comments by eakirk)
Most authors have spots of brilliant prose, which make up for the rest of their not-so-brilliant prose. Nearly all of Ruiz Zafon's prose, however, is brilliantly written. His vocabulary, and especially his metaphors and similes, place him above most writers. During one scene in which a character is creeping through a house at night, Ruiz Zafon reveals the presence of "the piano's endless grin" (rough paraphrase mine).

And, if you're not spellbound by the prose, you'll be taken in by the plot alone--a story you couldn't think of if you tried.
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StephenWright, November 27, 2007 (view all comments by StephenWright)
I found this book an excellent read, the first mystery book that I was unable to solve after the first few chapters. In fact the depth with which he describes his characters and their roles makes you realise this is much more than a mystery novel. There is a passiona dn intrigue as well as humour throughout. It is not your run of the mill book but if you are looking for something different which will stay with you then enjoy. May I also recommend reading--The Fates by Tino Georgiou, it's an brilliant novel you don't want to miss.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780143034902
Author:
Zafon, Carlos Ruiz
Publisher:
Penguin Books
Translator:
Graves, Lucia
Author:
Graves, Lucia
Author:
Ruiz Zafon, Carlos
Author:
Zafon, Carlos Ruiz
Subject:
Literary
Copyright:
2005
Edition Number:
Reprint ed.
Publication Date:
February 2005
Binding:
Paperback
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Pages:
512
Dimensions:
853x551x115 105
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