Shadow of the Wind- Ruiz Zafón, Carlos, trans. Lucia Graves"Sombra Del Viento"Mystery, Drama, Romance, Thriller"Destiny is usually around the corner. Like a thief, like a hooker, or a lottery vendor: its three most common personifications. But what destiny does not do is home visits. You have to go for it."
From Publishers Weekly
"Ruiz Zafón's novel, a bestseller in his native Spain, takes the satanic touches from Angel Heart and stirs them into a bookish intrigue à la Foucault's Pendulum. The time is the 1950s; the place, Barcelona. Daniel Sempere, the son of a widowed bookstore owner, is 10 when he discovers a novel, The Shadow of the Wind, by Julián Carax. The novel is rare, the author obscure, and rumors tell of a horribly disfigured man who has been burning every copy he can find of Carax's novels. The man calls himself Laín Coubert-the name of the devil in one of Carax's novels. As he grows up, Daniel's fascination with the mysterious Carax links him to a blind femme fatale with a "porcelain gaze," Clara Barceló; another fan, a leftist jack-of-all-trades, Fermín Romero de Torres; his best friend's sister, the delectable Beatriz Aguilar; and, as he begins investigating the life and death of Carax, a cast of characters with secrets to hide.... "
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General thoughts: This book is by far the best book I've read in 2010 (which isn't really saying a whole lot seeing as I haven't been doing much reading); Zafón's use of language is nostalgic, flowery, often cute, and in short, beautiful. The story did not by any means trap me within itself but rather burned slow and dull until the climax. His words resounded deeply in my mind, and most definitely incited a descent down memory lane.
The Good: Language, general plot, imagery
The Bad: Transitions (i.e, Daniel's transition from boy to man was abrupt: his father goes from a major character, to a minor character who speaks/makes an appearance about once every 200 pages), Horror aspect (seeing as Zafón is often compared to Stephen King, he pales in comparison)
The Ugly: Overuse of parallelism, cliché, I won't explain this one so as to not give any spoilers
Excerpt: "For the life of God, I hereby swear that I have never lain with an underage woman, and not for lack of inclination or opportunities. Bear in mind that what you see today is but a shadow of my former self, but there was a time when I cut as dashing a figure as they come. Yet even then, just to be on the safe side, or if I sensed that a girl might be overly flighty, I would not proceed without seeing some form of identification or, failing that, a written paternal authorization. One has to maintain certain moral standards."
-Fermin Romero de Torres
