Mass Market Paperback, 669 pages
French language
Published April 20, 2013 by Robert Laffont.
La Barcelone de l'après-guerre civile, "ville des prodiges" marquée par la défaite, la vie est difficile, les haines rôdent toujours. Par un matin brumeux de 1945, un homme emmène son petit garçon, Daniel Sempere, le narrateur, dans un lieu mystérieux du quartier gothique : le Cimetière des Livres Oubliés. L'enfant, qui rêve toujours de sa mère morte, est ainsi convié par son père, modeste boutiquier de livres d'occasion, à un étrange rituel qui se transmet de génération en génération : il doit y "adopter" un volume parmi des centaines de milliers. Là, il rencontre le livre qui va changer le cours de sa vie, le marquer à jamais et l'entraîner dans un labyrinthe d'aventures et de secrets "enterrés dans l'âme de la ville" : L'Ombre du Vent. (site Payot)
Excellent, a good read for all types of readers and audiences, although it's for adults, I'd say. Maybe teens...
Set in post-war Barcelona (WWII and Spanish Civil War), The Shadow of the Wind is a magnificently gothic tale about many things, but at the heart of it is the love of books. Hidden in Barcelona is an old and sacred place called The Cemetery of Forgotten Books, known only to the city’s rare book dealers and a select few people they invite over the years. It’s exactly what it sounds like: a home for books that the world has long forgotten. Each person brought to the library is invited to choose a book from its labyrinthine shelves. That book is then theirs to care for and, thus, no longer forgotten. We follow Daniel, the main character of this tale (and the series), as his father introduces him to the library on his eleventh birthday.
“This is a place of mystery, Daniel, a sanctuary. Every book, every volume you see …
Set in post-war Barcelona (WWII and Spanish Civil War), The Shadow of the Wind is a magnificently gothic tale about many things, but at the heart of it is the love of books. Hidden in Barcelona is an old and sacred place called The Cemetery of Forgotten Books, known only to the city’s rare book dealers and a select few people they invite over the years. It’s exactly what it sounds like: a home for books that the world has long forgotten. Each person brought to the library is invited to choose a book from its labyrinthine shelves. That book is then theirs to care for and, thus, no longer forgotten. We follow Daniel, the main character of this tale (and the series), as his father introduces him to the library on his eleventh birthday.
“This is a place of mystery, Daniel, a sanctuary. Every book, every volume you see here, has a soul. The soul of the person who wrote it and of those who read it and lived and dreamed with it. Every time a book changes hands, every time someone runs his eyes down its pages, its spirit grows and strengthens…In this place books no longer remembered by anyone, books that are lost in time, live forever, waiting for the day when they will reach a new reader’s hands. In the shop we buy and sell them, but in truth books have no owner. Every book you see here has been somebody’s best friend.”
Daniel selects a book, The Shadow of the Wind by Julian Carax, which drives him to try to track down all the other books written by Carax. It’s an epic tale of books, secrets, murder, and madness and it’s one of the most beautiful stories I’ve ever read. Ruiz Zafón’s love of Barcelona is spelled out in every rich description of the city’s streets, buildings, and people. This is one of those books that envelops you in a thick, velvet blanket of language and feels, effortlessly removing you from real time and real space, where sometimes you can actually hear the rain striking the cobblestone streets.
The Cemetary of Forgotten Books is one of the most romantic concepts I've come across in quite awhile, and it is in this fantastic place that a young Daniel Sempere finds a book written by Julien Carax called The Shadow of the Wind, and vows to protect it forever.
However, there is a mysterious man lurking about who is on a mission to burn every one of Carax's novels, and is trying to intimidate Daniel into giving up his copy. As Daniel becomes obsessed with learning more about the author, his life starts to parallel Carax's. What his research unearths about Carax's life, and the consequences it has for himself and others, unfolds beautifully in this nicely-paced, intriguing mystery.
I also enjoyed the smokey atmosphere of the book and the intrigue that surrounded the lives of the previous generation. The use of flashback, and the parallel stories of two generations …
The Cemetary of Forgotten Books is one of the most romantic concepts I've come across in quite awhile, and it is in this fantastic place that a young Daniel Sempere finds a book written by Julien Carax called The Shadow of the Wind, and vows to protect it forever.
However, there is a mysterious man lurking about who is on a mission to burn every one of Carax's novels, and is trying to intimidate Daniel into giving up his copy. As Daniel becomes obsessed with learning more about the author, his life starts to parallel Carax's. What his research unearths about Carax's life, and the consequences it has for himself and others, unfolds beautifully in this nicely-paced, intriguing mystery.
I also enjoyed the smokey atmosphere of the book and the intrigue that surrounded the lives of the previous generation. The use of flashback, and the parallel stories of two generations reminded me somewhat of Wuthering Heights; the previous generation was doomed, but the next generation...that's all I should say.
Some readers may find the ending a bit predictable, but the motivations behind the actions in this story are not predictable.
