Shadow of the Wind, The (ILLUSTRATED) [Import] [Hardcover]

Carlos Ruiz; Graves, Lucia (translator) Zafon (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 356 pages
• Publisher: George Weidenfeld & Nicolson Ltd; Illustrated Ed edition (2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0297852272
• ISBN-13: 978-0297852278
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 1.4 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (831 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #951,835 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Carlos Ruiz Zafón is the author of six novels, including the international phenomenon The Shadow of the Wind. His work has been published in more than forty different languages, and honored with numerous international awards, including the Edebé Award, Spain's most prestigious prize for young adult fiction. He divides his time between Barcelona, Spain, and Los Angeles, California.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

284 of 309 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Critic's Rave Reviews are all Correct, May 25, 2004

By 

Edward W. Jawer (WYNCOTE, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Shadow of the Wind: A Novel (Hardcover)

The enthusiastic praise and adulation which critics have accorded the english publication of Carlo Ruiz Zafon's first novel, "The Shadow of the Wind", may trouble the reader who begins the book, worried that little might match his expectations. After all, reviewers who compare a writer's work to a combination of Umberto Eco, or Jorge Luis Borges, or Gabriel Garcia Marquez, or other literary giants, compel the reader to expect to be transported when they open the book.

Not to worry.

Once started, the single downside for the reader will be knowing that the experience must end. The plot is quite complex, the jacket cover's synopsis will give the reader all he needs to know. The important thing is to read it slowly and carefully.

A mystery story, a fairy tale, a love story (actually several love stories), a passion for literature, a treatise on politics, a bawdy tale, with love, hate, courage, intrigue, loss of innocence, humor, cowardice, villainy, cruelty, compassion, regret, murder, incest, redemption, and more. Add to this delicious mixture characters who come alive, and whose thoughts and feelings you will feel deeply.

What a great pleasure to discover; an extraordinary first work, one which towers over the endless and repetative volumes which inhabit today's "Best Seller" lists. Read it, and become hypnotized.

Edward Jawer
Wyncote, Pa.
[e-mail]

108 of 117 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As good as a Caráx novel, July 29, 2004

By 

A. L. Spieckerman (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Shadow of the Wind: A Novel (Hardcover)

Zafón's storytelling skill is quite remarkable, his prose doesn't just take you into the story, it completely transports you. In only a few sentances. Zafón crafts a world of remarkable visions and events--just a little bit magical (as all the best stories really are) but grounded in characters who live, breathe, and merrily cavort off the page and into your heart.

But Zafón isn't just a strong storyteller with an exact sense of prose (and my compliments to the excellent translation!), Shadow of the Wind connects to people, it's almost a watershed. It's been a long time since I've been so excited about a book. I tell -everyone- to read it: best friends, my mom, relatives, people I work with--they're all hearing raves from me. And I don't do that lightly, but this book is joyous and sad, heartfelt and even wise.

But most important of all is that Shadow of the Wind is true. It's one of those rare books where you don't just hear 'their' story, it becomes your story as well. To loosely quote Caráx, "it holds up a mirror and a window to your soul," because it teaches us about who we are--about the communities that bind and define you.

And every single moment Fermín Romero de Torres was 'on screen' I had the biggest grins on my face, truly one of the great characters of literature.

I've not a single criticism or reservation about this book, and that puts Zafón on an extremely short list with Mark Twain, Frank Herbert and Orson Scott Card.

37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars kid's review, December 21, 2004

A Kid's Review

This review is from: The Shadow of the Wind: A Novel (Hardcover)

It would take a lot for me to rate a book as 5 stars, but here is one. There is little to criticise about this book as it is very nearly perfect, however it does divulge a lot of the plot, or history of Julian, in large chunks. It has a fluent, eloquent writing style, despite it being a translation, that makes it a pleasure to read, and it includes many subplots, that in itself contain subplots, all of which are precisely explained. It's a magical book which lets you appreciate the art of reading at a level that is rarely experienced. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for one of the best reads of their life.