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The Shadow of the Wind [Paperback]

Carlos Ruiz Zafón (Author), Lucia Graves (Translator)
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (849 customer reviews)

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Read an exclusive excerpt from The Angel's Game, Carlos Ruiz Zafon's prequel to The Shadow of the Wind [PDF].

Book Description

January 25, 2005
The wildly popular gothic novel— now in a stunning new package

“A secret’s worth depends on the people from whom it must be kept,” begins Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s astounding novel of postwar Barcelona. But more than four years after its initial paperback publication, the secret is out—the novel remains a favorite of booksellers and readers alike.


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Editorial Reviews

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. Officially, Carax's dead body was dumped in an alley in 1936. But discrepancies in this story surface. Meanwhile, Daniel and Fermín are being harried by a sadistic policeman, Carax's childhood friend. As Daniel's quest continues, frightening parallels between his own life and Carax's begin to emerge. Ruiz Zafón strives for a literary tone, and no scene goes by without its complement of florid, cute and inexact similes and metaphors (snow is "God's dandruff"; servants obey orders with "the efficiency and submissiveness of a body of well-trained insects"). 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.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Call it the "book book" genre: this international sensation (it has sold in more than 20 countries and been number one on the Spanish best-seller list), newly translated into English, has books and storytelling--and a single, physical book--at its heart. In post-World War II Barcelona, young Daniel is taken by his bookseller father to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a massive sanctuary where books are guarded from oblivion. Told to choose one book to protect, he selects The Shadow of the Wind, by Julian Carax. He reads it, loves it, and soon learns it is both very valuable and very much in danger because someone is determinedly burning every copy of every book written by the obscure Carax. To call this book--Zafon's Shadow of the Wind-- 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. Daniel's initiation into the mysteries of adulthood is given the same weight as the mystery of the book-burner. And the setting--Spain under Franco--injects an air of sobriety into some plot elements that might otherwise seem soap operatic. Part detective story, part boy's adventure, part romance, fantasy, and gothic horror, the intricate plot is urged on by extravagant foreshadowing and nail-nibbling tension. This is rich, lavish storytelling, very much in the tradition of Ross King's Ex Libris (2001). Keir Graff
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

  • Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  • Paperback: 487 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (January 25, 2005)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0143034901
  • ISBN-13: 978-0143034902
  • Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (849 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,070 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
290 of 317 people found the following review helpful
Format: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.
ejawer@comcast.net

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113 of 123 people found the following review helpful
Format: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.
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41 of 42 people found the following review helpful
kid's review December 21, 2004
A Kid's Review
Format: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.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Nice read
A very decent read difficult to put down once you are into it.
but not sure if its worth recommending.
Published 4 days ago by Bruno
Nope, couldn't finish it.
I usually finish books, and I usually don't review them here, but I've got to take this one down a few notches. Read more
Published 11 days ago by Bill F.
Up there with Eco, Borges, Marquez & Rushdie
This is a book for those who love reading and those who love books; the thrill of hunting down obscure volumes, and the mystery of putting life to long-lost authors. Read more
Published 22 days ago by Matt Kelland
Seductive and haunting...
What a remarkable and unusual book! I was hooked from the moment I read these two reviews:

From Stephen King: "If you thought the true gothic novel died with the... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Elizabeth H. Cottrell
Shadow of the Wind Summary/Review
The Shadow of the Wind, A New York Times Besteller written by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, was a refreshing yet challenging read for myself. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Kylee
Shadow of the Wind review
Just finished reading the book yesterday and I can definitely say I was not expecting this type of a read. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Alexis Buhisan
Excellent book
Excellent book. Very well written. Entertaining, thrilling, I loved it!. I just couldn't stop reading. I enjoyed it very much. Thank you.
Published 1 month ago by Piponia
Shadow of the Wind Achieves
The Shadow of the wind is a compelling story about a boy's adventure into a man through the help of a mysterious book. Read more
Published 1 month ago by James Roten
Everybody loves a good chase, a hero, and a mysterious character!
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon was such an adventurous read! Its set in the mid 1900's Barcelona, with the main character growing up as you read this thriller through... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Thrash Comma Hope
Suspenseful, Thrilling, Mysterious
Shadow of the Wind is a book everyone can enjoy. It is a suspenseful novel with twists and turn that force the reader to think up what might happen next. Read more
Published 1 month ago by emily_mcnamara
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Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

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First Sentence:
A SECRET'S WORTH DEPENDS ON THE PEOPLE FROM WHOM IT MUST be kept. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
blue tram, third policeman, hat shop
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Don Ricardo, Nuria Monfort, Miquel Moliner, Don Federico, Julian Carax, Fermin Romero de Torres, Jorge Aldaya, Avenida del Tibidabo, Francisco Javier, Don Manuel, Antoni Fortuny, Don Gustavo, Father Fernando, Inspector Fumero, Lain Coubert, Ronda de San Antonio, Monsieur Roquefort, Jacinta Coronado, San Gabriel's School, Cemetery of Forgotten Books, Don Anacleto, Victor Hugo, Irene Marceau, Fernando Ramos, Sophie Carax
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