Out of the Shadows
“Daniel arrived at the sprawling round hall, a virtual basilica of shadows spiraling up under a high glass dome. A labyrinth of passageways and crammed bookshelves rose from base to pinnacle like a beehive, woven with tunnels, steps, platforms and bridges that presaged an immense library of seemingly impossible geometry.”
This was The Cemetery of Forgotten Books. It was here that Daniel, an antiquarian book dealer’s son, came across a most mysterious novel, The Shadow of the Wind, written by an equally mysterious Julian Carax. And it was from here that this gothic tale, set in 1945 Barcelona, begins.
For those who cannot resist literary thrillers but whose appetite cannot be sated by popular fare, The Shadow of the Wind, written by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, is a real treat. It is a complex tale, to be sure; even the subplots have subplots. But the threads of the story are tightly wound and they keep the reader ensnared from beginning to end.
The descriptions are wonderful…remarkable, in fact, since what we are reading is a translation (by Lucia Graves) from the Castilian original. Barcelona, where the open wounds of war still chafe, comes alive: “The lamps…sketched an avenue of vapor that faded as the city began to wake.” “A crystal breeze carried the cool scent of autumn.” “The world that throbbed outside…seemed to be losing its memory, day after day, unknowingly, feeling all the wiser the more it forgot.”
The characters, from the quixotic Fermin Romero de Torres to the sinister Inspector Fumero, will not easily escape memory. Their relationships are, by turn, passionate, touching and tragic.
Fermin is one of the most delightful characters you will ever meet in your literary travels. He uses wile and wit to survive persecution from the secret police. He is, at once, defiant of authority and devoted to friends; both bring him perilously close to capture. “For her I’m prepared to enter a church after thirty-two years of clerical abstinence and recite the psalms of Saint Seraph.” “Sometimes what matters isn’t what what one gives but what one gives up.” “The most efficient way of rendering the poor harmless is to teach them to want to imitate the rich.”
Daniel is smitten. “I nodded”, he said, “with the conviction of the ignorant.”
I have to admit, I was smitten as well.
Note: In late spring, 2009, Zafón’s prequel to The Shadow of the Wind will appear in English. It will be called The Angel’s Game.
