Reviews with content warning for Fire/Fire injury - The Shadow of the Wind

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The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

61 reviews

hmlongstreet's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

This book is long... and it took me forever to read. I have had this book since 2019 and I had just lost motivation to read it, as it dragged in some points. The book was also just genuinely long (or long to my standard as I never read books more then 450 pages). It is also one of those books with small words and small margins. However once I got back into it I could not put it down. All I can say is, oh my goodness this book is spellbinding. It is so beautifully written, that I found myself rereading a lot of paragraphs, just admiring the sentence structure. The long story was worth it though, as everything comes together to create a satisfying ending for the story. Every character in the novel gets an in-depth back story, which deepened my understanding of each characters personalities. So much detail is put into every line, which makes it such a gorgeous read.

Also, every character is connected. All of them.

Some issues I had personally were that since the story takes place in Spain, street names and locations are mentioned rather often and as a native English speaker I had one hell of a time trying to pronounce them. Some phrases were also left in Spanish and certain references were made that I just didn't understand. Maybe I should brush up on some Spanish history. Halfway through I did end up switching to an audiobook to pick up the pace of my reading (I am a rather slow reader) and was heavily embarrassed at how I had butchered names and places pronunciation.

I plan to read the rest of the books in the series as well, but I highly recommend this book it is just amazing!

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schwabbelliese's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Zafón writing is captivating as well as thoghtfull and even funny at times. This (his first) novel shows that he has talent.
What I did have issue with was the overall pacing of the book. It is, to put it simply, just weird. The time span inbetween events is often hard to follow and fully comprehend. And I just feel like that is super unnecessary.

The novel was definitly drawn out too long for a plot that wasn't really that complicated. It was also rather obvious that the bookburner was Carax all along
. While large parts of incidental and semmingly unneccesary mentions/descriptions or conversations certainly the worldbuiling and add character to Zafóns 1960's Barcelona, the book could have been at least 50 pages shorter without forfeiting any of it's charm.

The female characters were rather out of touch and of little depht or impotance. Mostly just existing so the male charcters could fawn over them for reasons that if existent at all, aren't illustrated very well. And even tough it seems obvouis that Zafón uses a specific image of or attitude towards women to embed his story even deeper in it's historical setting, he still could have put more effort in.

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bluejay21's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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bookish_venus's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Absolutely loved it . I’m so happy that I picked this book up it raised all the emotions in me. There is no enough words with me to describe this book or how beautiful it is or how it affected me emotionally…

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sarasbooks's review against another edition

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dark inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

The story is set in Barcelona in 1945. Daniel is brought by his father to a library called "Cemetery of Forgotten Books". He discovers a mysterious book entitled "The Shadow of the wind" by an author called Julián Carax. The boy is so interested in this book that he wants to find other work by the same author. But he finds out that he may have the last of Carax' books. They all have been destroyed. Daniel wants to know the truth behind Carax' story. What secrets does the past hold and how will they influence this boy's life?

This book was intense and made me feel all kinds of emotions. I cried, i laughed, i got angry, i was amazed, i was scared, everything happened in this book. This book is so rich in its poetic language that i felt like i had to memorize every line. That's how beautifully this is written.

I'm not gonna lie, there was a moment when i felt a little bit overwhelmed, because of how intense it got. But i'm so happy i kept on reading because of how elaborate the story was. It's not at all superficial. Everything is thought through.

I would say there are some trigger warnings. Some parts were hard to read, so keep that in mind. If you're looking for a light, happy read, this is not the book for you. This story doesn't spare gruesome details and exposes the truth with brutality. But if you are looking for an intense story, full of detail and that will make you feel something, this is it.

I loved that it's a book about books. About readers, the love for reading and writing. It's also a story about love, family, friendship, grief.

"Books are mirrors: you only see in them what you already have inside you."

"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."

"Memories are worse than bullets."

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florafauna's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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sherbertwells's review against another edition

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adventurous dark reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

On the streets of fascist Barcelona, a boy unravels the mystery behind his favorite book. Some stories can survive the fact that their authors don’t really understand women; in this one the plot threatens to buckle under its own accumulated misogyny.

“I imagined Julián Carax at my age, holding that image in his hand, perhaps in the shade of the same tree that now sheltered me. I could almost see him smiling confidently, contemplating a future as wide and luminous as that avenue, and for a moment I thought there were no more ghosts there than those of absence and loss and that the light that smiled on me was borrowed light, real only as long as I could hold it in my eyes, second by second” (147)

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katieb_883's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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distilledreads's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I really struggled with this book. I went into it with really high expectations, and therefore for the first two-thirds of it I was anxiously anticipating what makes this such a highly acclaimed read. The answer, for me at least, was the ending. The last third, and really the shift into Nuria’s perspective, saved this book for me and I found myself finally enjoying the story. While I could appreciate the writing and the plot up until that point, I wasn’t particularly entranced by the mystery and it felt like I was just plodding along; for that reason, I would give this book 3 ½ stars.

The perspective is that of a teenage boy and is told in first-person, which at least partially was the reason I found it so hard to get sucked into this book. Since I felt distanced from the characters and the goings-on, it didn’t take much to jar me while reading and throw me out of the plot. Every asinine opinion on women, the fetishization of a “mulatto” woman, or the dismissive way sexual assault was casually sprinkled throughout the book was enough to disrupt my reading and fuel my distaste.

Again, like I said, I can appreciate what Zafón was trying to achieve here in a literary sense. I would love to have properly analyzed this book in a classroom setting to better understand the nuance of mid-twentieth century Spain, rather than rely on my own haphazard understanding and research.

“Wars have no memory, and nobody has the courage to understand them until there are no voices left to tell what happened, until the moment comes when we no longer recognize them and they return, with another face and another name, to devour what they left behind.”

This is a multi-generational story, with the actions of 20/30 years ago affecting and mirroring a younger generation. At its heart, there is a cautionary tale of second chances and the destruction that hate and prejudices carry. As well, there are beautiful and evocative lines. This is a book largely about a book, which naturally leads to beautiful phrases about storytelling, reading, and human nature.

“The words with which a child’s heart is poisoned, through malice or through ignorance, remain branded in his memory, and sooner or later they burn his soul.”

Despite my mixed experience of it, I am glad that I finally read The Shadow of the Wind.

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laurenleigh's review against another edition

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dark emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I don’t even know what number reread this is, but it hits me every damn time. This is one of the most powerful pieces of literature ever. I dare say it’s my favorite book of all time. Like if my desert island library could only have one book, I can’t think of anything I’d pick over this one. Can you tell how much I love this novel? I don’t think I’ve talked much on Insta about how this book changed my life, but in short, it set me on the path that brought me to Cal and the Bay Area. Which brought me to Ben! I’m forever in debt to Zafón. This book has everything I love. Mysterious intrigue, gothic settings, characters that jump off the page, a bit of heartfelt romance, friendships that become family, and above all, a true devotion to the magic of storytelling. The reason this story changed my life is because it reminded me of the power of books. The written word can uniquely touch the heart in a way unlike any other art form. My number one dream destination for almost a decade now has been Barcelona, because of this book. Fingers crossed I finally get to visit next spring! You better believe I’m dedicating at least half a day to the Barcelona walking tour included in the back of the US print edition. If you haven’t read this, what are you waiting for?? For this one, I recommend print or ebook over audiobook.

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