Reviews tagging 'War'

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

54 reviews

bookwormcat's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This was a great book. Beautiful prose, compelling characters and a fascinating mystery. Dark and sad but with moments of real humour. I loved it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Misogyny, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Domestic abuse, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Death, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Gun violence, Cursing, Blood, and Body horror

Minor: Incest, War, and Excrement

kell_xavi's review against another edition

medium-paced

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Torture, Misogyny, Incest, Violence, Sexual assault, Fire/Fire injury, and Police brutality

Moderate: Miscarriage, Child abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infertility, Pregnancy, War, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Confinement, Hate crime, Religious bigotry, Mental illness, and Classism

Minor: Excrement

chrisljm's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

1. this book would not pass the bechdel test.
2. the twist almost made me shit myself. 
3. “the day was turning out to be longer than The Brothers Karamazov” is so funny. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Hate crime, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Excrement, Homophobia, Murder, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Violence, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Pregnancy, and Sexism

Moderate: Abandonment, Child abuse, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, War, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Gun violence, Infertility, Medical content, Miscarriage, Stalking, Terminal illness, Alcohol, Blood, Emotional abuse, Torture, Cursing, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Ableism, Animal death, Antisemitism, Bullying, Rape, Abortion, Classism, Racial slurs, and Adult/minor relationship

mikarala's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This book was hard for me to rate. There are definitely some real strengths: I think the writing style is beautifully lyrical and engaging, the plot is overall really good, some of the characters are really entertaining, and I enjoy the setting of post-Civil War Spain. However, I do think there are some pacing issues (the first half is quite slow imo), there's no fresh takes of the themes or interesting messages, and I never really fell in love with any of the characters, or even really had strong feelings towards them. What got me really turning the pages in the second half of the novel (which was much quicker paced than the first) was just an eagerness to figure out what was going to happen. And while that's certainly not an issue, it's not what I look for from a book and it prevent me from rating it higher even though I highly recommend reading this.

Ultimately I feel like this is a story that follows the conventions of story-telling extremely well, but without any very interesting twists to make it unique.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gaslighting and War

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Rape, and Incest

ling_prof's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, War, Sexism, Blood, Death, Misogyny, Violence, and Gore

anced's review against another edition

hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, War, Death, Violence, and Death of parent

chalkletters's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

1.5

The Shadow of the Wind is one of those books that seems to always be featured in book shops. I must have picked it up a dozen times to read the blurb or the first page but never quite got around to actually buying it. It’s a book about books, and while those appeal to me as a reader in theory, they are often slightly disappointing in practice.

Such was the case with The Shadow of the Wind. While the cemetery of forgotten books is a fascinating concept, Carlos Ruiz Zafón spends hardly any time there. The Shadow of the Wind isn’t so much a book about books as a book about one author and his mysterious backstory. Except, some of the mystery, specifically Lain Coubert’s identity, could be guessed hundreds of pages before it was officially revealed.

Daniel and Julián simply aren’t that interesting as characters, unless you find adolescent male romances particularly compelling. Sadly, the women they fall in love with aren’t very well fleshed out, they exist mostly as aloof and unattainable examples of femininity, which is tiresome. Carlos Ruin Zafón does much better with the minor characters: Daniel’s father is sympathetic, Fermin’s story is unexpected, Bernada is sweet, and I could go on. In terms of building a large and interconnected cast of characters, Carlos Ruin Zafón has succeeded, but the story he chooses to tell with them isn’t all that inspired.

The Shadow of the Wind’s prose is very nice, there were several poetic descriptions of Barcelona, usually at the beginnings of chapters, as well as some lovely atmospheric moments throughout. It does veer towards pretension at times, but not enough to ruin the reading experience.

Overall, The Shadow of the Wind is solidly written, and has good moments especially in Carlos Ruin Zafón’s minor characters, but the main story wasn’t something I’d especially recommend.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Police brutality, Violence, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Incest, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Minor: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Child death, Animal cruelty, War, Blood, Emotional abuse, and Pregnancy

okarenhelena's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Abandonment, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Police brutality, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, and Torture

Moderate: Incest, Miscarriage, Rape, Child death, Homophobia, Stalking, Blood, and Infidelity

Minor: Pregnancy, Mass/school shootings, War, Excrement, and Forced institutionalization

flysick's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Murder, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual assault, and War

forestsapphicc1's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

I adore Zafons writing. He uses words to paint vibrant but also dark pictures amd makes it an incredible journey to read The Shadow of the Wind. However...did he really have to include incest? It's such a beautiful story, but that storyline just put a damper on it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Incest, and Hate crime

Moderate: Sexism, Police brutality, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Child death, Pregnancy, Murder, Miscarriage, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: War, Physical abuse, and Racial slurs