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adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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:
Complicated
A perfect book to get me back into reading. The beautiful world building tool me right into the windy streets of Barcelona. The story within a story of mystery, spooks and romance was so wonderfully written and addictive. If I would critisize something, it would be some of the female characters that were written quite one-dimensionally or objectifyingly. But on the other hand the story is in 1940s-1950s so it doesn’t greatly distract from the story either.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-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
Content Warnings
Minor: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Police brutality
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
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
Despite myself, I love this book. It is very much a book by Zafón, and has all of the flaws and difficulties of his writing, which I could certainly list for you in warning.
The themes are very similar to that of Marina, and in many ways this feels like a retelling of that same story. A deep, ghostly, otherworldly mystery is the centerpiece, a young man who falls in love easily dedicates himself to trying to unravel it. The women are pale, beautiful, and largely absent. A kindly and broken hearted father figure is present, but rarely spoken to. It all takes place in an older, more secretive, more ruinous version of Barcelona. The protagonist is reflecting on and writing down the experiences of his youth many years later. It becomes somewhat easy to predict aspects of the mystery, if you've read Zafón before.
But, his writing is a pleasure to read, his skill in crafting suspense and mystery keeps you reading, and much of the horror is genuinely chilling. The story is intricately crafted, but somehow seems to have sprung up naturally. The humanity of other people is a strong focus. Its an interesting book, and one I cannot help but feel an affection towards.
The themes are very similar to that of Marina, and in many ways this feels like a retelling of that same story. A deep, ghostly, otherworldly mystery is the centerpiece, a young man who falls in love easily dedicates himself to trying to unravel it. The women are pale, beautiful, and largely absent. A kindly and broken hearted father figure is present, but rarely spoken to. It all takes place in an older, more secretive, more ruinous version of Barcelona. The protagonist is reflecting on and writing down the experiences of his youth many years later. It becomes somewhat easy to predict aspects of the mystery, if you've read Zafón before.
But, his writing is a pleasure to read, his skill in crafting suspense and mystery keeps you reading, and much of the horror is genuinely chilling. The story is intricately crafted, but somehow seems to have sprung up naturally. The humanity of other people is a strong focus. Its an interesting book, and one I cannot help but feel an affection towards.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy
Moderate: Miscarriage, Xenophobia, Antisemitism
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I am really sad to have not liked this one - I’d heard such good things about it, but unfortunately it just wasn’t for me. I’m finding I really don’t enjoy protagonists in gothic novels; of the ones I’ve read, they tend to be bystanders, quite inactive in terms of the plot, and quite limp in terms of personality and internal drive. Daniel really hit these boxes, and so I struggled reading from his perspective.
I also found the story quite confused - did it want to be Daniel’s story? Or did it want to be Julian Carax’s? The book was trying to be both separately instead of blending the two, and so you ended up with huge chunks of exposition (sometimes 30-50 pages (ish) at a time), and it didn’t really feel like the characters had to work for the mystery or the payoff.
What really made this hard to enjoy for me though, was the relentless violence and constant oversexualisation of women. It was all the time, in pretty much every chapter, and felt so unnecessary. I think the only woman whose breasts and general sexual allure weren’t discussed in detail was Daniel’s mother, and she was dead prior to the book starting. And the casual beatings, the sexism, the slut-shaming, and other much heavier violence sprinkled throughout...it really didn’t feel like the female characters in this were allowed to be people, and it completely alienated and exhausted me while I was reading. Perhaps to some extent the attitudes were ‘historically accurate’, but I think that parameter was hit and bulldozed through very early on.
It is a shame, because the writing style in this was beautiful, the descriptions of Barcelona were so evocative, and I loved the setting of the Cemetery or Forgotten books. These things we just overshadowed by everything else.
I also found the story quite confused - did it want to be Daniel’s story? Or did it want to be Julian Carax’s? The book was trying to be both separately instead of blending the two, and so you ended up with huge chunks of exposition (sometimes 30-50 pages (ish) at a time), and it didn’t really feel like the characters had to work for the mystery or the payoff.
What really made this hard to enjoy for me though, was the relentless violence and constant oversexualisation of women. It was all the time, in pretty much every chapter, and felt so unnecessary. I think the only woman whose breasts and general sexual allure weren’t discussed in detail was Daniel’s mother, and she was dead prior to the book starting. And the casual beatings, the sexism, the slut-shaming, and other much heavier violence sprinkled throughout...it really didn’t feel like the female characters in this were allowed to be people, and it completely alienated and exhausted me while I was reading. Perhaps to some extent the attitudes were ‘historically accurate’, but I think that parameter was hit and bulldozed through very early on.
It is a shame, because the writing style in this was beautiful, the descriptions of Barcelona were so evocative, and I loved the setting of the Cemetery or Forgotten books. These things we just overshadowed by everything else.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Police brutality
Moderate: Body horror, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault
Minor: Animal cruelty, Suicide attempt, Death of parent
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
The story is beautiful, but I felt like certain anecdotes were unnecessary and dragged the book on for too long. Also, I was kind of weirded out by the whole incest thing, so a star was taken off for that.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent
Minor: Ableism, Child death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Sexism, Sexual assault, Torture, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
i knew by the first 100 pages that i would enjoy this book, and i did, mostly. however, the way carlos writes women, and the men in this book are all dog shit, literally except Daniel, Fermin and his dad. The writing is so captivating and beautiful, so many quotes i want to remember forever. One major flaw in this book is the ending. Lol Nuria be explaining everything through a letter?? a superrrr long letter? i would rather see it myself and not be told.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Murder
Moderate: Incest
Minor: Adult/minor relationship
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Sexual assault, Torture
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I read this book in Spanish, since is the original and my native language. I found the writing style too flowery which isn’t my preference. Because of this I was worried I wouldn’t be able to connect with the story at the beginning. However, it caught me since the first sit and I fell in love with the ambiance, the imperfect character and the story itself, even when I could guess most of the revelations.
I would have liked to see more from the cemetery, which is what caught my attention in the first place. I feel at the end it was just another location and little difference would have been if Daniel have found the book in any house. I suppose I’ll learn more about it in the other books.
There is some parts I found to be sexist, which were not from a villain pr represented as wrong in anyway and just another casual character trait. Specifically with Fermin. It was annoying at times tho I do think it is appropriate for the era and I ended up liking him anyway.
This is probably a 4-4.5 book but I’m giving it 5 stars cause with all the things I didn’t like I enjoyed like I haven’t enjoy a book in probably months. I will for sure reread it soon.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Sexual assault
Content Warnings
Minor: Rape, Sexual assault