Review: The Shadow of the Wind (The Cemetery of Forgotten Books #1)

Author: Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Started reading: August 7th 2018
Finished the book: August 14th 2018
Pages: 487
Genres: Fiction, Historical, Mystery
Published: January 25th 2005
Source: Bought the book
Goodreads score: 4.26
My score:

Synopsis
Barcelona, 1945 - just after the war, a great world city lies in shadow, nursing its wounds, and a boy named Daniel awakes on his eleventh birthday to find that he can no longer remember his mother’s face. To console his only child, Daniel’s widowed father, an antiquarian book dealer, initiates him into the secret of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a library tended by Barcelona’s guild of rare-book dealers as a repository for books forgotten by the world, waiting for someone who will care about them again. Daniel’s father coaxes him to choose a volume from the spiraling labyrinth of shelves, one that, it is said, will have a special meaning for him. And Daniel so loves the novel he selects, The Shadow of the Wind by one Julian Carax, that he sets out to find the rest of Carax’s work. To his shock, he discovers that someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book this author has written. In fact, he may have the last one in existence. Before Daniel knows it his seemingly innocent quest has opened a door into one of Barcelona’s darkest secrets, an epic story of murder, magic, madness and doomed love. And before long he realizes that if he doesn’t find out the truth about Julian Carax, he and those closest to him will suffer horribly.

My thoughts

I believe that everybody has a book that makes them fall in love with reading. The Shadow of the Wind is that book for me. This is my favorite book EVER. I think I've read it 11 or 12 times already and you probably think I'm crazy, but this book just stole my heart. I read it the first time when I was maybe 14 or 15 years old during a summer holiday and I've been coming back almost every summer. This book is so beautiful and I just love the characters so much, I will never get enough of this book.

Pros

• Beautifully written: The big favorite in this book, for me, is that it's just written so beautifully and I also have to compliment the translator for that. I've been reading this book in Dutch and this book is almost poetic. The description of Barcelona and all the different scenes in this book is marvelous. The city itself feels like it has emotions and like it's living and breathing.
• Amazing characters: So believable. The book has a rich variety of characters and I never ever mixed them up once. They are so believable and I can feel their sadness, joy and desperation dripping off of the pages. The one person in this book that stole my heart is Fermin Romero de Torres, who is so funny, but has the biggest heart of them all.
• Mysterious and exciting: This book is concealed in mystery and finding out what happened is so exciting. You're getting little bits of information while reading and it just made me dig in. I'm very sure I won't ever let this book go. Even when reading it for the 11th/12th time, some of the details were forgotten and it was just as much fun as discovering the story for the first time.
• Emotional: So big on emotions, this book. It's a rollercoaster ride and I can feel every emotion like it's alive inside myself. The story is also very sad in some aspects and the way those scenes are written is just craftsmanship, I can't describe it any other way.
• A book about books: You can just carry me away, because a book with booklove in it has one up from all the other books. Books are such a big part in this book and I just love how the main character can lose himself in a story, just like I can.

Cons

U serious?

Overall

Mister Zafón, you are a magician with words for me. I will always adore The Shadow of the Wind.This book is in my heart and I will always cherish it. I have read the second book a long, long time ago. I'm so ready to read the second book again and to share my love for that book with you, my readers. I can't even imagine Carlos Ruiz Zafón ever writing a bad book. I'm such a big fangirl!!

Other opinions on this book

"Anyone who enjoys novels that are scary, erotic, touching, tragic and thrilling should rush right out to the nearest bookstore and pick up The Shadow of the Wind. Really, you should."

- Michael Dirda, The Washington Post

"Wonderous... Masterful... The Shadow of the Wind is ultimately a love letter to literature, intended for readers as passionate about storytelling as its young hero."

- Entertainment Weekly

Memorable quotes from this book

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

"Fools talk, cowards are silent, wise men listen."

"The moment you stop to think about whether you love someone, you've already stopped loving that person forever."

Thanks for reading!

PLEASE share the love for this book. I'm so curious who is with me!

  

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