The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz ZafónMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
2021 Re-Read
I first read and loved this book in 2012 and I've always meant to read the following two books by Zafon. Before attempting them, however, I felt the need to refresh my memory of The Shadow of the Wind. I'm not sorry to have revisited it, as I found that I recalled how it made me feel, not the plot details. It still gave me that wonderful melancholy that my favourite books produce. What does it say about me that I treasure sad longing?
It's amazing what you notice when you read a book at a different stage of life. This reading felt very dreamlike and magical to me. It is full of circularities and coincidences that I was perfectly willing to accept in this novel, but I might look askance at in another author's hands. I found myself contemplating the relationship between authors and readers, between Julian Carax and Daniel Sempere. I remember with fondness the days before the internet and Amazon, back when I could accidentally discover a new author that I loved. The months that followed, searching for more titles and seizing on facts about my newest authorial crush. I've always been all about anticipation—achieving a goal leaves me feeling satisfied, but somewhat empty at the same time. In these days of internet shopping, it's entirely too easy to know exactly what has been published, where it can be obtained, and personal details regarding an author that you might wish you didn't know. I loved the details of Daniel's search for Carax's novels and his unraveling of the details of Carax's life. There are few better satisfactions available to a reader and researcher.
Don't get me wrong, there's a certain joy to getting to know a favourite author, especially if they turn out to be fun and kind people, as so many authors are. But for the connoisseur of research and anticipation, it blunts the thrill of the chase. I'll never again stumble upon a book that I never knew existed. That kind of joy has been replaced by the much diminished waiting for the postal worker to deliver a package whose contents are already accounted for.
If you love books and you have never read The Shadow of the Wind, I would encourage you to try it. There is mystery, drama, kindness, cruelty, love, hate, synchronicity, improbability, and everything else we humans bring to our circle of life. It is beautiful and it is sad. I find myself ironically wishing I could read the fictional work of the same title by Julian Carax.
Original Review
I am very impressed. This novel kept me reading frantically, and not just because I needed to finish it before my book club meeting! Have you ever fallen in love with a book and tried to find out everything about the author? I sure have. But never have I met such a conundrum as Daniel finds when he tries to research Julian Carax, a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. Daniel in an unusual young man and he finds his difference mirrored in Carax. When the details of Carax's life finally begin to emerge, there are many parallels to Daniel's own situation.
In my opinion, this novel has some similarities to Robertson Davies' work (I'm thinking "Fifth Business" or "What's Bred in the Bone"). And since I love Davies, that is certainly praise. The main character has a habit of stumbling across just the person to fill him in on some detail. Mind you, when you go out searching for something, it would be strange not to find any help along the way. And Daniel's friends are unusual enough to remind me of Davies as well. Not your typical young man's friends.
As one blurb on the cover said, even the subplots have subplots. I found the wheels in my brain turning, trying to figure things out, even when I set the book down. I will definitely track down the remaining books in the trilogy.
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