The Shadow of the Wind

By: Carlos Ruiz Zafón

Narrated by: Jonathan Davis

Length: 18 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

Barry Award

Book Sense Book of the Year

Borders Original Voices Award

Gumshoe Award

Horror Guild Award

Joseph-Beth and Davis-Kidd Booksellers Fiction Award

NYPL Books to Remember

Barcelona, 1945: Just after the war, a great world city lies in shadow, nursing its wounds, and a boy named Daniel awakes on his 11th 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.

An uncannily absorbing historical mystery, a heart-piercing romance, and a moving homage to the mystical power of books, The Shadow of the Wind is a triumph of the storyteller's art.

Translated by Lucia Graves.

©2001 Carlos Ruiz Zafon; 2004 Lucia Graves (P)2004 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“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

“Gabriel Garcia Marquez meets Umberto Eco meets Jorge Luis Borges for a sprawling magic show.”—The New York Times Book Review

“[T]here is no question that [The Shadow of the Wind] is wondrous. . . [M]asterful, meticulous plotting and extraordinary control over language. . . . 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

Wow

I'm glad I listened to the audio of this book because thanks to the wonderful narration I got to hear the names said properly. I like this narrator a lot. Love all his accents. I read the book along with. Chapters don't match up. The book itself is nothing I expected. But more than pleasantly surprised.

Dated Nineteenth Century Novel

I’m sure this book will appeal to readers who also enjoy Soap Operas with lots of forgettable characters who briefly populate the pages and then disappear into the netherworld of lost subplots. I’m sorry but I’m not one of them.

I read the novel out of duty to a Book Club and I regret that I will never recover the hours lost to its pages. While it was not badly written, it never instilled in me any feeling for the main character or any of his many friends, lovers, enemies or interests. I have wonderful memories of Barcelona but they just weren’t enough to make me enjoy this work.

I never cared for most of Nineteenth Century English Literature and now I can add at least one Modern Spanish novel to the list. Sorry.

Gothic mystery booklover's dream!

This is a fabulous multistory interwoven mystery with gothic horror elements and every other passionate story cliche you could ask for. That it doesn't come across as cliched in any way is a tribute to Ruiz Zafon's mastery at story-telling. I suppose a lot of credit must also go to the translator. It makes you wonder how much great literature we are missing out on only because it didn't originate in English.

Piano? Why?

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I would reccomend the BOOK but not the audiobook. I like the story but will probably have to read it again. The story is quite complicated. I am a Spanish speaker and I have a hard time keeping the names and what they have to do with whom straight.

What did you like best about this story?

The plot is good and I LOVE the scary bits.

What three words best describe Jonathan Davis’s performance?

I like the narrator. I think he did a great job with the names and the casitilian accent. He was good.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Yes.

Any additional comments?

I disliked the piano included in the narration. I don't like music in my audiobooks.

Long and intriguing

Shadow of the wind is an epic story. It takes a lot of patience, but, for the most part, it's worth it. The writing is really good, and the story has a lot of interesting characters. It's also not very believable.

great,wonderful, and beautiful

I loved it. The words paint a picture of the story and keeps you hanging on to each word as the story unfolds.

What a pleasure...

I can't think of when a story touched me so deeply, as this story did. The reading was done to perfection. A definite must for summer beach listening.

Took me awhile but I enjoyed it overall.

I was annoyed by 2/3 of this book, which sounded very much like daytime TV. It was so predictable and sappy.Piano music during narration was annoying, too, but don't worry, it doesn't last long. It does recur throughout. The final third had some great and unexpected plot twists. I did enjoy the strong ending although I didn't learn anything about Barcelona, which was my goal.

Good Plot, but...

I stuck with this book and was pleased with the plot and characters. Very enjoyable story.

Two significant distractions for me: the writer was "over the top" in his descriptions of scenery and characters. For example, I've lost count of the number of characters who smoke cigarettes that emit a "whisp (or shadow, or finger) of blue (or grey or cloudy) smoke" who happen to be standing in the shadow of a doorway. The other distraction was the piano music. Typically played at the beginning (or end) of a chapter, the music made the production of the book seem very corny.

Enjoyable plot. Corny piano music.

couldn't finish it

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

no. this is the first time i've ever not finished an audio book. i usually feel compelled to finish them even if i don't really like them. this book however just bored me to death, i couldn't pay attention any longer. oh well.