Daniel Sempere's The Shadow Of The Wind

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There is much left to be desired by a piece I had anticipated so.

Daniel Sempere, our protagonist, visits The Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a clandestine labyrinth of dormant tomes, waiting to be found. It is tradition for first-timers to choose a book for themselves. Drawn in by the cover, Daniel rescues The Shadow of the Wind by obscure author Julian Carax.

He becomes driven to seek out Carax’s history because the day he finds his novel is the same day he forgets what his late mother’s face looked like. Because of this, he associates his ability to recall the image of his mother with rediscovering– and therein resolving – Carax’s life story, the life of an author whose work he becomes enraptured with in one magical night of fervid reading. …show more content…

The great mystery this book promises becomes less so after the first fifty pages. Other reveals have little build-up, making them feel surprising but also halfheartedly unwanted, like a dish you didn’t order but are too hungry for to send it back to the kitchen.

Indeed, one does become hungry.

Each character has their own sad story to tell, but make each new lead feels tedious, like repeatedly hearing a single musical motif; even if they introduce themselves as separate people, they are all little more than a means for the book to end with acceptable stitching.

The stories are told in large chunks, and with this plus the lengthy prose, the book drags on. The verbiage I was warned about prior to picking it up exists to create an atmosphere saturated with Gothic intrigue and film noir cigarette smoke. The words themselves are wonderful, but also unnecessary, and would have been better spent on spreading out parts where Zafón tells more than he shows, such as the deus ex machina missive appearing at the end of the book.

All things considered, the book, in theory, is interesting. But without a readable vessel to carry the day, most of the novel, for all its beautiful language, doesn’t really

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