August Discussion: The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (spoilers)
 

Let's discuss the August MobileRead Book Club selection, The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. What did you think?

I haven't even started and I'm god knows how far away from starting. :(

So...far...behind.

I''ve started, but I haven't finished. It's an enjoyable journey so far.

I'll return to this thread when I'm finished.

Great book! I read the English version. I'm going to add Zafon to my TBR list.

Thank you WT Sharpe for nominating it.

It's a very nicely written book. It has a sense of style to it and I like that a lot.

I really was absorbed by the atmosphere of the story, the setting, the characters, the interwovenness. I liked a lot about this book, but every now and then I'd read a passage that just seemed wrong to me and the ending just left me flat. Especially the falling action which drained away too much of the atmosphere that had been built up. I was left with nothing of the magic the story had started with.

I really enjoyed the book.
I liked how the story was told up until the end. The end was too much of a Hollywood happy end. I don't mind happy endings at all, but they really don't have to be spelled out so much, but rather implied, left more to the reader to kind of make what they want of.
There is a (relatively small) thing in the story that doesn't add up to me and therefor bugs me a bit. I won't mention it right now, because I want to see some more general views first.

I've 90 pages left.

I read this mid-2011, so my memory is a bit hazy, but I did give it 4 stars on GR at the time. I do remember enjoying it a lot, particularly the secret Cemetery of Forgotten Books section. I didn't particularly like the love story of Julian and Penelope, which I found unsatisfying and unfulfilling, but overall a great read.

I did finish The Shadow of the Wind and it was not bad overall. It was slow in parts. Some of the back story of Julián Carax was rather slow. There was too much of it (overall). For example, near the end, the letter that was written to tell the truth was a bit slow.

The ending was a bit of a deus ex machina. But after that, it was good.

Some of the time I just wanted to slap all of them.

Still reading it (had a lot on my reading list since it was back to school month) and really have found it captivating so far. The beginning has just the right touch of mysterious to pull a reader in....and makes me loath to put the book down.

There are parts in the middle that may slow you down. But nearer to the end, it does pick up.

I found the ending most satisfying. Yes, it was a happy ending, but not a perfect ending. It was plain that his father-in-law would never be completely accepting of Daniel even though he went through the motions. It was also plain that despite the letters from Tomás to Bea which always included regards to Daniel, the two old friends would never completely reconcile. I'm glad the author took the time to follow up on the fate of the characters as he did.

I must admit I was perplexed by the level of Mr. Aguilar's hostility to Daniel, but even more so by the hostility of his son Tomás. Up to his announced wedding to Bea I was half-expecting an unpleasant surprise of the sort that we discovered about Penélope and Julián Carax.

I'm still reading our August book, only halfway through. :o I settled into a routine of reading only a few chapters at a time although not for lack of enjoyment.

This is my first participation in a Mobileread book club discussion. I've wanted to participate for some time. I read Shadow of the Wind on my vacation a couple weeks ago. I wasn't as impressed as I was hoping. I found I could have done without much of the meandering around through the middle of the book. I also found - and this may be a translation thing - that there was a lack of good dialogue and too much lengthy narrative.
I was actually okay with the happy ending, although I would have liked more interaction between Thomas and Daniel. I found that entire relationship to be unsatisfactory. It needed to be there for the story to work the way the author wanted it to, but because they hardly interacted with each other it was hard for me to see them as best friends and Thomas's ignoring of Daniel just seemed childish and inconsistent with what we were to believe of him.

I never did come to grips with Thomas's rage to discover Daniel was dating his sister. Some friend he was.

I totally agree! I guess that's why I really didn't think too much of how their friendship supposedly was changed, because I really didn't see much of it to begin with.

Carlos Ruiz Zafon certainly has a way with words, if Lucia Graves's translation is any indication.

And while I'm pointing out one of the "bluer" passages on the work, I'd like to say that Fermín seems to be onto something rather profound as reported in this conversation between him and Daniel, even if his language describing his insight was rather crude:

I especially enjoyed the dialog between Daniel and Fermin. Very insightful and poetic at times. I was less enamored of the "confession letter" near the end but it did wrap most things up. The descriptions of Barcelona were wonderful and yet not overdone. You felt as if you were really there and it's obvious the author was there.

Considering this was translated from Spanish I thought it was very well written. The original language must be even better. I plan on reading the sequel someday.

A cautionary tale for MobileRead members? :p

I really wish I could read Spanish! My daughter read it in Spanish and thought it was fantastic. I think she said "almost poetic".

Then again, we have this from Fermín Romero de Torres:Maybe Mr. Zafon is promoting live drama! ;)

Finally getting to this. Only 10% in, but the writing is beautiful.

The writing is indeed beautiful.

And while I'm on a roll quoting passages about writing or media, here's a rather nice zinger to keep on hand next time someone tells you that reading is boring:

Thanks for the quotes. I had forgotten about these. Fermin's description of women and relationships were what I remembered most.

Will you read the next book in the series? It is available through Overdrive.

I may read it one day, but not now.

Yes, Fermin was an earthy old coot, but he seemed to know relationships.

This has been on my TBR forever, it seems.

I was charmed by the conceit of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, what reader wouldn't be? And I was looking forward to social commentary on post-Civil War Spain and life in the Fascist period. Ultimately, though, I was disappointed in the book. It turned out to be sheerest melodrama, overwrought and overblown, down to the bodies in the basement. The unraveling of the mystery of Carfax held my attention for a while, but long before the reveal I realized he was Lain Coubert and that Penelope was his sister. Just as an aside, a Penelope and a Beatriz? Nor were they the only too-obvious names.

It was fair enough for Ruiz Zafon to use the device of long-lost letters to advance the plot; the info dump from Father Ramos was clunky and the missive from Nuria was unforgivable, especially as it included things she could not possibly have known. The author got lazy and couldn't see his way to incorporate the information more organically, apparently.

I liked the battle between good and evil as personified by Fermin and Fumero and the evocation of life in Barcelona, the city as a living entity. The story itself, however, gets a huge meh from me. Perhaps if my expectations hadn't been so great I wouldn't have been so underwhelmed.

I thought the use of a "confession" in the form of a letter was a poor decision. But most mystery writers use them so I guess I must learn to acquiesce.
But I didn't dwell on the plot instead on the dialogue between characters and the descriptions of Barcelona. The translated writing was above average compared to other titles I've read recently.
Now that you mention it the book did have that 1930s-B&W-movie melodrama feel to it. But then I watch those on TCM.

Almost halfway through now. What an absolutely delicious mystery. Although this has been a slow read for me, I'm mesmerised by it.

I had bought this book for my mother some years ago as a present and she said she thoroughly enjoyed it. I believe I will buy her the others for Christmas.

I really enjoyed the book, as I've already said. But one detail does annoy me:
The timline for the pregnancy! It just doesn't add up! Warning! Sort of pointless rant ahead! I think I'll hide so you don't have to see it! ;)


Edit: That's of course unless the baby isn't actually Daniel's... If Bea was already pregnant when she started seeing Daniel it makes much more sense. Sort of...

TSotW was chock-full of elements that could (I would think) push the story beyond a mere novel to the status of a compulsive page-turner: a mysterious villian, buried family secrets, standoff of good & evil (fermin & fumero), coming of age, beautiful descriptions of Barcelona, spiced with humor...

Yet I never felt a compulsion to continue reading. Two to four chapters, and I felt satisfied. I set it down and returned later, perhaps the next day. Maybe this is a book to be savored rather than devoured. I loved the translation, for the most part, and concur that the portrayal of post-war Barcelona is one of the best aspects of the story.

Others here are spot-on in their criticism of over-reliance on artificial revelations. It felt like the author belatedly realized, "Oh my, I need to bring this story to a close. How can I do that? Aha! I'll put it all in a letter!"

Anyway, an enjoyable and often beautiful story. I'm glad to have read it and yet I wouldn't recommend it to a friend, not with the vast ocean of other, amazing books available.

Yes, I agree with your thoughts on the book. It is best to read in small doses and reflect for a moment. I do feel that I've now experienced Barcelona.

So I finally finished. I loved this story.

I loved the winding, meandering nature of Daniel's discoveries, and I enjoyed the parallels between the investigation and Daniel's own life - Penelopé and Bea.

When I finally read the letter towards the end that pulled everything together I was completely absorbed.

I will look to read the other books at some stage because the quality of the writing (or translation) was high and the story really did creep up on me. I agree that it wasn't a page-turner as such. It was more a book that I enjoyed in smaller doses.