About this title: "If you thought the true gothic novel died with the nineteenth century, this will change your mind...This is one gorgeous read."--Stephen King. "Anyone who enjoys novels that are scary, erotic, touching, tragic, and thrilling should pick up "The Shadow of the Wind.""--The Washington Post.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780143034902ISBN:0143034901
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 512 p. Audience: General/trade. Pages are clean. Cover has a fold at right lower corner. Some wear at corners. This is a beautifully written novel. A New York Times Bestseller! read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books, New York
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780143034902ISBN:0143034901
Description: Very Good. Great copy! Clean, unmarked, uncreased pages. Tight, square binding. Clear softcover has very light edgewear, except for crease to bottom corner. Orders ship same or next business day. read more
Description: Very Good. 0143034901 Paperback, Condition: Very Good; this book is in very good condition with light curve to the spine / light reading creases to the covers. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Date Published: 2005-02-01
ISBN-13:9780143034902ISBN:0143034901
Description: Very Good. Different cover. Text is clean, bright and unmarked. No names, no marks, no stickers. No creases in cover or spine. Binding is tight has a slight lean. Has some light edge and corner wear. read more
Description: Fine. Trade Paperback. Penguin, 2005. Fine Book. Aside from book corner lightly bumped, overall a clean and tight, lightly read copy. Media mail packed in protective bubble lined shipping bags, Priority in a Flat Rate Envelope. Shipped quickly. Prompt response to questions. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Penguin USA, NY
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9780143034902ISBN:0143034901
Description: Good. 0143034901. An antiquarian book dealer's son finds solace in reading a book by Julian Carax, but when he seeks out other Carax titles, he finds that someone has been systematically destroying all copies of the author's work. Spine lightly rolled and creased, heel of spine crushed and repaired with tape, else a clean, tight copy.; 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall; 486 pages. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780143034902ISBN:0143034901
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. tight copy, clean on inside, slight wear to cover. Soft-bound, glued binding, 512 pgs. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780143034902ISBN:0143034901
Description: Fine. No dust jacket as issued. Like new. No sign of wear on cover or pages. Cover art different than pictured. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 512 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Description: Very good. 2005 Penguin Books Softcover(Trade PB) Edition. Some wear to cover, creasing to spine, text clean with strong binding. Ships Fast! read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780143034902ISBN:0143034901
Description: Fine. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 512 p. Audience: General/trade. Book is in excellent condition. Cover has some light edge wear. Pages are clean, binding is tight. We ship daily, Satisfaction Guaranteed. read more
"Loved it! Loved it! Loved it! I fell in love with this book (which begins with a young boy falling in love with a book) from the first few pages and never looked back. It did what we often hope our books will do; it took me out of the sort of bad place I've been in recently. Ok, so the place it took me is fascist Spain, but the story is about navigating that place and time, living one's life, and the power of books in all of this.
There is a mystery, a wonderful one. There are wonderful characters, some of whom you'll love & some who will instill pretty much the opposite emotion. Barcelona is a key character, of course. Zafon slips in much about living under fascism; horrid mundane aspects of life in such a situation are found mixed in with unrequited love, parent/child estrangement, books (glorious books), homelessness, eking out a living, murder, and more.
If I were a literature person I could tell you the style of writing Zafon uses, but alas, I am not such a person. From the back cover, by folks who more about such things than I do: "a love letter to literature," "scary, erotic, touching, tragic and thrilling," and "Gabriel Garcia Marquez metts Umberto Eco meets Jorge Luis Borges for a sprawling magic show."
"The problem with The Shadow of the Wind is that it tricked me into believing it was a great book by being so freaking fun. It is only now, after a month or so has passed since my reading, that I realize that No, The Shadow of the Wind was not a great book.
But it was freaking fun.
Seriously. Despite the pretty good writing, the largely stereotyped characters, the cliched plot development, and the soap-operatic twists and revelations, The Shadow of the Wind was a very fun ride. Despite the fact that there exists little real substance in the novel beyond some interesting discussion of the nature of reading and writing, The Shadow of the Wind kept me excited and always intrigued. Despite the fact that none of it could be as good as its opening chapter, The Shadow of the Wind had me jumping for opportunities to read more of it. Despite the fact that even now many of the plot points are fading from memory, The Shadow of the Wind never flagged in interest. (Okay, it did once. for about six pages.)
The Shadow of the Wind may not be a great book, but it is certainly a good book. And really, who doesn't want to read good books?
Zafón's interest in mid-twentieth century Spain paints a picture of a world I'll never get to experience through any means other than novels. It reminds me of Cinema Paradiso (both in its love affair with a medium and its portrayal of European life a couple generations past). As well, like Cinema Paradiso, Zafón's book is thoroughly romantic (in its multiple senses). He trysts with love in ways that the formulizers of Hollywood romances should distill and bottle—for the betterment of their own product.
But where Zafón really excels here is in producing a fun read. It's his twists and turns of plot and device that do it. The characters help (especially Fermin), but The Shadow of the Wind is really all and entirely about What Will Happen Next. It's possibly the book that most summer reading aspires to be. It's fun and light without being stupid. The Shadow of the Wind doesn't leave the reader feeling as if she has just overdosed on a far-too-sweet dessert. There's enough substance to fill one up and leave one off with a feeling of satisfaction and of time well spent.
And who doesn't want a feeling like that after having a grand time pursuing mysteries in 1950s' Spain? Nobody, that's who."
"The Shadow of the Wind is a wispy story with fine tendrils of mystery and romance that slowly reach out to draw you in tighter and tighter as the story unfolds - but that is not to say the story is slow. I starts much like a Charles Dickens novel, only not nearly as far-reaching and written in more modern language. Like any good mystery should, as it builds in intensity, you begin to think you have it all figured out - yet as you continue to flip the pages, the ends of your reasoning begin to unravel and somewhere around the middle, you are so wrapped up in the tragedy, it doesn't matter because you are in love.
I knew nothing of Barcelona's history during this period but the familiarity of post-WWII and its struggle to throw off the corruption of communism and fascism is compelling. I think it is the consummate reader and book lover's story, and it does not surprise me mainstream America didn't care for it since it lacks the intentional vulgarity and bawdiness of Hollywood pulp fiction.
I recommend it to anyone who loves good, well-written stories."
"After reading The Shadow of the Wind, I was left with somewhat mixed feelings. On the one hand, this is such a beautifully written book, and is in essence an ode to literature. On the other hand, there are some serious flaws which distracts from the whole experience.
The best thing about the book, in my opinion, is Zafon's skill in artistic writing. It reminds me of why I love to read in the first place, and makes me wish I could write as beautiful as this. The book contains lots of memorable quotes as well, definitely a good thing as far as I'm concerned.
So after about 50 pages in, I was ready to love this book as I seldom loved another book before. But as the story progressed, that resolution started to diminish slowly but surely. Ironically, one the more obvious flaws is Zafon's overuse of stylistic writing. It seems like everyone acts or talks in a very elaborate manner, even in the simplest of situations, and this can really become tiresome after a while.
The plot also isn't as ingenious as the hype would make you believe. Zafon does a good job creating a sense of mystery early on, and there are obvious parallels between the main character Daniel Sempere, and Julian Carax, the writer whose past he is trying to uncover. But ultimately, the stories of Daniel and Julian are seperate ones, and they just happen to interconnect with one another more by chance than by design.
By far the most troublesome flaw is the way the mysteries are "resolved". All too often, answers are given by having some side character or another tell his or her story for pages. Nowhere is this more evident than at the end of the book, where literally every single detail is revealed in the form of a (very) long letter, even details which the writer of the letter never could have known, since she wasn't even involved in those events. It's as if Zafon did not have a clue or the motivation to write a logical conclusion, and decided to just dump all the information in one place.
With a bit more attention to actual plot and character development, this could have been one of my favourite books. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed reading the Shadow of the Wind. It's just a shame that it falls some way short of its potential."
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