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The Shadow of the Wind (Cemetery of Forgotten Books, Bk 1)
The Shadow of the Wind - Cemetery of Forgotten Books, Bk 1
Author: Carlos Ruiz Zafon, Lucia Graves (Translator)
The international literary sensation-a runaway bestseller in Spain, rights sold in more than 20 countries-about a boy's quest through the secrets and shadows of postwar Barcelona for a mysterious author whose book has proved as dangerous to own as it is impossible to forget. — Barcelona, 1945-just after the war, a great world city lies in sha...  more »
ISBN-13: 9780753820254
ISBN-10: 0753820250
Publication Date: 10/5/2005
Pages: 510
Rating:
  • Currently 4.2/5 Stars.
 32

4.2 stars, based on 32 ratings
Publisher: Orion Pub Co
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover
Members Wishing: 3
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

BaileysBooks avatar reviewed The Shadow of the Wind (Cemetery of Forgotten Books, Bk 1) on + 491 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
Even though this book was originally written in Spanish, nothing has been lost in the translation. This was an incredibly captivating, well written, and hauntingly beautiful book.

The plot is incredibly complex but is not hard to follow. It reminded me of those Russian nesting dolls...of plots within plots within plots. The story of the characters continues to unwind and intertwine until the very final pages. And while there is always a lot going on, the author manages to tie everything together in the end with plausible realism and no loose ends.

This is also a booklover's book. Anyone who treasures reading will marvel at the concept of "The Cemetery of Forgotten Books" and will watch with both horror and fascination as the entire collective works of Julian Carax are systematically tracked down and burned.

This book, while not what I consider to be fast-paced, was steady and suspenseful. The emotion of the characters is something that you feel keenly. Character development was exceptional. It is something of a hybrid of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's "One Hundred Years of Solitude" and Arturo Perez-Reverte's "The Club Dumas." It is easily one of my new favorite books for the way that I couldn't put it down, for the way it stayed with me for a few days after I finished it, and for the disappointment I felt when I had no more of it to read.

This is an exceptional book and I cannot recommend it enough.
reviewed The Shadow of the Wind (Cemetery of Forgotten Books, Bk 1) on + 24 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
This book has everything that makes reading wonderful: a beautiful setting, interesting characters, an intricate plot, lots of suspense, some surprising twists, romance, history, humor, and truth. Plus my new favorite insult: "fascist buttock polisher." I think that anyone who loves to read will love this book. And if you don't, you're a fascist buttock polisher.
BaileysBooks avatar reviewed The Shadow of the Wind (Cemetery of Forgotten Books, Bk 1) on + 491 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Even though this book was originally written in Spanish, nothing has been lost in the translation. This was an incredibly captivating, well written, and hauntingly beautiful book.

The plot is incredibly complex but is not hard to follow. It reminded me of those Russian nesting dolls...of plots within plots within plots. The story of the characters continues to unwind and intertwine until the very final pages. And while there is always a lot going on, the author manages to tie everything together in the end with plausible realism and no loose ends.

This is also a booklover's book. Anyone who treasures reading will marvel at the concept of "The Cemetery of Forgotten Books" and will watch with both horror and fascination as the entire collective works of Julian Carax are systematically tracked down and burned.

This book, while not what I consider to be fast-paced, was steady and suspenseful. The emotion of the characters is something that you feel keenly. Character development was exceptional. It is something of a hybrid of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's "One Hundred Years of Solitude" and Arturo Perez-Reverte's "The Club Dumas." It is easily one of my new favorite books for the way that I couldn't put it down, for the way it stayed with me for a few days after I finished it, and for the disappointment I felt when I had no more of it to read.

This is an exceptional book and I cannot recommend it enough.
reviewed The Shadow of the Wind (Cemetery of Forgotten Books, Bk 1) on
Helpful Score: 1
This is an OK book to read, but I hated it in audio. The narrator made every middle-age plus man sound like a smarmy version of Ricardo Montalban, and it caused me to abandon listening and actually read it.
reviewed The Shadow of the Wind (Cemetery of Forgotten Books, Bk 1) on + 26 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
This is my all-time favorite book. I love it so much that I get extra copies to loan out to friends, and I've never recommended it to anyone who didn't end up loving it. In fact, I ran out of copies and had to order another one! As you read the book, you fall in love with the main character, Daniel, and with the beautiful city of Barcelona. It manages to be both fantastical and relatable at the same time. The book is translated from the Spanish, but the translation is a work of art.
Read All 10 Book Reviews of "The Shadow of the Wind Cemetery of Forgotten Books Bk 1"

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summrsun16 avatar reviewed The Shadow of the Wind (Cemetery of Forgotten Books, Bk 1) on + 16 more book reviews
One of the best books I've read in years. It's written so beautifully and so perfectly you just don't want to put it down. The story is intriguing, exciting, and unexpected. Read this book!
reviewed The Shadow of the Wind (Cemetery of Forgotten Books, Bk 1) on + 5 more book reviews
Beautiful language, great story, great characters
reviewed The Shadow of the Wind (Cemetery of Forgotten Books, Bk 1) on + 112 more book reviews
I love reading. Books. Magazines. Dry academic archaeology conference papers. Comics. But most of all, I enjoy a well drawn story.

"Shadow of the Wind" (English version) is a story-lover's dream. Other reviews praised its deceptively intricate plot, the artful translation of the rich Spanish text, and the fascinating characters drawn and refined from the classic Gothic novels. It is all that, but the praise does not fully describe the experience(s). And maybe THAT is the best praise for a well told story that had the kitchen sink thrown into the whole thing (so to speak).

Personally, I reluctantly wondered deeper into a Barcelona of Dracula, Frankenstein, and Cthulhu gloom, populated with characters out of Dickens, Hugo, Hammett, Poe and Lovecraft - but without the need for supernatural beings to provide the suspense and horror that weaves its tentacles through to the end. You suspect (or know) how the story must end. But when it finally arrives, it calls up the sewers of Paris and val Jeans' last battle with Javert.

So here I am, having emerged even more reluctantly out the other side, hoping to recover from this experience soon. Otherwise, reading-withdrawl symptoms may force me to watch bad television just to reset (reduce) my standards!


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