kuzumel reviewed on 5/5/2015 + 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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