Books and Barcelona

Rating: 4/5

Review: Well, this book seemed to take forever, but it was worth the effort. The descriptions throughout were so beautifully done, and I was completely transported into each scene. I'm not exactly sure what made the book so slow for me. Perhaps it was do to the translation from Spanish to English? Or maybe it was the thick paragraphs and lack of any strong action, although there was a great action scene towards the endof the book. I loved the Cemetary of Forgotten books, and found myself wishing that I could go there. I know that if there were such a place, and perhaps there are such places for all I know, I would be able to spend days within the aisles just taking in each every "orphan". The endless devotion of Daniel's father was quite touching, and was very clearly felt during a certain birthday moment. The mystery surrounding the author, Julian Carax, was very intriguing, and had a few twists and turns that kept the story alive. The romance between Daniel and Bea was wonderfully done, and reminded me of other great romances such as The Notebook. I also loved the beautiful analolgies that Zafon places here and there, like; "...the sky was melting into slow tears of light that seemed to lie on my breath before fading away." (page 448) So, overall, while a very slow read, it was also very rewarding and quite memorable.

Book Description:
Barcelona, 1945-just after the war, a great world city lies in shadow, nursing its wounds, and a boy named Daniel awakes on his eleventh birthday to find that he can no longer remember his mother's face. To console his only child, Daniel's widowed father, an antiquarian book dealer, initiates him into the secret of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a library tended by Barcelona's guild of rare-book dealers as a repository for books forgotten by the world, waiting for someone who will care about them again. Daniel's father coaxes him to choose a volume from the spiraling labyrinth of shelves, one that, it is said, will have a special meaning for him. And Daniel so loves the novel he selects, The Shadow of the Wind by one Julian Carax, that he sets out to find the rest of Carax's work. To his shock, he discovers that someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book this author has written. In fact, he may have the last one in existence. Before Daniel knows it his seemingly innocent quest has opened a door into one of Barcelona's darkest secrets, an epic story of murder, magic, madness and doomed love. And before long he realizes that if he doesn't find out the truth about Julian Carax, he and those closest to him will suffer horribly.