#1 notes from a reader: The Shadow of the Wind
disclaimer: this is not a book review. it is an adulation.
I spent all of September 2022 re-reading The Shadow of The Wind.
The first time I read the translated work, I was fresh out of college. I don’t remember how I stumbled upon the book or where I read it - chances are it was a pirated PDF version I found somewhere online. I didn’t have much (or any) money at the time and bless those who make literature available for us penniless romantics.
But when I finished it, I knew I wanted to keep the book with me forever. And finally, in 2017, I bought a copy of The Shadow of The Wind. It has remained with me since, travelling cities, across states, deposited safely in my bookshelf that soon brimmed with books. It remained snuggled in between the spines of its neighbouring titles till I decided I was ready to read it again, to feel the wonder of Barcelona, love and doom once again.
I had resisted for a long time. Carlos’ book, translated with sheer brilliance by Lucia Graves, is heavy. It weighs on your heart and mind, seeking answers to questions you avoid asking yourself. It confronts you with an audacity so startling that you withdraw within yourself, within the safe confines of your miseries.
So it waited for me patiently for more than five years. Come September ‘22, with the dread of my mother’s death anniversary hanging over my head, I sought it. Actually, it called for me.
And I gave in.
It doesn’t surprise me that although I had forgotten several of the intimate details of the story, one particular dialogue stands out, that has remained with me since my first reading - my biggest fear. Daniel, our protagonist, ten years old, wakes up in cold sweat crying out loud.
“I can’t remember her face. I can’t remember Mummy’s face.”
His father Mr Sempere offers to “remember it for the both of us” and takes him along to The Cemetery of Forgotten Books. A massive labyrinth of a library that is home to all sorts of books - forgotten, dismissed, banned, exiled. It is here that he picks up Julian Carax’s ‘The Shadow of the Wind’ - a book that will consume his life, dictate his actions, and bring him pain and suffering before it finally showers him with hope, love and blessings.
Carlos’ IRL book and Carax’s fictional book bear the same titles (of course, it has significance, that you, dear reader, will someday discover it for yourself). Both books offer their readers the same treatment. Just like Daniel, you too will feel doom and the wrath of destiny before hope catches up to you.
Daniel goes through life haunted by the book he picked up at The Cemetery of Forgotten Books. He toes the line of following the footsteps of its doomed author Carax till fate intervenes and rescues the both of them.
I could write pages upon pages summarizing the marvel that is Carlos’ 506-page masterpiece but I won’t be able to do justice. Suspense, thriller, gothic, romance and comedy are mere categorisations for a literary index. The Shadow of The Wind is a book that must be experienced. Hidden in its pages is a treasure trove of ideas - about love, friendship, destiny and the unknown hands who write it, revenge, hate. About fate and its curses. About war and the havoc it unleashes. About the mysterious ways in which Time and Memory work. About readers, the art of reading. About writing - one that makes bestsellers and books that are doomed for failure. And finally, about faith.
Rarely does a book come by that awakens the You in you. Literature so fascinating that it pushes you to rediscover your sense of wonder - one that has remained dormant against the cruelties of the world. Words that compel you to not lose hope and your faith, not just yet, baby doll. Carlos Ruiz Zafon’s The Shadow of The Wind is THAT book.
Do yourself a favour, read it. Allow yourself to get lost in Carlos’ meticulously detailed Barcelona, in the city where the demons walk hand in hand with angels. Shrouded in magic, the book has you wanting more. Which is always a good feeling to leave a book with. I promise.
The Shadow of the Wind written by Carlos Ruiz Zafon & translated from Spanish by Lucia Graves
Publishers: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, an imprint of Orion Books Ltd,
pg 506
I just requested it from my library ❤️
Every time I read your deep thoughts it shakes me up :)!