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March 03, 2005

The Shadow Of The Wind

The Shadow Of The Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Mystery story set in mid 20th Century Barcelona

This much hyped story doesn't really live up to the buzz surrounding it. Some have even gone so far as to claim the book will change your life - this is complete nonsense.

Daniel is a young boy growing up in Barcelona around the time of the Spanish Civil War. His father runs a bookshop, and when Daniel is 10 years old he takes him to the secret Cemetry of Lost Books. Here Daniel retrieves a novel called The Shadow of the Wind, by Julian Carax. The author is from Barcelona, but fled to Paris and is believed to have died there many years before.

Daniel is captivated by the book, and tries to find others by the author. He discovers that there is a shadowy character retrieving all copies of Carax's books and burning them. This man Coubert is hideously disfigured from a fire he got caught in, and only appears at night. Daniel digs deeper into Carax's life, and finds a murky history with a lost love called Penelope, a school friend called Fumero with a murderous past who has now risen to the rank of senior police officer
, and a mysterous woman called Montfort who knows more about Carax's life in Paris than she at first reveals.

Aided by Fermin, a vagrant and a former political prisoner, Daniel gradually discovers the truth. Fermin is being hunted by Fumero, who is also trying to find Carax who he believes is still alive. The two amateur detectives follow the trail around the streets of Barcelona gradually uncovering more of the truth. They narrowly avoid death themselves, and inadvertently lead Fumero to Carax himself for the final showdown.
--

There are many problems with this story, which should be in the fantasy section of the bookshop really it is so unbelievable. It is completely obvious that Coubert and Carax are the same person, yet this is a central mystery of the book. This sluggish revelation, and the relealation of the rest of Carax's past, is drawn out over hundreds of pages where much less would have been preferred. The reason is so that the author can flesh out his colourful cast of characters, but even here this is hardly worth it. Fermin, much liked by other critics, is an unreal person. He is constantly optimistic, resourceful, and almost indescructible, so why is he living on the streets as a beggar when Daniel meets him? Daniel pays the detective, but his motive is really very weak. Montfort, who turns out to be Carax/Coubert's lover, in anticipation of her own murder by Fumero writes outher version of what happened in a letter to Daniel, who she hardly knows. This letter forms about 50 pages of the novel, a lot more detail than is believable from a woman in hiding.

Leaving aside the melodramatic search for the truth portion, there is a coming of age story of Daniel falling in love first with a much older woman, and then his best friends sister, which is much more interesing. The parallels drawn between this and Carax's early life are nicely played out. Both young men are obsessive, and yet whether because of the changing Spanish times, or their own characters, the outcomes of their actions are different.

Also, there is much here about life in Spain, about the Civil War and the Second World War, about ordinary people coping with a changing world.

So read this for the history, and the humanity, and the colourful language, and give the author a bit of leeway on the rather fanciful and confusingly drawn-out plot.

AE2

Posted by se71 at March 3, 2005 09:41 AM

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