Tuesday, 3 November 2020

THE SHADOW OF THE WIND

 

The shadow of the wind is a gothic novel by the Spanish writer Carlos Ruiz Zafón, published in 2001. This book is part of a tetralogy with The Angel’s game, The Prisoner of Heaven and The labyrinth of Spirits.

The story of the book

The book speaks about Daniel’s adventure. In 1945 in Barcelona, the owner of a  bookshop decides to show his son Daniel Sempere “The Cemetery of The Forgotten Books”, a place where the people bring out-of-print books to save them. There, Daniel Sempere discovers a book called The shadow of the wind by Julian Carax. This book captures Daniel’s imagination.

He wants to know Carax and so he investigates about him. He discovers that his copy is the last one because a mysterious figure called Laìn Coubert wants to destroy Carax’s works. In Carax’s story, Laìn Coubert is the name of the Devil.

He discovers a “damned” story, impossible loves and a macabre secret. This is a story where Daniel finds out uncannily resemblances with his life.

During the research, he knows many characters such us Fermín Romero de Torres, who will become his best friend, Gustavo Barcelo and his niece Clara, whom he will fall in love with, and inspector Fumero, who will be his enemy.

The shadow of the wind is the most important and most popular of Zafón’s books.

 

About the author



Carlos Ruiz Zafón was born on 25th September 1964 in Barcelona and he died on 19th June 2020 in Los Angeles.

Carlos Ruiz Zafón thought that books were important for people: they are a part of us and they make us dream, and I agree with his opinion. He wrote:

“Every book, every volume has a soul. The soul of the person who wrote it and the soul who read it and lived and dreamed with it. Every time a book change hands, every time someone runs his eyes downs its pages, its spirit grows and strengthens”.

When you read this book, it seems that you are part of the story and this  is not a common quality. Moreover, I like Zafon’s style because it is not dreary, but by ironic, he speaks about important themes such as social issues. He stated:

“Our world will not die as the result of the bomb, as the papers say, it will die of laughter, of banality, or making a joke of everything, and a lousy joke at that.”

 

 Angelica Tozzi 3scB

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