Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon (audio)

Listening to this book has been long in coming. As usual, I felt I was the last to read it, and had heard dozens of bloggers raving about its sultry, atmospheric content. I ordered it on audio from the library, quickly uploaded it, then realized it was short one disc. The library accused me of losing it, I had to accuse them of being Communists, and it got ugly before my honor was restored. Then of course, once the dust settled, I had to order it again, in order to upload the missing disc. Three months later, here I am.

It was not a short audio...17 discs. But what a tale. I find myself almost dreading the task of summarizing my thoughts. I hope I can do it justice, as it has the makings of a true classic. It is a story about book lovers for book lovers, which I believe is why it has touched the hearts of so many of you.

Tween-aged Daniel and his father live in pre-WWII Barcelona where they own and run a bookstore. Daniel's mother has recently died, and to ease Daniel's pain, his father takes him to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a library of old, forgotten but preserved texts. Promising never to tell another soul, Daniel is allowed to choose one book, provided he vows to adopt and protect the book for life. Daniel chooses the book "Shadow of the Wind" by Julian Carax. The book captures his imagination, and soon Daniel attempts to find out more about the mysterious author. No one seems to know the fate of Carax, except that all of his books (except Daniel's) have been absconded and burned by a shadowy, disfigured man named Lain Coubert. The name Coubert just happens to be a character from one of Carax's stories; a character that represents the Devil.

Daniel befriends a homeless war veteran, Fermin Romero de Torres, who begins to work in the bookstore. Fermin and Daniel begin to investigate the life of Carax in earnest, and find themselves dragged down a dark path of no return. They come face-to-face with the author's life of sadness, fear, passion, friendships, unrequited love, bitterness and revenge. The lines between Carax's life and Daniel's life seem amazingly parallel and begin to blur, to the point where I even began to get confused whose life we were reading about. Daniel and Fermin's efforts become less a fact-finding mission and more a life-threatening situation when they butt heads with Carax's childhood friend turned mortal enemy, the murderous Francisco Javier Fumero.

There were many visuals that this story conjured in my mind's eye, the very best of them the Cemetery of Forgotten Books. Doesn't your literary heart just long to see something like this? You can almost imagine the unearthly stillness, the smell of old paper, and the thousands of lovingly protected stories kept there. The characters in this tale are larger than life, caricatures almost. I received the most pleasure and entertainment from Fermin Romero de Torres, a slightly off-center, passionate man, haunted by the past but determined to live life to its absolute fullest, with vigor. He reminded me so much of my father-in-law. The tale would also win an award for the most detestable, the most evil antagonist with Fumero. My skin crawled every time he spoke.

I must spend a little time talking about the audio production. The narrator, Jonathan Davis, was perfection. His voice is professionally neutral at one moment, the next moment the Spanish names and places and streets of Barcelona are rolling off his tongue as if it is his native language. He embodies a youthful voice for Daniel, an animated, expressive, Spanish-accented one for Fermin, and a maniacal, spine-chilling one for Fumero. And intermittently throughout the production, we are treated with beautiful, haunting piano music written by the author himself. Have a listen:

So if you haven't read this book yet, have I convinced you? If you have read it, have I done it justice? This is one of those rare books that transport you to a different country, a different time, to the point where you will forget where you are. It is a tale of mystery and passion and misfortune - it could rival a Shakespearean tragedy. Yet, it never loses its charm and beauty.

5 out of 5 stars