The Angel's Game - Carlos Ruiz Zafon (audio)

I don't think anyone would argue that "The Shadow of the Wind" is one of the good ones. There's a whole lotta love going around for this book, and I contributed a little bit of my heart to the mix. The story was mysterious, romantic, atmospheric and beautiful. Listening to the audio was a seduction. After finishing, the obvious thing to do was move on to The Angel's Game, which I understood to be a sort of prequel to SOTW.

I was hesitant. Some loved the book, some didn't. Some couldn't even finish it. Some recommended not to read the two books close together. Most said it did not match up to Shadow of the Wind. Yet I plunged ahead.

Enter David Martin, a young talented writer who has a deep passion for literature, but spends his days in a crumbling, moldy tower, pounding out trashy crime novels. Parentless, he is mentored by a wealthy playboy who eventually claims Martin's true love, Christina, for his own. He is a work-a-holic, his greedy publishers are sucking him dry, his only friend is a bull-headed 17-year-old female assistant, and soon discovers he has terminal brain cancer.

The dark, mysterious Andreas Corelli, a Parisian publisher, approaches Martin, offering a solution to all his problems. For a huge sum of money, Martin will write a novel that will be his magnum opus - he will create a "new religion". Martin's brain cancer, his previous contract with the blood-sucking publishers, and any distractions will be "handled" by Corelli. Never mind that Corelli reeks of evil, and that we, the readers, suspect this is the old "selling your soul to the devil" kinda thing. (It is what is oft referred to in the Nawrot house as a "sh*t-filled Twinkie".) Martin, a desperate man however, takes the deal happily. He soon begins to suspect, to his horror, that it appears others have taken the same deal before him, and have not fared well. After a little cloak and dagger investigating, Martin becomes increasingly disenchanted with Senor Corelli. He wonders if there is any way to extricate himself from Corelli, without sacrificing his life.

There are many things about this story that have a similar feel to "Shadow of the Wind". The Cemetery of Forgotten Books makes its appearance, as well as the previous generation the Sempere and Sons bookstore (for most of the book I thought it was the same father and son as Shadow of the Wind...I'm a little dense sometimes). It was heart-warming to see my old friends appear in this tale. We also have a little unrequited love, secrets revealed and a crumbling, spooky old house. This is where the similarities end, however.

This book is a much darker, sinister and violent book. The body count is significant...people drop like flies right and left. The book is also filled with confusing twists and turns that will give your mind a good screwing. (Have you ever seen the movie The Game with Michael Douglas? If you have, this book is in the same category...). I had to pay attention, and still I found myself saying "Wha???" every disc or two. I didn't find our main man and main gal (Martin and Christina) to be likable. Martin was cold, detached and depressed, and Christina seemed whiny. The only character I really liked was Martin's plucky assistant, Isabella.

Even after rattling off all of those negatives, however, this is not a book I will soon forget. It took me a couple of days just to verbalize my thoughts. It is an over-the-top, gluttonous feast of mind candy. It was enough of a sugar-high to leave your head spinning in the end, weak in the knees. I immediately started listening to a feel-good audio after I finished this one, and had to shut it down after about fifteen minutes. My mind was too shell-shocked for feel-good. I cranked up a murder mystery...that was better.

I raved about the narrator in the Shadow of the Wind. He was so smooth and so sultry, I was putty in his hands. As a result, I was so very disappointed to hear a different narrator, Dan Stevens, at the helm. He is an accomplished narrator, though, and I will admit he performed excellently. But because he is a British actor, most of his voices had British accents, even though they were Spanish characters. Small quibble.

4 out of 5 stars

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