A few Saturdays ago, I checked out a book that came highly recommended by a person whose reading taste I admire and appreciate. I took it home, but I wasn’t sure that I would read it. It doesn’t have a very engaging cover. I hadn’t heard anything about either the book or its author. It looks like the sort of book college English professors would read. In their corduroy jackets with suede elbow patches, in front of a fireplace, sipping cognac. A book so full of symbolism and metaphors that I wouldn’t be smart enough to understand.

The book was a true surprise. It is almost 500 pages long and I was pretty busy at the time. It took almost three weeks to read it. Once I opened the cover I didn’t want to stop reading. I didn’t quite grasp all the symbolism and I’m sure I missed most of the metaphors, but I enjoyed it anyway. I felt that this book deserved a full-fledged book review, not just a quick paragraph, so, here goes:

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Translated by Lucia Graves 487p. Penguin Books, New York $15.00 9780143034902

The book opens in Barcelona, Spain, 1945. Ten year old Daniel’s bookseller father takes him to visit the Cemetery of Forgotten Books.

“According to tradition, the first time someone visits this place, he must choose a book, whichever he wants, and adopt it, making sure that it will never disappear, that it will always stay alive.”

Daniel chooses The Shadow of the Wind by Julian Carax. Shortly, he begins to receive very lucrative purchase offers for the book. It seems that someone named Lain Coubert has set about to destroy all copies of all the works of this author. Very few remain.

While trying to protect and preserve his copy of The Shadow of the Wind, Daniel becomes mesmerized by the life story of the author, Julian Carax. Like peeling the layers of an onion, Daniel uncovers the passions, disappointments and conflicts of Carax’s life.

Along the way Daniel has a few episodes of unrequited love, some huge conflicts and humiliations himself. He forms an arch enemy in the chief inspector of the Barcelona crime squad, Francisco Javier Fumero. He rescues another of Fumero’s victims, Fermin Romero de Torres. Fermin, who several times suffers mightily at Fumero’s hand, provides comic relief throughout the book.

Zafon effectively portrays the mood of a scene. Rain, fog, sleet. Each plays a role to evoke atmosphere. His characters are often less transparent. Each seems to harbor a secret that is difficult to discern. The need to discover the past of each of the actors in this drama is what keeps the pages turning late into the night.

On the last page comes the following quote that sums up the magic relationship readers have with their books:

“I leafed through the pages, inhaling the enchanted scent of promise that comes with all new books, and stopped to read the start of a sentence….”