When I read that The Shadow of the Wind was “Gabriel García Márquez meets Umberto Eco meets Jorge Luis Borges” I set my expectations pretty high, but I was not disappointed. The self-reflexive convolutions of Borges merge with García Márquez’s eroticism and colorful personages to produce a mystery novel akin to The Name of the Rose.
The story concerns a young book dealer’s search for the mysterious author Julián Carax, whose books are being systematically destroyed by a man bearing the name of one of Carax’s characters. As a bookworm myself, it was easy to relate to the bookish protagonists. Carlos Ruiz Zafón waxes poetic about literature: the intimacy between reader and author, becoming engrossed in a book as a child, the romance between the reader and his favorite book. In fact, Ruiz Zafón often equates reading with romance:
“Never before had I felt trapped, seduced, and caught up in a story the way I did with that book… Have you ever kissed a girl, Daniel? Well, you’re still very young. But it’s that same feeling, that first-time spark that you never forget.”
As a mystery, The Shadow of the Wind is somewhat flawed. The outcomes are often predictable, if still satisfying. However, the interest is more in the space between the mysteries and their resolutions than in the resolutions themselves. For instance, the true identity of Laín Coubert comes as no revelation, but it is easy to lose yourself in the intricate subplots which spur his transformation.
The portentous tone of The Shadow of the Wind is offset by Ruiz Zafón’s humor and whimsical turns of phrase, which make the book a delightful read. A lost memory remembered is “an old cutting…fallen out of the pages of a book.” A ten year old Julián Carax wonders what Velásquez would have chosen to paint had he not been “obliged to paint so many time-consuming portraits of mentally retarded royals.” Daniel’s sidekick Fermín is a gem of a character, a shabby left-wing intellectual whose hilarious commentary keeps the novel sprightly.
At times, the story verges on the fantastic but ultimately creeps away from the supernatural. Both the characters and the Barcelona of The Shadow of the Wind feel haunted, but the ghostly presence is always history – whether it be familial scandals or the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War.
In short, an engaging and somewhat improbable story brilliantly executed.
Final Grade: A-
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