The Shadow of the Wind

Author: Carlos Ruiz Zafon

One-sentence summary: A young boy in Barcelona discovers a rare book which creates an obsessive fascination with the mysterious author and his real-life story that spans several years of his life.

B.A.D. Girls Book Rating: 8

Our favorite thing about it: The wit and cleverness of the prose and how the author drew you into the story with his sharp narrative.

Our least favorite thing about it: If anything, we were slightly bothered by the rather flat character of Bea and her relationship with Daniel and for at least one of us, the almost too-tidy ending.

Main Topics of Discussion: Character development, relationships, love, parallel stories, gothic novels, mysteries, tragedy and redemption, loyalty, friendship.

Our favorite quote: Few things leave a deeper mark on a reader than the first book that finds its way into his heart. Those first images, the echo of words we think we have left behind, accompany us throughout our lives and sculpt a palace in our memory to which, sooner or later – no matter how many books we read, how many worlds we discover, or how much we learn or forget – we will return.

Notes: We all really loved reading this book. The layers and intricacies of the story gripped us and we were amused and in awe of the way the author crafted the phrases and sentences of the novel. We discussed most of the characters and each had different opinions of them in some cases. We universally thought that Bea was an under-developed character especially to be the love interest of the main character. We felt that the other characters were well developed but we had varying degrees of liking those characters. Clara seemed to be very mysterious and almost an archetype for a first love obsession. Fermin was a favorite character because of his wit and style. We seemed to process different feelings about Julian as his story unfolded. We all liked how Julian and Daniel’s stories paralleled each other and how one was profoundly tragic and the other redemptive. We talked a little bit about the Aldaya mansion and how it represented the past and a place to find answers for several of the characters. We briefly mentioned how this book shared themes with The Thirteenth Tale. Ultimately, we felt that the story unfolded nicely as a subtle mystery, which did not overtly manipulate your perceptions as a reader but maintained enough realism to balance out the more fanciful aspects.

Memorable Meeting Moments: Stephanie served a winning combo of baked ziti and olive bread and we all enjoyed a red velvet cake for her belated birthday dessert. Also memorable was the lack of revealing the next book choice since we already knew what it was…Desperate Passage, which we will be reading along with our husbands.