The Shadow of The Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafón

I’m not sure where to begin … This book gave me so mixed feelings.
But before that, a brief summary: The story begins with our protagonist, Daniel, still a child, who is taken by his father to a secret place called “Cemetery of Forgotten Books” where among all books he will have to choose one to take with him and promise to protect and take good care of it. Daniel chooses (or the book chooses him) a novel by Julián Carax entitled “The Shadow of the Wind“. After that, the whole story begins to unfold! Daniel is confronted with a series of dramatic events, both in his personal life and due to having that book with him, which arouses an immense interest in who is or was the author of the book, that he esteems so much, Júlio Carax. What Daniel doesn’t know are the things that he will “dig up” just because he was curious to know what happened to Carax. And his life, rather quiet before, ceases to be.

A book with truly well-designed characters, in-depth descriptions, “nail biting” moments and brutal creativity! I’ve said before that this book brought me mixed feelings because at the beginning, I was really excited (new book and story) and a little before the middle of the book it seems that the story was bothering me a little bit… I’m not sure why, but perhaps because I thought there was to much “description”, or that it didn’t go much farther… I can not say why, the truth is that I’ve been dawdle a little. I know they say it’s okay to pause the books and go back later if you don’t have that feeling for the book but, I don’t know why, I wanted to give it a chance, because there was something that I really liked about the book: Daniel’s character. I think I’ve never stoped reading the book because of that. Daniel made me fell in love! It was not until three or four days ago, after a little more than a half-book read, that the narrative, from my point of view, began to be very interesting, to the point that I had spent an entire Sunday evening reading (for some this can be perfectly normal, but for me it is not so common). I started literally biting my nails, wanting to know what was going to happen next, angry with Inspector Fumero (a character so well conceived that makes us hate him to the guts), sad things that are happening, anyway… I finished the book in these last 3 to 4 days, when the other half was read in a month. It may have been because of the story, it may have been because I was not inspired or in the mood.
The truth is, I’m not an “experienced” reader. I love reading, but the stories have make me fall in love! In this case, it was Daniel’s character who made me fall in love and therefore made me fall in love with the narrative! Like a long-term dating. You like the person in the beginning and only after accepting their faults and living the day-to-day life do you truly love them.

I know this book is nothing new, the first edition is from 2004, but for anyone who has never read it and is looking for ideas, I think it’s a book that is well worth your time! Because it’s not a new book, it might be that some friend or relative of yours can borrow it and thus you don’t have to buy, as in my case, recommended by my father, in the middle of his, already significant, library.

“Every book, every volume you see here, has a soul. The soul of the person who wrote it and of those who read it and lived and dreamed with it. Every time a book changes hands, every time someone runs his eyes down its pages, its spirit grows and strengthens.” 
― Carlos Ruiz Zafón, The Shadow of the Wind