APL Teens

In Carlos Ruiz Zafon's The Shadow of the Wind, a book seller takes his son Daniel to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, where he finds among its labyrinthine stacks a book by Julian Carax called The Shadow of the Wind. It's the best book he's ever read and he wants to learn more about the author and read more of his books, but he discovers that not much is known about the author and that copies of his books are notoriously difficult to find. Daniel isn't satisfied with this and endeavors to learn more.

And from here the story plunges into depths I cannot hope to adequately describe with any conciseness, nor would I want to deprive you of discoveries you would make diving in yourself. Zafon's set his story in a post-civil war Barcelona that's so real--not that it's endlessly described, but that all of his characters have been influenced by it. The characters and setting are so expertly entwined together.

Speaking of the characters, they form this amazing web of connections and parallels. The cast is enormous (at least to my reading habits) and I would occasionally forget who someone was, but my confusion wouldn't last long--the relationship of a forgotten character to another easily placed him/her in context. I'm very impressed at the distinctiveness of all of these characters, and the clever parallel relationships Zafon created between them.

I've heard that this is a book for book lovers, and I would second that. I've heard that this book has a little bit of everything--mystery, horror, adventure, fantasy--and while I may agree with that, I would not use it as a selling point for this book. I wouldn't want to send anyone into this story looking for elements of those genres. I would want to send them in knowing that they will be engrossed by a fascinating plot, engaged by human characters, and thrilled to see the treasure at the bottom of the deep, dark story.

This book was recommended to me by a teen, but isn't a young adult novel. I'd recommend it to any reader who likes finding treasure in this reading hobby.