Parallel Lives
“The Shadow of the Wind” is my current book club
selection. I never would have read it were it not for that, but I am so glad I
did. Little did I know that it is the best-selling Spanish novel since Don
Quixote. The novel evolves around the parallel story of Daniel Sempere who is
10 years old in 1945 when the book begins and the novelist Julian Carax whose
story begins in the 1920s. Carax has a teenaged love affair with Penelope while
Daniel has his teenaged love affair with Beatriz. They both have a common enemy
in Fumero who is an assassin turned policeman.
The story begins with Daniel visiting the Cemetery of
Dead Books and discovers a Carax novel and he becomes intrigued by it and
decides to find out all he can about him. He become quite the detective. Along
the way we see pre- and post-Civil War Spain and we can taste the streets of
Barcelona where most of the action takes place.
We also get great insight from Fermin who becomes
Daniel’s accomplice in his adventures. Fermin is a former Republican agent who
was discovered as beggar and brought into working at Daniel’s family bookstore.
Fermin brings with him quite a few insights and some comic relief.
This is a long and complicated book with all kinds of
plot twists, but it held my interest throughout. This review hardly does
justice to it. I am so glad that my book
club discovered it for me.
For the full Amazon URL see: Parallel Lives (amazon.com)
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