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melbourne australia Reading Group Notes

The Shadow of the Wind

Carlos Ruiz Zafón
ISBN: 978-1920885-854
RRP AUS $24.95 NZ $28.00
Fiction Paperback

Praise for The Shadow of the Wind A reader’s introduction to The Shadow of the
‘This story is so expansive that to describe it as an epic Wind
doesn’t quite do it justice.’ Adelaide Advertiser …A labyrinth of passageways and crammed bookshelves
rose from base to pinnacle like a beehive, woven with
‘It will entrance and move you and make you chuckle.
tunnels, steps, platforms, and bridges that presaged
You couldn’t ask for more.’ Sunday Age
an immense library of seemingly impossible geometry.
‘The book is embroidered with the magic of books, I looked at my father, stunned. He smiled at me and
the alchemy between reader and writer, and a deep winked.
reverence for literary memory…Reading, for Zafón, is
‘Welcome to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, Daniel.’
romance. Cinema, somewhat reluctantly, is admitted
to the club. But television is the enemy of all that this It is 1945 and Barcelona is enduring the long aftermath
generous and gripping novel celebrates.’ Weekend of civil war when Daniel Sempere’s bookseller father
Australian decides he is old enough to visit the fabulous secret
library, the ‘Cemetery of Forgotten Books’. There, Daniel
‘A love letter to literature, intended for readers as
must ‘adopt’ a single book, promising to care for it and
passionate about storytelling as its young hero.’
keep it alive always. His choice falls on The Shadow of
Who Weekly
the Wind by Julian Carax.
Entranced by his obscure treasure, Daniel is drawn into
About Carlos Ruiz Zafón a quest to find the truth about the life and death of
Carlos Ruiz Zafón was born in Barcelona in 1964 and its mysterious author. Fiction blossoms within fiction,
grew up under the shadow of Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia stories turn back on themselves. A malevolent stranger
cathedral, just a block away from the family home. appears, faceless, under a streetlight. Daniel falls into
a game of mirrors, reflecting strange discoveries about
For ten years he lived in Los Angeles, working as a
obsession, and love, and how they are entwined within
screenwriter. During this time he published four novels
the shadow world of books.
for young-adults.
The Shadow of the Wind, his fifth novel, has become an
international literary phenomenon in over 25 countries, Questions for Discussion
including the UK, North America, Germany, Spain, 1. Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s book shares the same name
France, Netherlands, Italy and Denmark. Ruiz Zafón’s as his character Julián Carax’s novel. What is the
work has been translated into 17 languages. significance and meaning of the title The Shadow of
the Wind?
Carlos Ruiz Zafón is now a full-time novelist in Barcelona,
and a regular contributor to the newspapers El Pais, La 2. The Shadow of the Wind draws on comedy, film
Vanguardia and El Mundo. noir, thriller, coming-of-age narrative, fantasy and
satire. But what is its predominant style, or does
it transcend genre? How would you describe the
novel?

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 The Shadow of the Wind Carlos Ruiz Zafón Reading Group Notes

3. How do suspense and humour work together in the 14. As Daniel discovers numerous versions of Carax’s
novel? Does the existence of one reduce the impact life, in particular the story of his great love, Penelope,
of the other, or is the book enhanced by the use of a history emerges of powerful, conceited men in
both? whose shadow love withers: a dodgy financier,
a textile giant, an arms dealer. Are these the
4. ‘Some things can only be seen in the shadows.’ What
fathers that really matter in the book? Is it Daniel’s
does Daniel’s father mean?
responsibility to undo their curse?
5. Is the relationship between Daniel and his
15. ‘A secret’s worth depends on the people from whom
father convincing? What does it illustrate about
it must be kept.’ Secrets are a constant presence
responsibility, about tolerance towards others and
in the novel. In what way do they affect the lives of
the ways family relationships shape each other’s
the characters and inform the plot? What are the
lives?
key secrets that Zafón keeps from the reader, and to
6. Beginning in 1945, The Shadow of the Wind is set just what end?
after the Spanish Civil War. Does the war’s proximity
help set the scene, or does it inform the narrative in
bigger ways? Why did Ruiz Zafón choose this era in A Brief Interview with Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Spain’s history for his tale? How are the events of the Daniel promises to show Bea a Barcelona that she’s
country related to the upheaval in Daniel’s life? never seen. From the paintings of Joan Miro to the
imaginative architecture of Antoni Gaudí, what is it
7. ‘The man who used to live within these bones died,
about Barcelona that lends itself to fantasy? Do you
Daniel. Sometimes he comes back, in nightmares.’
believe, as Daniel says to Bea, that ‘the memory of
What do we learn of Fermín’s past life? How would
this city will pursue you and you’ll die of sadness’?
you describe him? Are all of Ruiz Zafón’s characters
haunted by past lives? Barcelona provides an enchanting, mysterious and
romantic setting for the story because many things
8. ‘Every book you see here has been someone’s best
about the place, its streets, its history and its people
friend.’ So says Daniel’s father in the Cemetery of
are unique. It is also my hometown, a place I know like
Forgotten Books. Books are revered objects in this
the palm of my hand, and I wanted to use this fantastic
novel, but why are they so important? Did Daniel
backdrop as an organic character, very much like the
choose Julián Carax’s The Shadow of the Wind, or
great novelists of the nineteenth century did in creating
did it choose him?
the London of Dickens, the Paris of Victor Hugo and
9. In The Shadow of the Wind the women are often Balzac, etc. Hopefully, after reading the novel the
elusive and enigmatic. Clara the blind white goddess memory of Barcelona and the joy of the story will pursue
becomes a fallen angel; Daniel finds Nuria Monfort the readers as well.
especially mysterious when they first meet, and he
Daniel says, ‘Once, in my father’s bookshop, I heard
can’t even picture his long-missed mother’s face. Are
a regular customer say that few things leave a
women embraced or feared by the male characters
deeper mark on a reader than the first book that
in the novel? Is their hold over men more powerful
finds its way into his heart’. What book was that for
than they realise?
you? Are there any forgotten books you would like
10. The Shadow of the Wind is translated from the to rescue from obscurity?
Spanish. Does this affect the authenticity of the
I would say that rather than just one book, for me what
work? What are the key elements a translator must
did the trick was the world of storytelling, of language,
keep in mind in order to stay true to the original
of ideas. All books, all stories, all words and ideas, all
text?
the possibilities of the mind—such an infinite universe
11. Fumero is the only son of a ridiculed father and a of wonders is what did me in and I haven’t looked
status-seeking mother. The troubled Julián is the back. And I would like to save all books, those that
bastard son of a love-starved musical mother and are banned, those that are burned, or forgotten with
an amoral businessman. Are their personalities contempt by the mandarins who want to tell us what is
the products of nature or nurture? Are the sins of good and what is bad. Every book has a soul, as Daniel’s
the fathers and mothers visited upon each of the father says, and I believe every book is worth saving
characters? from either bigotry or oblivion.
12. Julián Carax’s and Daniel’s lives follow very similar This book is obviously an ode to books and to the
trajectories. Yet one ends in tragedy, the other in art of reading. You have Bea state that ‘the art of
happiness. What similarities are there between the reading is slowly dying, that it’s an intimate ritual,
paths they take? What are the differences that allow that a book is a mirror that only offers us what we
Daniel to avoid tragedy? already carry inside us, that when we read, we do
it with all our heart and mind, and great readers
13. Nuria Monfort tells Daniel, ‘Julian once wrote that
are becoming more scarce by the day’ (p. 484). Do
coincidences are the scars of fate. There are no
you believe this to be true? Do you share Fermín’s
coincidences, Daniel. We are the puppets of our
disdain for television?
unconscious.’ What does she mean?

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 The Shadow of the Wind Carlos Ruiz Zafón Reading Group Notes

I believe it is in our hands. Now more than ever, I believe

it is up to us to decide if we want to think by ourselves,
or if we want to accept and submit to what others
would rather have us believe. As for TV, well, I share
many of Fermín’s views. I’d say TV is a very powerful
medium, which can be used, and sometimes it is used,
to accomplish great things. Unfortunately, those are
exceptions to the rule. But blaming TV as an abstract
entity is nonsensical. It’s our hand on the remote.
There’s a world out there outside the tube. Life’s short:
Wake up and live.
The Aldaya Mansion, the allegedly cursed Angel of
the Mist, seems to be a character in its own right.
It has a life of its own, creaking, moaning, and
breathing fire in its belly. Where did you draw your
inspiration for your novel’s gothic centerpiece? Are
you attracted to haunted houses, the supernatural,
and other horror story trappings? Do you believe in
curses?
I don’t believe in the supernatural, but I think it provides
excellent material for literary purposes. Ghost stories are
great tools to explore symbolic and atavistic elements
in a narrative. Shakespeare, Dickens, and Henry James
used ghosts and phantasmagoric trappings in order to
add layers of meaning and effectiveness to their stories.
At the end of the day, it is all fiction, poetry, and magic.
Real curses, however, don’t dwell in dark basements but
in our hearts and conscience. We make our own moral
choices, sometimes far spookier than any horror tale,
and the terrors of this world are far too real and ordinary.
There are many casualties of love in your novel,
not just the star-crossed love between Julián and
Penélope, but also the love that makes Miquel
Moliner and Nuria Monfort both lay down their lives
for Julián. Why do you think we are fascinated with
ill-fated tragedies of love?
Because that’s the stuff that thing called life is made
of. Love, deception, tragedy, joy, passion, murder,
jealousy, lust, fear, generosity, friendship, betrayal…
Human nature provides the lyrics, and we novelists just
compose the music.

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