"A secret's worth depends on the people from whom it must be kept."
The story happens through the period from 1945 to 1966. The main character is a young boy (and later and young man) named Daniel Sempere who lives with his father. The latter is the owner of a bookshop that specialized in rare books. Daniel lost his mother as a young boy, but "her radiance and her warmth haunted every corner of [their] home". His father never remarried and didn't even take kindly to suggestions he do so. The two have a lovely relationship, with the older Sempere being a very patient and nurturing father, encouraging and cautioning his son without ever imposing his will or outright forbidding him to do things. Although we are introduced to many other characters, another one I consider to be the most prominent, along with Daniel, is the city of Barcelona itself. The rich history, the evocative descriptions, the misty and haunted quality of it is mesmerizing, and this novel wouldn't have its particular charm without it.
The Cemetery of Forgotten Books is a secret library that books are taken to when they're devoured by time, forgotten by readers. "Before us loomed what to my eyes seemed the carcass of a palace, a place of echoes and shadows." Daniel's father takes him there when the boy is 10 years old and wakes in the night, fearing he is forgetting his mother's face. As tradition demands Daniel is to choose one such forgotten book upon his first visit to the Cemetery and then keep it safe for the rest of his days. He chooses a small red book called "The Shadow of the Wind" written by Julian Carax. Having never heard of the author he is intrigued, but nevertheless very pleased with his choice, feeling a sense of destiny in uniting him with the tome. He reads the entire book that night, likening its structure to that of a Russian doll that keeps splitting and revealing diminishing versions of itself. The novel leaves such an impression he didn't want to fall asleep and risk breaking the spell the story had put him under.
What follows is an intriguing story of Daniel's growing up and of Barcelona's long troubled years. We are introduced to characters such as Don Gustavo Barcelo and his niece Clara, a woman 10 years Daniel's senior for whom he loses his head until a fateful day when his illusions shatter. There is Don Federico, the watchmaker, and Fermin, a homeless man Daniel and his father take in and employ at their store. This all converges with Julian's story and then characters from his life who appear to Daniel himself.
What sets off the real adventure is the appearance of Lain Coubert, the villain from "The Shadow of the Wind" who is going around burning all of Carax's books. He offers Daniel to buy the book, but as the boy refuses he suddenly feels a chill and understands that he needs to protect this book and keep it out of the scarred man's fiery clutches. Another villain is on the loose - the Inspector Fumero, an infamous and sadistic police official who takes bribery and switches sides as often as he needs to keep his position, selling out people and torturing them in prisons. He proves to be a boogeyman to both Fermin and to Carax, the connections Daniel reveals are extraordinary. Then there is Nuria, who knew Julian, and Miquel, his childhood friend.
We uncover the stories of the Aldaya mansion, of Julian and Penelope's doomed love, its parallel in the present time with Daniel and Bea, of revenge, of sacrifice, the connections between all these characters, the motives that range from reasonable responses or desires to the ravings of madmen... There are so many stories and so many characters here it is impossible to mentioned them all. I absolutely loved this and the tense atmosphere is a more than appropriate setting when depicting a time of uncertainty, a time where no one is safe and everyone can be a spy and anything can be a crime. It is just gorgeous.
The feeling of coming full circle and of history repeating itself, just with better choices, really resonated with me. As Daniel says, "In Carax's lost footsteps I now recognized my own, irretrievable." I adored the redemption aspect of the book and loved the satisfying conclusion, even though it does not offer a happy ending for all characters, nor do all the good people make it to the end of the book. I simply slipped into this story seamlessly and felt as if I were wandering the Ramblas with the characters. I was so entwined with it all and I actually cried at certain discoveries and found my chest aching an eyes leaking whenever events from this book crossed my mind days later. So... take that as you will.
This is not an easy book to get into. It's a long one, the characters and storylines multiply and converge in unexpected ways, but it does pay off. There are descriptions of violence, or threats or just the fear of violence being inflicted upon the characters. Those really chilled me to the bone. I'm looking at you, Fumero, you bastard. But I just couldn't stomach the descriptions of women. *sigh*
Now, it may be my feminism and my modern sensibilities talking, but it always took me out of the story when a character (mostly Fermin by my recollection) would talk about women as if they were objects, sex objects to be more specific, who are confusing but only because they are stupid and don't know what they want. No intelligent women anywhere, and even if their intelligence is acknowledged they are still reduced to their anatomy. I was so mad that Nuria, an amazing character, was described as this femme fatale who apparently drives men crazy by her mere existence. Then, there is a university professor who sleeps with all his female students, and this is seen as a rite of passage for these young women, not as blatant misuse of authority and sexual harassment. Even Daniel falls for this crap, looking at women as though they were pieces of meat only, undressing them with his eyes. You could, of course, say that this is time appropriate, people were much more obviously misogynistic in the 50s. And yes, I agree, but I did not need to read about it and it left a bitter aftertaste and made it harder for me to root for these male characters. Just my two cents. You may not even notice this (if you're a man there's a really big chance you don't see anything wrong with it either) but I had to mention it because, as a woman, it bothered me and soured my impression of the book slightly. So, still a great piece of writing, but not flawless.
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