This author turns on a movie projector in your mind. I feel I’ve walked through Barcelona of the thirties. Zafóns descriptions are vivid and you can almost touch the words. I imagined the world to be dark and gothic.
Zafón is a philosopher. He has lots of quotes and metaphors. Some stick around with you, such as “Memories are worse that bullets.” His words are poetic.
The book itself has everything that thriller movies are made of. A mystery, a diabolical character, a sidekick and lots of plot twists. Daniel Sempere is on a hunt to find what happened to Julián Carax.
There are a lot of characters in this book and my favorite is Fermin Romero de Torres. He gets his own back story in the book The Prisoner of Heaven. Wonderful character who is full of appreciation for life’s pleasures. I felt I’ve not been enjoying my food by the way Zafón describes how Fermin eats his food
One of the people concludes “…Juilan was not a man, he was an illness.” And it is indeed so. Whoever cares for Julián is cursed to suffer.
There is a sweet sadness throughout the book. My heart got heavy in many places. This is a great book. The mystery grips you till the end.
January 2017