If you happen to buy The Shadow Of The Wind, there is one really important thing to do before you start reading it – peel off the Richard & Judy Bookclub sticker on the cover (You’ll probably also want to peel off the ‘3 for 2’ sticker that will almost certainly also adorn the front of the book).
Now I wouldn’t want you to think that I’m a snob… Let’s start again. I’m a snob. And there’s no way that I’m reading this book on public transport with those people on the cover. Obviously this association is having a massive effect on the sales of a book that otherwise wouldn’t have entered the public consciousness in quite the same way, hence it’s riding high in the book charts. And then Open Book did a Spanish books special – notably failing to include Arturo Perez-Reverte.
But back to The Shadow Of The Wind. Its popularity owes something to the mystery aspects of The Da Vinci Code and the magical realism of the Latin-American writers. I liked it a lot – although it was a tad long, and I didn’t buy the overly detailed flashbacks when one character was telling another about things that happened in the past with the kind of detail that only a novellist can muster.
But a thoroughly readable and enjoyable novel. Now I feel I must check out the rest of the authors from the aforementioned Open Book.