Category Archives: LITERATURE

I spoke a page too soon; our little Daniel finally does have sex…I think…with his friend’s sister, Bea. A thousand times I’ve wished to return and lose myself in a memory from which I can rescue only one image stolen … Continue reading → Continue reading →

According to the back cover, the Daily Telegraph hailed this novel as "Carlos Ruiz Zafon has done that exceedingly rare thing–he has produced, in his first novel, a popular masterpiece, an instant classic." Bull. I’t s good, the story is … Continue reading → Continue reading →

While mystery stories always require an unraveling of the mystery, I frankly don’t feel that Zafon has mastered mystery unraveling. The necessary backstory is given by a character to Daniel, the narrator and clue-seeker. One lead takes him and his … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Now we have Daniel’s (the narrator’s) new friend, Fermin (a middle aged politically charged character who was hunted down by the regime until he ended up a beggar on the streets) listening to the story of the book, the author … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Just as I noticed in Murakami’s Kafka on the Shore, Zafon seems to give in to that writer’s devil that tempts him to explain: I began my story with that distant dawn when I awoke and could not remember my … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The teacher was mumbling under his breath.  "It’s like the tide, you see? He said, beside himself.  "The savagery, I mean.  It goes away, and you feel safe, but it allways returns, it always returns…and it chokes us.  I see … Continue reading → Continue reading →

In approaching this novel I was only aware that it came recommended as a terrific read.  In getting into it, I’m finding that it likely would be considered a mystery, as the narrator is on a mission to both protect … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I am indeed impressed by the plot structure in this novel; every character introduced comes with a mystery tag.  Each "tag" presents questions that have be mentally filing clues away as I read; have me reading more carefully, alert for … Continue reading → Continue reading →

In reading novels from a variety of decades past, I find it strange–such as with At Swim-Two-Birds–that the language seems to come from a bygone era: My only response was to slam the front door as I left the apartment.  … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Interesting base for the storyline: A young boy selects a special book from his father’s cache by a little known author and it turns out to be also a favorite author of a beautiful young blind woman with whom the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Nice writing style.  Zafon brings us a lot of information while intriguing the reader with his opening of a (first person narrator) young boy whose mother has died and whose father owns a used bookstore and offers the boy consolation … Continue reading → Continue reading →

This novel by Carlos Ruiz Zafon has been highly recommended by a friend of mine who declared it one of her favorites. Oddly enough, the back cover includes this:  “Hidden in the heart of the old city of Barcelona is … Continue reading →