Ain't nothing better than a good ole' literary story...

It’s been a while since I read a book by an author that made me want to trawl through the seams of Amazon search results to find others written by the same writer. Carlos Ruiz Zafon, is one of those traditional authors, you know the sort that make you want to stay gripped onto the pages of the book whilst his powerful writing technique guides you through the dizzying twists and unbeknown turns of a novel set in the early-mid twentieth century. He is one of those unusual authors of modern day who incorporates the traditional elements of literature: the haunting Gothic mystery, the passion of young love seemingly complimented by a captivating narrative, whilst he also aims to the highly critical modern day market sprinkling in drops of fantasy and magic, that nowadays seem a paramount aspect of novels that ‘’make it big’’.

My journey into Zafon’s world of a Barcelona with cobbled streets, hidden antique bookshops, shadowy figures from fantasy stories, mysteriously disappearing authors and a politically entrenched Catalan society, began more than 2 years ago with my first purchase being ‘the shadow of the wind’. From the first page of the story which described the sky of Catalonia being overtaken by the sun like ‘liquid copper’, Zafon struck me as a different author. One that unlike many of our day was committed to providing the reader with a traditionally rich, atmospheric imagery, allowing them to truly sense the Barcelona he was portraying. This vivid imagery is present in all of Zafon’s novels that I have read, and is an aspect of his writing that never fails to engross me into the pages of his stories.

Another trait of Zafon’s novels is their historical significance. Although being literary fiction, each of his works is filled with references to the historical time period in which the tales are set, giving the reader a historical context which is portrayed in a lightly humoured notion through the character of: Fermin Romero De Torres, a essentially comedy centered character full of crude wit, who is pragmatically a symbol of republican/socialist struggle in the cemetery of forgotten books cycle. In the 3^rd installment of this cycle of stories we see the historical theme more embedded than ever, as Carlos transports us to the political jails of the fascist regime who kept everyone from authors and the common ‘rebel’ locked up to as to eradicate existence from a increasingly controlled Spanish society. Despite being works of fiction, it is still possible to gain some sort of historical understanding from fiction such as this. As 'To kill a mockingbird' is a reflection of early 19th century race relations in the US, 'Oliver Twist and Great expectations' are set in the cobbles of Victorian England and Bronte's 'wuthering heights' is a reflection of British Yorkshire, Ruiz Zafon could someday be the author renown for his stories centered in Fascist Spain. 

 From Senor Barcelo to Sempere the bookshop, to the troubled, fire stricken, faceless author Julian Carax, the hugely witty Fermin and of course the protagonist Daniel, you can’t help but feel an attachment to the characters in Zafon’s novels. They truly are characters that will stay with you forever as you read all the books in the cycle, you end up making links from one book to another, links you would never have thought, making the plots of the series as a whole, one of great complexity, yet one simple enough to keep you wanting more. Another incredible factor in the series by Zafon is the freedom to read the cycle of books, following the life, love and tribulations of Daniel from the very beginning of his life,  following and piecing the jigsaw of his life backwards or simply starting from the middle with ‘the angels game’ and following the creative writing processes of David Martin

and his nemesis Correlli. Whichever way you decide to read this cycle of books, one thing is certain, like every captivating series writing author, everything will tie together at the end like the final piece being put into a seemingly difficult jigsaw puzzle to which you were also required to find the pieces. The beauty with Carlos Ruiz Zafon however is that you could start by finding two pieces of jigsaw in one book and ten in another but still managing to capture the complete image, all depending on how you decide to approach the cycle.

To conclude, this is 21^st century literature at it’s finest, with this particular cycle of books being suitable for both young adults and adults. Zafon has also written a range of novellas for the younger child reader, a prominent one I read recently being ‘the watcher in the shadows’-full to the brim with fantasy, fear, a mysterious toymaker and his never to be seen wife, rooms filled with eerie dolls, flying automobiles and some ghostly doppelgangers the story follows two young children Ismael and Irene in a dangerous adventure they are caught up in. Although they weren’t originally written in English, don’t let this put you off as I can tell you the translations are utterly beautiful. His next novel to be released in the UK is a break from the shadow of the wind cycle and is the Spanish bestseller ‘Marina’ a gothic novel which I am extremely excited for. So as you can tell, I have bucket loads of praise for Carlos Ruiz Zafon as a writer and would recommend you to read his novels if you like a good ole’ story. I started by reading ‘The shadow of the wind’. If you have already read the/a novel by this author, please do share with me your opinions of it, via leaving me a message on here or on twitter/tumblr/the student room. If you are going to read it after this, again you can let me know what you think of it.