Unputdownables Book Club discussion

I finally made it through this book. I rated it four stars even though it really never fully grabbed me. It was wonderfully written and a very imaginative story, but I feel like you got out of it what you were willing to put in. If you devoted time to it, you could get into it, but if you were just reading bits and pieces on the go (like I did most of the time) it was not incredibly absorbing.

Well I read it from start to finish and I still wasn't that into it. I wonder if maybe something got lost in the translation??? Although, I have read lots of other translated books (any of Isabel Allende's books are incredible) and didn't have that issue. I don't really know why, but it never really grabbed me.

Any ideas on the July book yet? :P

I know, I was kind of bummed. I had several people tell me it was THE most wonderful book. But my friend, Jamie, warned me that it wasn't actually that great.

Yes! There's a poll at the bottom of the home page for this group... make sure you vote! :)

Yes, I saw the poll after I made the comment above. I voted :)

Here are some of the discussion questions that I thought were interesting for The Shadow of the Wind...

1.) Nuria Monfort tells Daniel, "Julián once wrote that coincidences are the scars of fate. There are no coincidences, Daniel. We are the puppets of our unconscious." What does that mean? What does she refer to in her own experience and in Julián's life?

2.) Nuria Monfort's dying words, meant for Julián, are, "There are worse prisons than words." What does she mean by this? What is she referring to?

3.) There are many devil figures in the story --- Carax's Laín Coubert, Jacinta's Zacarias, Fermín's Fumero. How does evil manifest itself in each devil figure? What are the characteristics of the villains/devils?

4.) The evil Fumero is the only son of a ridiculed father and a superficial, status-seeking mother. The troubled Julián is the bastard son of a love-starved musical mother and an amorous, amoral businessman, though he was raised by a cuckolded hatmaker. Do you think their personalities are products of nature or nurture?

5.) Discuss the title of the novel. What is "The Shadow of the Wind"? Where does Zafón refer to it and what does he use the image to illustrate?

Wallace wrote: "1.) Nuria Monfort tells Daniel, "Julián once wrote that coincidences are the scars of fate. There are no coincidences, Daniel. We are the puppets of our unconscious." What does that mean? What does..."

I agree with Nuria in some regards. I think we are puppets of our unconscious if we are not paying attention to what we are doing (which is very easy to do). She wanted Julian and was willing to push past moral boundaries to have him. She was concerned with what she wanted so much that she couldn't give Julian what he needed (a completely different kind of help). And Julian, obviously, put the utmost regard to his wants in the way of letting everyone around him sacrifice for him to make help him get what he wanted.

Wallace wrote: "3.) There are many devil figures in the story --- Carax's Laín Coubert, Jacinta's Zacarias, Fermín's Fumero. How does evil manifest itself in each devil figure? What are the characteristics of the ..."

I actually thought Lain Coubert was the farthest from a devil figure even though they referred to him the most as one. Fumero was the most like one, and Jacinta's Zacarias was creepy indeed, but I didn't think of him as a devil either. More as an omen of evil things.

Wallace wrote: "5.) Discuss the title of the novel. What is "The Shadow of the Wind"? Where does Zafón refer to it and what does he use the image to illustrate?"

I didn't get this one, actually. I know the author said something at the end about him disappearing like a shadow in the wind, but I didn't fully get the title. Was it supposed to be about Carax and how he was so hard to pin down and find?

I'm not sure. The wind would not leave a shadow so it could mean that Carax was so elusive, so fragile... there but not. Even though the wind cannot be caught in shadow, it still exists. I think it's pretty deep actually. Sort of like he left his mark.

Disclaimer: I read this book over a year ago so the details are a bit sketchy but it's one of my fave books of all time.

I think you're on to something there Ti. That does make sense and fits with what Zafon's style.