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Casey Bartman

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Casey Bartman is currently reading

A Gentleman in Moscow

by Amor Towles (Goodreads Author)

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— Mar 07, 2026 12:42PM

Mar 01, 2026 06:35PM

Casey Bartman is currently reading

The Shadow of the Wind (The Cemetery of Forgotten Books, #1)

by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

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Reading for the 2nd time

read in May 2024

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Casey Bartman said: " This book was so wonderful that it reminded me I had a goodreads account and needed a place to share my thoughts in a stream-of-consciousness style. This is my new favorite book and I cannot express enough how entertaining of a read it is.

The author This book was so wonderful that it reminded me I had a goodreads account and needed a place to share my thoughts in a stream-of-consciousness style. This is my new favorite book and I cannot express enough how entertaining of a read it is.

The author takes his time setting up the pieces of the story, but once the first domino falls, the book turns into the most engrossing mystery I've ever read. Not a single moment of the story is wasted, and every single character serves a purpose. Zafón does a fantastic job of leading you through the mystery, intentionally misleading you with different aspects of unreliable narration that somehow manage to feel completely deserved, which is often not the case, at least in my experience. The beauty of the story is revealed when you see how the large collection of side characters are all connected. Zafón writes each character to be extremely dynamic, so when you feel you've discovered a piece of the puzzle, you notice that the overall design of the story has shifted. Every decision every character makes has countless unforseen consequences that all culminate in an extremely surprising, yet oddly rewarding and satisfying, conclusion.

Every character in this novel serves a purpose. In my opinion, characters are well written in a mystery when the author gives enough information to the reader for them to theorize on their own what role the character will fill, but not enough information to satisfy the immediate questions they come up with as part of their first impression of the character. My only gripe is how Zafón treats several of the characters in the story who are women. The story takes place over the course of the 1920s through the 1960s, so the role of women in the story is reflective of the "old-fashioned" social structure in Spain during this time period, but I think Zafón could have done a better job giving the women a more active role in the story. Half of the women in the novel follow the "damsel in distress" archetype, which is disappointing, but they still find ways to impact the story in a meaningful way (though, most of the time this "meaningful" impact is only significant because of the presence of a male character. I think the novel would pass the bechdel test, but not by a large margin). The best written character, from my point of view, is a female lead who takes the center stage in the latter half of the book, but the lack of a strong female lead in the first half of the book was definitely a bit disappointing (though, maybe more understandable, if we are viewing the story from the perspective of a prepubescent protagonist).

The romance found throughout the novel is simple, but compelling. The intriquite descriptions Zafón provides makes up for where the romances fall short in the novel, so if you find yourself losing interest in how the love stories are written, you can take refuge in the beauty of the prose that Zafón uses. Also also the theme of youth and the ignorance that comes as a result of it is written to absolute perfection.

Please read this book. Please. Look at this quote and tell me this isn't beautiful: "You cannot understand such things right now because you're young. But in good time you'll see that sometimes what matters isn't what one gives but what one gives up." ...more "

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(page 190 of 487)
— Feb 27, 2026 08:01PM

May 21, 2024 08:03AM · see review