The Shadow of the Wind, part 1

It has occurred to me on numerous occasions that Radiohead produce better album art - and more consistently - than any other band I know. For this feat, we have Stanley Donwood to thank, who is Radiohead's perennial visual artist/associate. Years ago, when I was obsessed with Radiohead (let's say, 2002), Mr. Donwood produced a written work that you might call a story and that took the form of a thin book. Now, most of the productive output of the people in or associated with Radiohead is hard to nail down (I think I am being complimentary to say this), but Mr. Donwood's "Catacombs of Terror!" had a basic formula. Were it to be stocked in your local Barnes and Noble, you'd find it under mystery, but this mystery was suffused with intentionally-inelegant plotting and a peculiarly affected ("lo-fi"?) writing style and was marketed as a rip-off of third-rate pulp thrillers of the past. I cannot vouch for that comparison, but Donwood's style was idiosyncratic enough (and carefully attuned enough) that I doubt that simple comparison does the novel justice.

Lately I have been reading "The Shadow of the Wind" by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, and in the process of doing so, have had a hell of a time un-knotting my mixed and myriad feelings towards it. There are some things I can say for sure:

1) The pacing is outstanding, as mystery novels must usually be to be a success.

2) The literary references to Gabriel Garcia Marquez in the reviews are legitimate and truly bound into the tapestry of the text and specifically, Zafon's imagination. The references to Borges are topical (a labyrinth of books, temporal mirroring and incongruity) and 400 pages in, I would judge them to be irrelevant. I can't speak for Eco, having not read any of his works.

3) Zafon writes good scenes and good dialogue, and has a way with evoking place and time without trying hard. However, he places all of this between filler that is often boring, obvious, cliche.

4) If Zafon is capable of writing a female character that is not one-dimensional, he does not explore the talent here.

It took me until tonight to realize that the reason I have been overwhelmingly willing to cut him slack on #3 and #4 is that the clunky characteristics of the book are reminiscent of Catacombs of Terror!, a book where these characteristics are taken to be ironic (or at least intentionally absurd). I believe my mind has mapped this absurdity/irony onto The Shadow of the Wind, and therefore I respond to it as a compelling story told with the author winking at the reader. Ironically, this level of formalism that glosses over the entire story - a construct that I have to believe I alone see - may be the most Borgesian thing about the book.

So, to review, a second-rate book written as an affected tribute to third-rate stories has convinced me that this first-rate book with several notable drawbacks is actually something close to sublime. Wish me luck in the last 100 pages.