The Shadow of the Wind

This book was recommended to me years ago and it has been sitting on a shelf since then, but I didn't feel compelled to read it until I took a trip to Barcelona, where the book is set during the 40s and 50s. The impression of the book is enhanced by a familiarity with the city, I think, as the narrators refer to real places (and the author even includes a map of the primary locales). It was interesting, for example, to read of a body being found in the plaza next to the Santa Maria del Mar church, a site that I visited this morning before I read that passage. As entertaining as the book is, it has two flaws, both significant. First, it's overly melodramatic (although that might be owed to the young narrator, Daniel, who sees everything in exaggerated terms). Second, much of the detail is rendered in passages where one “witness” or another tells Daniel information he needs to know. These passages are tedious and would have benefited from dramatization (although that probably would have added a couple hundred pages to a book that was already too long). Anyway, read it if you're in Barcelona have been to Barcelona.