Falling in love again

Reading a good novel is like falling in love. There is that first contact, where you sample the first few pages with some reserve, testing the waters to see if the book has potential. You get drawn in and you savor the book with reckless abandon, pouring your heart out in the experience, wanting it to never end.

It does end, inevitably. But unlike most love affairs,whether the novel offers a happy ending or not, your heart doesn’t get broken, and you get to bask in the afterglow of having read a damn good book.

That is exactly how I felt when I read Carlos Ruiz Zafon’s The Shadow of the Wind (let’s call it SOTW for short) last year, which I count as one of the best novels I have ever read. Thus when I heard Zafon was releasing The Angel’s Game (Book #90 of 2009), I was a bit apprehensive as I wondered how it would live up to SOTW.

Of course, that didn’t stop me from calling Fully Booked and reserving a copy (as if people were shipping out to the nearest book stores and buying it in panic) as soon as I got the alert that it was in stock already (June 4th). And that didn’t stop me from braving the rain to get my hands on the book that very same day.

Tonight I finally finished the book, and I am bumping it up the review list (ugh, major backlog) because I know a lot of people are waiting to hear about the book, especially my American readers who will get their copies on the 16th (they’re selling the UK edition here, but I heard Zafon is touring the US – 10 bookmooch points for a signed tpb or hardcover of SOTW? *groveling* and you can send it to my aunt in California, too!)

And because I know these people will read the book too, I promise to keep it spoiler free. Review after the cut.

You can read the first chapter at the Orion website.

“Wicked Gothic Stepsister”

The Angel’s Game (trans. Lucia Graves) unfolds in 1920s Barcelona, a couple of decades earlier as SOTW. David Martin, a young writer with an unfortunate childhood, has been penning the sensational series “City of the Damned,” a collection of grotesque and flamboyant tales of the Barcelona underworld, under the name Ignatius B. Samson.

Then a mysterious publisher named Andreas Corelli with an offer of a lifetime: one hundred thousand francs (and a bonus of 50,000 more) to write a book so powerful, it will change the hearts and minds of its readers. David accepts the commission, but he realizes he might have bitten off more than he can chew, as the terror hits close to home and he finds himself in a compromise he can’t get out of.

Reading The Angel’s Game is like revisiting a familiar neighborhood, with the quaint Sempere & Sons bookshop, the Cemetery of Forgotten Books and Isaac Monfort, and even Señor Barcelo. The books also share the themes of  writing and the love for books; elements of literary mystery, horror, romance, and swashbuckling action! Zafon also creates establishes some patterns, such as using mentor-type characters (to surround his protagonist); scary old houses; long-buried mysteries that resurface and require the protagonist to track down certain incognito characters; and the lives of two writers intertwined.

I found The Angel’s Game much darker than SOTW though, bringing forward an otherworldly aspect that is hinted at but never confirmed in SOTW.

This is what Zafon has to say:

“At the end of the day, these are just stories that share a universe, a tone and some central themes and characters. You don’t need to care or know about any of this stuff to enjoy them. One of the fun things about this process was it allowed me to give each book a different personality. Thus, if Shadow of the Wind is the nice, good girl in the family, The Angel’s Game would be the wicked gothic stepsister. Some readers often ask me if The Angel’s Game is a prequel or a sequel. The answer is: none of these things, and all of the above. Essentially The Angel’s Game is a new book, a stand-alone story that you can fully enjoy and understand on its own. But if you have already read The Shadow of the Wind, or you decide to read it afterwards, you’ll find new meanings and connections that I hope will enhance your experience with these characters and their adventures.” (via Amazon)

Quotables

I read most of the book during the rainy weekend, and I must say it’s the perfect book to curl up with during  stormy weather, snuggled deep under a pile of blanket. Zafon’s writing is consistent – florid and languorous, with crisp cinematic quality, exactly the way you expect it to be after reading SOTW.

The very first paragraph had me hooked:

“A writer never forgets the first time he accepted a few coins or a word of praise in exchange for a story. He will never forget the sweet poison of vanity in his blood, and the belief that, if he succeeds in not letting anyone discover his lack of talent, the dream of literature will provide hiim with a roof over his head, a hot meal at the end of the day, and what he covets the most: his name printed on a miserable piece of paper that surely will outlive him. A writer is condemned to remember that moment, because from then on, he is doomed, and his soul has a price.”

And in lieu of Fermin in SOTW, David gets some “sage “advice from Don Pedro Vidal, one of David’s mentors:

“It’s possible, and I stress possible, that such a moment may never come: you may not fall in love, you may not be able to or you may not wish to give your whole life to anyone and, like me, you may turn forty-five one day and realize that you’re no longer young and you have never found a choir of cupids with lyres, or a bed of white roses leading to the altar. The only revenge left for you then will be to steal from life the pleasure of firm and passionate flesh — a pleasure that evaporates faster than good intentions and the nearest thing to heaven you will find in the stinking world, where everything decays, beginning with beauty and ending with memory.”

And a nice passage on Charles Dicken’s Great Expectations:

“It was a rainy winter, with days as grey as lead, and I read Great Expectations about nine times, partly because I had no other book at hand, partly because I did not think there could be a better one in the whole world and I was beginning to suspect that Mr. Dickens had written it just for me. Soon I was convinced that I didn’t want to do anything else in life but learn to do what Mr. Dickens had done.”

Final word…

While I enjoyed reading The Angel’s Game, it carries some themes that are of no particular interest to me, such as faith, religion, and dogma. Although this theme plays a role in the story, I didn’t need a treatise on the subject.

I also found the final action a bit too convoluted for the reader to follow in a logical progression, and on the whole I found the conclusion of SOTW more satisfying.

While I liked SOTW better than The Angel’s Game, it’s still an awesome read. Zafon knows how to spin out a great yarn, and I fell in love with this book as easily as I did with SOTW.

I’m also happy to find out that Zafon announced there will be two more books in what he projects to be a four-book series on the Cemetery of Forgotten Books. The thought excites me, and gives me something to look forward to — Carlos Ruiz Zafon is now one of my favorite authors and I’ll definitely be reading the next two books!

***

My copy: large trade paperback, UK edition, bought at Fully Booked with part of my Book Geek winnings (Yay!)

My rating: 4/5 stars