There are other winks at Great Expectations, which soon gets name-checked and finally appears as a gift to the young hero that causes him to be beaten black and blue by his father - a lost, violent, book-hating soul from the putrid underworld of early 20th century Barcelona.
(…)
The cemetery of books from The Shadow of the Wind reappears here, along with the Sempere and Sons bookshop, as the hero tastes the bitter fruits of his fall into temptation. "If Shadow is the good girl in the family, The Angel's Game is the wicked stepsister," is how Zafón explains things.
He, like Dickens, also has a city to write about. The Angel's Game is set in his native Barcelona, whose back streets, parks, cemeteries, slums, eccentric architecture, violent 1920s underclass and well-heeled bourgeoisie provide fertile ground for the imagination. What better, after all, for a writer of gothic tales than to have a ready-made gothic quarter to hand? Its labyrinthine and intimidating streets provide the perfect setting for the dark, terrible deeds that seed his story with mystery, blood and tension. Barcelona is a character in itself. Lovers of the city will enjoy being tugged down its more claustrophobic streets and taken on a tour of the still-fresh splendours imposed on the city by Gaudí and the 1929 great exhibition.
Barcelona's soaring Tibidabo mountain is said to be named after the words used by Satan to tempt Christ: "All these things will I give thee (tibi-dabo)." Zafón constantly invites us to see Barcelona, his "city of the damned", from above. He takes us into sinful corners, indulging fantasies that are erotic, magical or violent. In the end Zafón is the tempter. Many will fall for his vigorous and exhaustingly relentless story-telling.
Noticia publicada en www.guardian.co.uk
| Enviar a un amigo | Vota esta noticia |
Enviar a
     |
Like Shadow, Zafon's latest novel is a masterfully written love affair with books and words as well as an obsessive tribute to passionate love.
The Cemetery of Forgotten Books, which played a key role in Shadow, is also a scene setter in Game, which takes place in 1920s Barcelona. Zafon describes the cemetery as a sanctuary where every book has a soul: "Every time a book changes hands, every time someone runs his eyes down its pages, its spirit grows and strengthens."
(…)
Game is a multi-layered confection that combines undying love, magical realism, meditations on religion, the importance of books and a love affair with the vibrant city of Barcelona.
Zafon hits the reset button on what it means to be a great writer. His visionary storytelling prowess is a genre unto itself.
Noticia publicada en www.usatoday.com
| Enviar a un amigo | Vota esta noticia |
Enviar a
|
"The Angel's Game" fue presentada en Londres el pasado día 1 y con ella el escritor barcelonés espera repetir el éxito de "La sombra del viento", que vendió un millón de copias en su versión inglesa.
Noticia publicada en www.adn.es
| Enviar a un amigo | Vota esta noticia |
Enviar a
|
