Madhouse Book Club – May 30, 2014 at 703 Bestgate, Annapolis, MD

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Before others arrived Jim and Doug established that Francisco Franco was the dark shadow over Zafon’s Shadow of the Wind. Franco’s repressive regime from 1939 to 1975 spanned the timeframe of the novel and provided the backdrop for the mystery of the Barcelona neighborhoods and the cruelty of Zafon’s character Fumero.

Melissa started by mentioning a 3 brain model (below) that emphasizes the importance of the emotional component, mentioning the book Wired for Joy by Laurel Mellin. Robyn pursed details.

Most listened to the book and for some who hadn’t quite finished the 487 pages, the audio of the final pages was played describing the last scene of the novel where Daniel Sempere takes his 10 year old son Julian to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books.

There were lots of characters and narrators, consequently the audio version was not easy to follow. The group established that the two main narrators were Daniel Sempere and Nuria Monfort. The group also agreed that Fumero’s murderous cruelty was rooted in his school days with Julian Carax, Jorge Aldaya and Miquel Moliner, where Fumero was mercilessly teased for his “lower class” status, and for his secret love for Penelope Aldaya. Penelope and Julian were in fatally in love with disturbing consequences.

There are many constructed subplots (e.g., Clara and Daniel; Daniel and Tomas; Bea and Daniel; Fermin and Fumero), some overextended, all rich, detailed and complicated. Sue highlighted an interesting quote by Fermin Romero de Torres about the difference between the moronic and the evil. The quote is on page 155 in chapter 19 and worth pursuing. The main thread throughout the book was Daniel’s pursuit of the literary works of Julian Carax after Daniel found Carax’s obscure novel The Shadow of the Wind in the Cemetery of Forgotten Books when he was ten.

As the pitcher of sangria was drained the discussion drifted to lots of other stuff. Melissa brought up the brain again. Jim referred to the historical context of the novel. Robyn explored the deep emotional aspects of the relationships in the novel. Robyn quoted Maya Angelou who said that people will forget what we say and do, but always remember how we make them feel. Doug for some unclear reason quoted Michael Polanyi: “… and since I regard the significance of a thing as more important that its tangibility, I regard ideas as more real than cobblestones.” Robyn pursued details … the quote came from Polanyi’s short book The Tacit Dimension.

Next Jim described losing his iPhone in a Chick-Fil-A bathroom and then using his iPad App “Find My Phone” to trace his missing phone to a new home construction site about 3 blocks away. Driving to the construction site Jim thought it prudent to ask a local police woman to question the workers about the whereabouts of the missing phone. After the police questioning but no confession everyone was sure that a worker had lifted the phone from the Chick-Fil-A bathroom. Later in the day Jim, via a freshly charged iPad, determined that his phone had moved 10 yards, and returned to the new home construction site where he chatted with a very friendly and cooperative owner (the work crew had left). A second search around the construction site ensued involving Jim, the owner and some neighbors. Finally using the iPad App “ping” function, Jim got his missing iPhone to ping, revealing its location on a step ladder under a tarp. The astonished book club members admitted that they had never pinged before and were happy that Jim pinged and got his phone back.

Then the book club members discussed the lives of the missing members, hoping to see them at the next meeting on Friday June 27th at Jim and Sue’s office at 703 Bestgate.

Thanks to Sue, Jim, Robyn and Melissa for providing some great eats, sangria and wine. Doug enjoyed Philip Pons craft beer. And thanks to Sue and Jim for hosting Madhouse Book Club #4.

On the 27th of June it will be two short books (read one, both, neither but come):

The Sense of An Ending by Julian Barnes (2011 Man Booker Prize – the story of a man coming to terms with the mutable past)
The Tacit Dimension (1966; reissued 2009) by the physicist turned philosopher Michael Polanyi (short, readable: we know more than we can tell: that tradition, inherited practices, implied values and prejudgments are a crucial part of scientific knowledge).