No, Rachel, you cannot read this. Go read it first. Danielle said that remaindered copy is still waiting for you down in Gonzales.
Gone yet?
Anyway…
It’s half of a great book. Once i made it past a crucial point, i realized that it was going to be a collapsed souffle. Zafon took it right up to the edge of being something grand, something cosmic, then ran a needle into it, and it collapsed into a much smaller, merely good book. It needed more Borges, and less Marquez. If it’s to be a book hung upon the premise of peculiar, haunting books drawn from the fervored imagination of an enigmatic author, jettisoning the mystery of books for a tangled web of earthly human passions is just not a change in pace i care to follow.
I’d recommend the book to anyone who wants a good diversion. Otherwise, i feel it betrayed itself, too proud to embrace its own pulp core and too lazy to reach for more.
Aye, captain! I hope to pick up a copy soon.