4.5 actually, :) My favorite of these sets of books.. tied with 'watcher in the shadows'..Oscar and Marina are two of my favorite MCs of his.
*minor spoilers abound*
---
A bit darker than the previous installments with some genuinely disturbing/horrifying moments, 'Marina' is an enchanting tale. Wonderfully tragic, suspenseful... bound with some romance as well.
Its always bittersweet for me in a way to finish a Carlos Ruiz Zafon tale... I love going on the journey and seeing what happens to everyone, but at the same time I'm sad to leave them even though I know I can/will revisit them.
Mister Zafon says it well here:
"But soon after embarking on Marina I knew that this would be the last I'd write in the genre. As the writing advanced, everything in the story began to acquire a shade of farewell, and by the time I'd finished it, I sensed that something inside me---something that even today I cannot explain but that I still miss every single day-- was forever left among its pages."
You can feel his writing mature and grow among these series of books, 'the prince of mist', 'the midnight palace', and
the watcher in the shadows'... growing into his craft and branching out bit by bit... 'Marina' feels closer of sorts to the style he will use in 'Shadow of the Wind'
I do admit wishing that sometimes the people in his story would have a happy ending haha but that's also what is so beautiful about this narrative and his others, the sense of tragedy/foreboding/humanity.
````````
"Marina once told me that we only remember what never really happened. It would take me a lifetime to understand what those words meant. But I suppose I'd better start at the beginning, in which this case is the end.
In May 1980 I disappeared from the world for an entire week. For seven days and seven nights nobody knew my whereabouts."
"We all have a secret buried lock and key in the attic of our soul, this is mine."
This starts the us on the journey of Oscar Drai in Barcelona... his first meeting with German Blau is unexpected and he 'accidentally' ends up stealing the man's pocket watch. It is when he goes to return that he meets German's daughter 'Marina' and properly meets the man himself.
The mystery takes off when Marina takes Oscar to an old cemetery and they observe a lady shrouded in black lay a rose on an unmarked gravestone.
What they don't expect is to be transported into a baffling mystery that plunges them in a strange/terrifying world and its too late to turn back when the mystery starts pursuing them.
The story unfolds at a steady place, letting you get to know the people involved and dropping hints and information here and there, leaving you eager to know what happens to everyone. I had a shaky reading time with this, only because I kept getting interrupted ;-) haha but when I did have time, it was very hard to put this down.
You feel for everyone involved, even Kolvenik... despicable man for what he was doing and it was horrifying when he revealed his work at a certain part of the story. As what happened to him was revealed though, you understand and sympathize with him... and it does seem as if he was meant for this/cursed. He started out trying to do good but ended up being consumed by his genetics I guess you could say.
Mister Zafon had me guessing and changing my perceptions constantly in this story. Whenever I had a suspicion of what was going on, he turned it on its head and the story went in another direction. A couple of things caught me by surprise completely.
A few of the characters I thought deserved their fates... no sympathy for them even though you can see/understood their motives.
I loved following in Oscar and Marina's footsteps, untangling the whole affair with them. Marina was sometimes cold and distant towards Oscar but on the whole I loved her (the reason for her behavior is explained later). Oscar was an interesting young man, lonely and adrift.. Marina and German become his 'family' of sorts.
Layers upon layers is one way of describing this book. Each time something is uncovered, something else is there to surprise you and lead you merrily (or not so merrily down another path).
The ending was a race through the pages for me and I thought a fitting end for that part of the story. I felt a relief and sadness at the same time.
Marina and Oscar had me smiling/sighing/wistful at the same time. The last paragraph is good ending for Oscar's part of the story, brings it full circle I guess you could say.
I'm rambling haha but I hope I conveyed my love of this book well enough. Highly recommend! :) <3
I'll leave with a few quotes from Marina:
____
"Our body begins to destroy itself from the moment it is born. We are fragile. We're creatures of passage. All that is left of us are our actions, the good and evil we do to our fellow humans. "
"We had reached the enchanted Barcelona, the labyrinth of spirits, where streets had mythical names and the ghosts of time walked behind us."
*excuse any typos please*
*minor spoilers abound*
---
A bit darker than the previous installments with some genuinely disturbing/horrifying moments, 'Marina' is an enchanting tale. Wonderfully tragic, suspenseful... bound with some romance as well.
Its always bittersweet for me in a way to finish a Carlos Ruiz Zafon tale... I love going on the journey and seeing what happens to everyone, but at the same time I'm sad to leave them even though I know I can/will revisit them.
Mister Zafon says it well here:
"But soon after embarking on Marina I knew that this would be the last I'd write in the genre. As the writing advanced, everything in the story began to acquire a shade of farewell, and by the time I'd finished it, I sensed that something inside me---something that even today I cannot explain but that I still miss every single day-- was forever left among its pages."
You can feel his writing mature and grow among these series of books, 'the prince of mist', 'the midnight palace', and
the watcher in the shadows'... growing into his craft and branching out bit by bit... 'Marina' feels closer of sorts to the style he will use in 'Shadow of the Wind'
I do admit wishing that sometimes the people in his story would have a happy ending haha but that's also what is so beautiful about this narrative and his others, the sense of tragedy/foreboding/humanity.
````````
"Marina once told me that we only remember what never really happened. It would take me a lifetime to understand what those words meant. But I suppose I'd better start at the beginning, in which this case is the end.
In May 1980 I disappeared from the world for an entire week. For seven days and seven nights nobody knew my whereabouts."
"We all have a secret buried lock and key in the attic of our soul, this is mine."
This starts the us on the journey of Oscar Drai in Barcelona... his first meeting with German Blau is unexpected and he 'accidentally' ends up stealing the man's pocket watch. It is when he goes to return that he meets German's daughter 'Marina' and properly meets the man himself.
The mystery takes off when Marina takes Oscar to an old cemetery and they observe a lady shrouded in black lay a rose on an unmarked gravestone.
What they don't expect is to be transported into a baffling mystery that plunges them in a strange/terrifying world and its too late to turn back when the mystery starts pursuing them.
The story unfolds at a steady place, letting you get to know the people involved and dropping hints and information here and there, leaving you eager to know what happens to everyone. I had a shaky reading time with this, only because I kept getting interrupted ;-) haha but when I did have time, it was very hard to put this down.
You feel for everyone involved, even Kolvenik... despicable man for what he was doing and it was horrifying when he revealed his work at a certain part of the story. As what happened to him was revealed though, you understand and sympathize with him... and it does seem as if he was meant for this/cursed. He started out trying to do good but ended up being consumed by his genetics I guess you could say.
Mister Zafon had me guessing and changing my perceptions constantly in this story. Whenever I had a suspicion of what was going on, he turned it on its head and the story went in another direction. A couple of things caught me by surprise completely.
A few of the characters I thought deserved their fates... no sympathy for them even though you can see/understood their motives.
I loved following in Oscar and Marina's footsteps, untangling the whole affair with them. Marina was sometimes cold and distant towards Oscar but on the whole I loved her (the reason for her behavior is explained later). Oscar was an interesting young man, lonely and adrift.. Marina and German become his 'family' of sorts.
Layers upon layers is one way of describing this book. Each time something is uncovered, something else is there to surprise you and lead you merrily (or not so merrily down another path).
The ending was a race through the pages for me and I thought a fitting end for that part of the story. I felt a relief and sadness at the same time.
Marina and Oscar had me smiling/sighing/wistful at the same time. The last paragraph is good ending for Oscar's part of the story, brings it full circle I guess you could say.
I'm rambling haha but I hope I conveyed my love of this book well enough. Highly recommend! :) <3
I'll leave with a few quotes from Marina:
____
"Our body begins to destroy itself from the moment it is born. We are fragile. We're creatures of passage. All that is left of us are our actions, the good and evil we do to our fellow humans. "
"We had reached the enchanted Barcelona, the labyrinth of spirits, where streets had mythical names and the ghosts of time walked behind us."
*excuse any typos please*
