written by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
translated by Lucia Graves
read by Jonathan Davis
Last week I reviewed The Shadow of the Wind before I had completely finished listening to it, and since closure was something I mentioned I was longing for, I promised I would blog again after finishing the book—so you all can have closure too!
The book ended well, and during those final 90 minutes I thought of one other element that made the audiobook such a rich experience: the background music. Throughout the story there are certain somewhat random moments that are accompanied by a minute or two of piano music that gently fades in and then fades back out again. The music is always perfectly suited to what’s going on in the story at that time, and it enhances the script without ever overpowering it.
I was pleasantly surprised to learn that all of these instrumentals are original compositions by the author. In fact, Zafón was a musician before he was a writer. In an interview with Barnes&Noble he says music and books are the two things he can’t live without. I think it’s nice that audiobooks give him a forum for combining these two passions elegantly.
If you’re interested in hearing some of Zafón’s music, there are a few tracks you can download for free from his website. Based on the names of the tracks, I’m assuming these are ones that turn up in the audiobook. Give them a listen and let me know what you think!
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