2023 EDIT: Part of my 2023 clear-up, of books I no longer like, or am no longer interested in, or remember well as standing out, or find as special anymore, or I otherwise will not miss.
Final Score: 3.5/5
Original Review:
'A writer never forgets the first time he accepted a few coins or a word of praise in exchange for a story. He will never forget the sweet poison of vanity in his blood, and the belief that, if he succeeds in not letting anyone discover his lack of talent (...) his name printed on a miserable piece of paper that surely will outlive him. A writer is condemned to remember that moment, because from then on he is doomed and his soul has a price.' - page 1.
What did I expect from the prequel to my favourite book of all time? Beautiful, flowing writing? Check. Haunting atmosphere set in the magic and dust of early 20th century Barcelona? Check. Memorable and believably flawed characters? Check. A story that understands and loves books and how they affect the lives of the authors and readers? Check and mate.
Despite all this, I can see why some people may not be as entranced by this installment in the 'Cemetery of Forgotten Books' series as with the previous one, 'The Shadow of the Wind'. 'The Angel's Game' is clever and intricate; mirroring the classic crime thriller novels of the 18th to the 20th century, but it definitely steers more towards the weirder, magical realism route than 'The Shadow of the Wind' does. Some revelations are so strange that they seem almost random, and not every story thread gets a satisfying conclusion. Under no pretenses can it be described as "perfect".
However, 'The Angel's Game' is still one of the most haunting and disturbing books I've ever read, and I certainly did not expect it to be as great as 'The Shadow of the Wind'. Even without reading the somewhat lukewarm Goodreads reviews, I still wouldn't have over-hyped it before reading the novel itself.
Carlos Ruiz Zafón - with congratulations once again to Lucia Graves the translator - has a clear talent of grabbing and never letting the reader go once getting started. One thing you can never fault him for is his determination to make his readers think and feel uncomfortable, while also being instantly enchanted by his handling of prose and dialogue (which I'll talk about later on).
As I have said, 'The Angel's Game' is a prequel of sorts to 'The Shadow of the Wind', although it is true that both can be read as standalone titles. This title is set in Barcelona during the 1910s-1920s during its Exhibition and industrial period, so there are a lot of images describing decay, ruin and a start of a "new age". It is dazzling yet malefic, and symbolic of the main character's grim coming-of-age story.
David Martín starts off, from the first chapter, as a talented and aspiring but shy teenage writer working from the bottom in journalism. He has had a very difficult childhood (a traumatized and abusive ex-soldier father, and a mother who's abandoned him), and his only solace was in the bookshop Sempere and Son's, where he'd learned to read and write and enjoy escaping into books. This is a contrast to 'Shadow''s protagonist, Daniel, who has a long-lasting and loving relationship with his father, and whose mother was taken from him by death. And also his heart lies only in reading books, not writing them himself (despite possessing an ink pen).
However, David's story is a lot darker than Daniel's. As 'The Angel's Game''s narration progresses, David's life falls apart around him (such as receiving bad reviews of his debut novel while another of his, under the name of his old and equally despondent mentor Vidal, is praised as an instant classic). In hope from despair he essentially makes a pact with the devil: he must write a book that will change people's lives - a book to live and die for, that has a powerful soul penned from a powerful, human writer.
From then on David's identity as a person and as a writer of supernatural crime thrillers changes for the better. Or does it? As an adult learning the price of loneliness and rejection that comes from living a writer's life, he mostly locks himself up in his recently-bought tower house, writing on an old typewriter towards his death; quite literally.
All the strange, mysterious events and discoveries that David comes across in his years as a writer, are they actually happening? Is he suffering from a major psychotic breakdown? Could he be living in a world which reflects the kind of stories he reads and writes about - of his own making, or of someone else's? Is he mad... or dead, figuratively or literally? Is the ever-changing and dark and murky world of Barcelona a kind of purgatory? (A lot of written symbols and theories support this, but examining them here would take all day and night) Or is he really an unwitting pawn in an angel's game - a game of life and death, and writing about it?
David has spent most of his life writing stories about underground Barcelona and crime with a touch of paranormal macabre. Now he is the protagonist of one, whether he is aware of it or not. This book, 'The Angel's Game', could be the very book he'd set out to write that is meant to change the world.
(This is what I meant by it being weird - in a WTF mindbending way that the author seems to enjoy twisting and turning to suit both the mindset of the narrator and the confusion of the reader).
History repeating itself, biblical and classic novel references, theories on religion and beliefs, murder, love - both hetero and homo-erotic - tragedy, dreams vs reality, and Gothic mystery: this is 'The Angel's Game'.
In another similarity to 'The Shadow of the Wind', this book has a very distinctive - albeit much smaller - cast of characters. Basilio Moragas, Pedro Vidal, Victor Grandes, and Sempere Snr (neither he nor his son Sempere Jnr are given first names) really stood out for me. David Martín himself grows more and more ugly in character as the novel carries on (his shyness and innocence pretty much disappear after the first 100 pages), but that's to be expected when considering his unfortunate and disconcerting circumstances.
But my favourite and by far the best person in 'The Angel's Game' is Isabella; a seventeen-year-old aspiring writer whom David reluctantly accepts as his writing assistant and housekeeper to his ancient tower house. If Fermín Romero de Torres was the break-out character in 'The Shadow of the Wind', then Isabella Gispert is that equivalent in its prequel. She is just like David when he was younger and was writing from the heart, and she is a woman ahead of her time. She lies, cheats and disobeys, but that only makes her more likable. Funny, snappy and smart, she never takes to David's cruelty and isolation - she tells him off and the two of them are as stubborn as each other, making for some wonderfully hilarious banter. Not so much birds of a feather as they are partners in crime writing (and fighting, as Isabella is the one who uncovers the main mystery of the plot). Although I am annoyed that:
Spoiler:
There is the sordid plot device of getting the hero and heroine to trust and care for one another by having David save Isabella from an attempted gang rape on the streets. Plus Isabella ends up giving up on writing and having a free life, and becomes a wife and a mother
Spoiler end.
But Isabella remains a strong character who always keeps on top of things, and is there to help the men who cannot take care of themselves for one reason or another.
The dialogue in 'The Angel's Game' is great. Fun, philosophical without being pretentious, and marvelously clever; especially between David and Isabella, and David with everyone really. He always seems to stir up conflict and danger wherever he goes...
Right, so that's all: Above all I enjoyed 'The Angel's Game'; strange and confusing literature creature that it is.
Final Score: 4/5
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