Welcome to the home thread for Marina! We are reading this as part of the Spanish Fiction Bookclub.
Marina is a young adult novel by the author Carlos Ruiz Zafón, who later shot to fame with his novel La sombra del viento (The Shadow of the Wind).
Click the link below to see the Natively page for this novel.
How it works
All the discussion for this book will take place in this thread. We will decide on a reading speed and schedule. Anyone is welcome to grab a copy of the book and read along, either following the schedule or at your own pace. We will share our thoughts on the story, the language, any questions about the text etc.
50 pages a week for 6 weeks should work well for me, provided that the book isn’t crazy difficult. I’m happy to start next week or the week after. I just need to order the book in from my local library.
Got my copy yesterday, so I’m good to start next week or whenever.
Pacing sounds good to me. But knowing myself, I may get distracted and fall off track. Haven’t done one of these book clubs before, but hopefully the social aspect will encourage me to stay on it.
I finished week one pages. Really enjoying this so far. Immediately felt very reminiscent of Shadow of the Wind, with beautiful prose, and Barcelona forming such a charming backdrop to the story.
We are in the western outskirts of Barcelona, not a part I’ve ever visited, although I have like many visited Parc Güell which is a little further north. From a quick google search the school Oscar attends doesn’t seem to be based on a real place (which is a shame as it sounds a fascinating place), but Sarrià and Paseo de la Bonanova are real places.
Story:
I enjoyed the accidental theft of the watch. I cringed as he knocked over the gramaphone and the record scratched. I quite liked that he was able to return the watch without much fuss, and that he didn’t get into trouble, but instead got on with his adventures with Marina (which presumably will lead him into some trouble…)
The greenhouse scene was really creepy. It had build up quite nicely as they found themselves in a fairly deserted area of old decaying mansions and overgrown gardens, following the mysterious cemetery visitor. Encountering all those half finished puppets in the darkness of the creepy greenhouse sounds genuinely frightening! Is there really someone watching them in the darkness? I’m looking forward to finding out what happens next!
Currently up to chapter 3. Haven’t gotten a lot of reading time so far this week, but hopefully I can catch up over the weekend.
I’m missing lots of words, but think I’m getting the gist.
Just before this I had read Principe de la Niebla, also from Zafón. Chapter 1 of Marina immediately reminded me of it - alarming cat, jardín (with a stone figure even), and a pocket watch all show up here and in that book.
