Lost In Translation (The Library of Shadows - Mikkel Birkegaard)

Member Name: reluctantreviews

Product:	The Library of Shadows - Mikkel Birkegaard
Date:	21/07/09 (93 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good Idea

Disadvantages: Overly Complicated. Possibly lost something in the translation

The debut novel from author Mikkel Birkegaard is the intriguingly titled 'The Library of Shadows'. Translated from Birkegaard's native Danish, the book can currently be purchased for £5.49 from Amazon.

The story revolves around 'Jon Campelli', an up and coming lawyer who's estranged father Luca dies in mysterious circumstances. Campelli reluctantly inherits the family bookshop 'Libri di Luca' in Copenhagen, but little does he know that there is more to the second-hand bookshop and the staff who work there than meets the eye.

As the story progresses Jon is drawn into the hidden world of the 'Lectors' - a secret society of people with the power to affect thoughts and feelings whilst reading. Upon discovering their secret, Jon's life is turned upside and he suddenly finds the bookshop and his new found friends to be in mortal danger.

The book started off well, and Luca's rather horrific death made for an exciting first chapter. Unfortunately, the standard of storytelling went downhill from this point onwards. It's one of those book where there are paragraphs which you have to read numerous times in order to understand the information the author is trying to convey. I'm not sure whether this is because something has been lost in translation, or because the book is generally not very well written! A good example of this occurs when one of the characters 'Katherina' is constantly referred to as dyslexic, when 'illiterate' would be the correct term.

I found it difficult to care about what happens to the characters due to the two dimensional manner in which they are written - it's as if the author spent too much time working on the over-complicated plot, and in the process forgot about giving personality to the main characters. The only character that I did like was Mehmet - the Turkish computer whizz who is basically the comic relief to a dull story. That said, Mehmet seems a little crow-barred in to the plot solely to help the characters escape from whatever situation they find themselves in.

I had high hopes for this book, but due to an overcomplicated and predictable plot it ended up being a big let-down - the only reason I finished the book was to find out what happened at the end, rather than the fact that I was enjoying it. On the whole the book doesn't provide the reader with enough information to visualise the abilities of the Lectors - which is ironic considering the story is about people who can enhance your reading experience!

I've heard that The Library of Shadows is being made into a film, and I certainly feel that the story would work better on the big screen.

*This review can also be found on waterstones.com under my real name *

Summary: Would make a good film but makes a pretty rubbish novel.