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Daniel Sempere
The kind and humble owner of a secondhand bookshop, Mr. Sempere is Daniel’s father. While the novel’s fathers are often dogmatic and controlling, using their children to fulfill their own ends, Mr. Sempere is unusually loving and understanding, and he and Daniel have a close relationship. Still, Daniel sometimes finds it hard to relate to his father, who has never completely recovered from his wife’s death and prefers to live among his memories than in the present. Mr. Sempere contrasts with Daniel’s other figures, like Fermín, Barceló, and Carax, who seem like more worldly and powerful men; Daniel also keeps his investigations secret from his father as long as possible, which makes them distant from each other. However, at the end of the novel they reconcile, and Daniel follows in his father’s footsteps as a bookseller. Daniel’s ultimate resemblance to his father, and his decision to bring his son to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books just as his father once brought him, is a vindication of Mr. Sempere as a man and a father.
Mr. Sempere Quotes in The Shadow of the Wind
The The Shadow of the Wind quotes below are all either spoken by Mr. Sempere or refer to Mr. Sempere. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
The Cemetery of Forgotten Books
Quotes
Every book, every volume you see here, has a soul. The soul of the person who wrote it and of those who read it and lived and dreamed with it. Every time a book changes hands, every time someone runs his eyes down the pages, its spirit grows and strengthens.
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Days of Ashes: Chapter 5
Quotes
Going over all this in my mind, it occurred to me that perhaps the papier-mâché world that I accepted as real was only a stage setting.
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City of Shadows: Chapter 33
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I looked at that man whom I had once imagined almost invincible; he now seemed fragile, defeated without knowing it. Perhaps we were both defeated.
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Mr. Sempere Quotes in The Shadow of the Wind
The The Shadow of the Wind quotes below are all either spoken by Mr. Sempere or refer to Mr. Sempere. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
The Cemetery of Forgotten Books
Quotes
Every book, every volume you see here, has a soul. The soul of the person who wrote it and of those who read it and lived and dreamed with it. Every time a book changes hands, every time someone runs his eyes down the pages, its spirit grows and strengthens.
Related Characters:
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Days of Ashes: Chapter 5
Quotes
Going over all this in my mind, it occurred to me that perhaps the papier-mâché world that I accepted as real was only a stage setting.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
City of Shadows: Chapter 33
Quotes
I looked at that man whom I had once imagined almost invincible; he now seemed fragile, defeated without knowing it. Perhaps we were both defeated.
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