A Legendary Book for a Legendary Hero

books:


	• Zorro: A Novel Isabel Allende, 2005 - 400 pages average customer review:based on 125 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A Legendary Book for a Legendary Hero

Zorro, the famed hero who helped save the oppressed Indians from the Tyranny in Alta California in the mid-1880s, had to have some beginning. This book is pleasantly interesting building up to the story told by Johnston McCulley in The Mask of Zorro. Allende spins a wonderful story of the history of how Zorro came to take his legendary station. She managed to make this book both interesting and enjoyable even though she was merely writting the history of a pre-existing story.

The book is broken up into time periods and the locations of Diego's life. The first part tells about when his parents met, his birth, his early childhood, traveling to Barcelona, his return back to Alta California, and his first rescue as Zorro in California. The entire book culminates in the first appearance of Zorro in California and his first rescue mission.

The characters are endearing from the mute Bernardo to the confident women Isabel. Along with the original characters like Sergeant Garcia, Bernardo, and Diego de la Vega himself, the reader met new characters like Pelayo and Amalia, who are gypsies Diego befriends. Filled with action and adventure, I could hardly put the book down.

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Overall, worthy of a solid "Z"

I was prepared to hate this novel. I'd read that there was a lot of multi-culti nonsense (regrettably, there is some) and that it had its share of problems (which it does). I was expecting something along the lines of Robin McKinley's egregious _The Outlaws of Sherwood_, wherein a Xena-like Marian (no "maid" here) is the brains of the band of otherwise brainless Merry Men.

So, I'll get the "cons" out of the way before the many "pros":

1) Yes, this novel has Zorro going nowhere without the brave, saintly, do-no-wrong shaman Indian grandmother(!) and her loyal persecuted, do-no-wrong tribe. Only Zorro's mother, Toypurnia, is given a couple of negative character traits, but they are few, and she is, as modern fiction dictates, a SUPERSTRONG VIRTUALLY UNSTOPPABLE MORALLY-SUPERIOR WARRIOR-WOMAN! Phew!(Cue trumpets.)

2) Of course, Zorro is a defender of the oppressed, but this novel manages to find every oppressed victim class across the globe and shoehorns them into the narrative. EVIL EUROPEAN WHITE MALES. BAD. BAD!

3) Allende trots out the old, tired and untrue myths of the Spanish Inquisition. Most people don't know that the Inquisition was the Church's attempt to limit as much as possible the state's real abuse of the charge of "heresy" (which in Spain's case, mostly meant, "we don't like your politics"). The Church got more people off the hook than on the stake.

4) Zorro is a wannabe womanizer, said to seduce wives, widows, and anything with two X chromosomes. I thought that was Don Juan de Marco, not Don Diego de la Vega . I'm okay with Zorro being imperfect, but not a sterotypical Latin-lover/lothario.

Okay, okay, what's GOOD about the novel? Fortunately, a LOT.

1) The story is exquisitely written (not even a translation can hurt it) and well-paced. Descriptions of places are crystal clear. Motivations are strongly tethered to plot development. Many characters (though not all) defy an easy good/bad label.

2) Like the clever prologue to "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade," here we learn how our hero learned his tricks of the trade, where he got his trademark outfit and weapons, and what motivates him. This was fascinating. In spite of myself, I loved the moment where Diego discovers his totemic symbol for his life and mission.

3) Diego's relationship with his best friend and mute "milk brother," Bernardo, is moving, thrilling and given the fantastic elements of the plot, realistic.

4) The book ends with a bang. All the "Zorro" elements that Allende weaves throughout the book come together as a classic hero begins his crusade (yes, I'm using that word) on his home turf.

5) Best of all, this novel lays the groundwork for more Zorro novels! Though I've yet to read the original stories by Johnston McCulley (and I would like to), I'm eager to see what happens next to *this* incarnation of Zorro.

So all in all, if you enjoy the character of Zorro, or you wouldn't know a "Z" from a "Y," you'll probably enjoy this one.

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Esperaba mucho mas

Había una buena historia detras del Zorro, y el libro pudo haber sido una buena novela de viajes también (con descripciones impresionantes de los distintos escenarios). Sin embargo, termino pareciendome aburrida. Tuve que soltarlo en varias ocasiones porque a mi entender carecia de accion, de una trama interesante. Pense iba a encontrarme con un novelon, de esos que no te dejan despegarte del libro. No obstante, no podia esperar a que se terminara para poder soltarlo de una vez y leer otra cosa.

Tampoco me impresiono el desarrollo de los personajes. La pasion que le ofrece a sus relatos Isabel Allende, uno de sus caracteristicas principales, esta ausente en esta novela. Al final hubo un poco mas de grandeza, pero ya era demasiado tarde.

Es decir, que el libro me resulto tan negro como el uniforme mismo del Zorro.

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reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, page 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18

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