Zorro Author:Isabel Allende, Margaret Sayers Peden (Translator) A swashbuckling adventure story that reveals for the first time how Diego de la Vega became the masked man we all know so well — Born in southern California late in the eighteenth century, he is a child of two worlds. Diego de la Vega's father is an aristocratic Spanish military man turned landowner; his mother, a Shoshone warrior. Diego lear... more »ns from his maternal grandmother, White Owl, the ways of her tribe while receiving from his father lessons in the art of fencing and in cattle branding. It is here, during Diego's childhood, filled with mischief and adventure, that he witnesses the brutal injustices dealt Native Americans by European settlers and first feels the inner conflict of his heritage.
At the age of sixteen, Diego is sent to Barcelona for a European education. In a country chafing under the corruption of Napoleonic rule, Diego follows the example of his celebrated fencing master and joins La Justicia, a secret underground resistance movement devoted to helping the powerless and the poor. With this tumultuous period as a backdrop, Diego falls in love, saves the persecuted, and confronts for the first time a great rival who emerges from the world of privilege.
Between California and Barcelona, the New World and the Old, the persona of Zorro is formed, a great hero is born, and the legend begins. After many adventures -- duels at dawn, fierce battles with pirates at sea, and impossible rescues -- Diego de la Vega, a.k.a. Zorro, returns to America to reclaim the hacienda on which he was raised and to seek justice for all who cannot fight for it themselves.« less
I read this book when it first came out. I read everything I can find by Isabel Allende, she is a master story teller, she is not afraid to throw in a little mystique, and is a great character developer. Her stories are historical and imaginative. I get totally involved in them when reading them...my idea of a really good book. Read it, you'll be glad you did!
Leave it to Allende to take a well-known story like Zorro and make it into a fresh, compelling read. I read this too fast, I was so taken into the story and its details! Hope you enjoy her version of Zorro, extremely well done!
Alende is a fantastic author, always entertaining as well as educating. This is her created legend of the early years and backgrouond of ZORRO. Fascinating to read the days of Early California and of Spain during it's short period under the French.
A great and fun novel.
I loved Allende's version of this well known character. She always makes her stories so rich and full of detail. I had never read the original story of Zorro by Johnston McCulley, but Allende has given me a reason to check it out.
This is a very good read and reveals how Don Diego de la Vega came to become El Zorro. It ends just as all of the other versions of Zorro's story begins. I recommend it to anyone who has ever been interested in the Legend of El Zorro, and/or early California history.
A different kind of book for Allende. I have read most of her books. This is a fun and interesting story with a lot of fascinating background from the Napoleonic era in Spain and the American continent. It is NOT as serious as many of her others. Read it for a relaxing and iconoclastic look at a wild west legend and you will be well rewarded.
I'm not sure what I expected. The beginning and ending was too fast. Especially the ending which seemed to be an afterthought. I did like the middle of the book. It is written well, and if you like the Zorro legend, you may like this book. Otherwise, stick to the movies and Disney series.
Allende's lively retelling of the Zorro legend reads as effortlessly as the hero himself might slice his trademark "Z" on the wall with a flash of his sword. Born Diego de la Vega in 1795 to the valiant hidalgo, Alejandro, and the beautiful Regina, the daughter of a Spanish deserter and an Indian shaman, our hero grows up in California before traveling to Spain. Raised alongside his wet nurse's son, Bernardo, Diego becomes friends for life with his "milk brother," despite the boys' class differences. Though born into privilege, Diego has deep ties to California's exploited nativesboth through blood and friendshipthat account for his abiding sense of justice and identification with the underdog. In Catalonia, these instincts as well as Diego's swordsmanship intrigue Manuel Escalante, a member of the secret society La Justicia. Escalante recruits Diego into the society, which is dedicated to fighting all forms of oppression, and thus begins Diego's construction of his dashing, secret alter ego, Zorro. With loyal Bernardo at his side, Zorro hones his fantastic skills, evolves into a noble hero and returns to California to reclaim his family's estate in a breathtaking duel. All the while, he encounters numerous historical figures, who anchor this incredible tale in a reality that enriches and contextualizes the Zorro myth. Allende's latest page-turner explodes with vivid characterization and high-speed storytelling. (Amazon review)
How Don Diego de la Vega became "El Zorro", the Fox...begins with his father and mother meeting and ends back in Alta California (where the tale began) after adventures in Panama, Cuba, Barcelona, and Grand Island with the "privateer" Jean LaFitte. The narrative is 1st person though the chronicler isn't revealed until the epilogue. This is Zorro's back story, ending where the movies and Disney adventures begin.
