Helpful Score: 6
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!
Helpful Score: 5
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!
Helpful Score: 4
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.
A great and fun novel.
Helpful Score: 4
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.
Helpful Score: 2
Very well written, very detailed childhood, a little romance, great characters and plot, worth the read!!
Helpful Score: 2
I had a hard time getting into this one. The first section dragged along, seeming to go no where and without emotion or clear direction. This wasn't an easy read or a comfortable one either. I never felt captivated by the story or even caring what happened to the characters in it. I think whoever transltated this novel fron its original language did not do it justice as Allende's books are usually quite moving, captivating and emotionally charged.
Helpful Score: 2
Isabel Allende never disappoints ... beautifully written, a joy to read, unforgettable characters ... highly recommended!
Helpful Score: 1
This swashbuckling romance would be an airplane novel (ie pulp fit for passing time while you travel), but Allende's a great writer who cares about details and makes her characters believable - turning her work into literature instead.
Helpful Score: 1
In this novel, Allende does a pretty good job of achieving the balance between making the mythical Mexican hero Zorro a plausible historical character, and portraying the romance and swashbuckling flair of the legends.
Although there are frequent educational (and 'op-ed') paragraphs where the reader learns about the history and culture of the time (19th century Spain and Mexico), there are also plenty of romantic and dramatic episodes involving Gypsies, pirates, dueling, and more.
I had a bit of trouble with the implication that Native Americans are all innately telepathic and some readers may be disappointed that this novel is basically an origins story it tells the tale of how a boy grew up to become Zorro, and focuses heavily on the trials of his love life. So it doesnt have too many of the episodes of fighting injustice that he, we are told by the narrator, later became famous for.
Still, overall, a very enjoyable book.
Although there are frequent educational (and 'op-ed') paragraphs where the reader learns about the history and culture of the time (19th century Spain and Mexico), there are also plenty of romantic and dramatic episodes involving Gypsies, pirates, dueling, and more.
I had a bit of trouble with the implication that Native Americans are all innately telepathic and some readers may be disappointed that this novel is basically an origins story it tells the tale of how a boy grew up to become Zorro, and focuses heavily on the trials of his love life. So it doesnt have too many of the episodes of fighting injustice that he, we are told by the narrator, later became famous for.
Still, overall, a very enjoyable book.
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)
Another great Allende book. I enjoyed this new take on Zorro that explores his family history and childhood.
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.
Very easy to read and quite enjoyable! Some new thoughts on how Zorro became Zorro!
WONDERFUL book - could not put it down!!
A wonderful adventure, it keeps you enthralled and laughing.
Very enjoyable read! If you are a Zorro fan at all or an Allende fan, you will like this! I appreciated her creativity in inventing Zorro's backstory.
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.
great characters, twisting plot. I love everything Allende writes.
A wonderful story, full of intrigue, background information, oh and pirates :). Truly a must read
A child of two worlds -- the son of an aristocratic Spanish military man turned landowner and a Shoshone warrior woman -- young Diego de la Vega cannot silently bear the brutal injustices visited upon the helpless in late-eighteenth-century California. And so a great hero is born -- skilled in athleticism and dazzling swordplay, his persona formed between the Old World and the New -- the legend known as Zorro.
As fantastic as all Allende is!
I really enjoyed this one! Allende tells the story of Diego de la Vega who becomes Zorro from his childhood growing up in a hacienda in Southern California, to his 5 years in Spain where he learned his skills and first took on the role of Zorro, to his return to California where he is able to usurp his rival from Spain and free his father from prison. This Zorro is in many ways very familiar but in others different. He is very similar to the Zorro of the Disney program from the 50s which included some of the same characters such as Sergeant Garcia, the mute Bernardo, his horse Tornado, and even the secret passageway that connects the hacienda to a secret cave. But this novel is mainly about how Zorro came to be with a half-native-American mother, and growing up with Bernardo who is also native American and considered to be Zorro's milk-brother (they were both born at the same time and nursed by the same mother). On the way back from Spain, he also encounters the pirate, Jean Lafitte who ends up marrying the girl he is in love with. Overall, a very engaging novel by Allende. I have read a couple of her other novels and enjoyed them as well. I also have a copy of the original Mark of Zorro by Johnston McCulley that I plan on reading soon to compare with this novel.
Book page edges has some sort of discoloration on long side, edge only, about 1/3 of page. There are a couple of liquid spots inside book cover. No other imperfections near as I can tell.
Book itself moves reasonably well; a quick read if you are in a waiting room.
I'm not sure I like Bernardo being an indian, Diego/Zorro being 1/4 indian, or that Diego's character is described as it is in this book. But maybe it's more realistic--what do I know.
Book itself moves reasonably well; a quick read if you are in a waiting room.
I'm not sure I like Bernardo being an indian, Diego/Zorro being 1/4 indian, or that Diego's character is described as it is in this book. But maybe it's more realistic--what do I know.
As far as I can tell, Zorro's (fictional) place of birth in 1795 is in or around what would later be called Hollywood.
An incredible story, one of my favorite authors.
This was a lot of fun to read!
I enjoyed this backstory of how Zorro came to be. I was surprised that a lot of it took place in Spain. We are reading it for my book club.
Book was read once and is in very good condition. Dustjacket has a little wear.
