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Book Review of Zorro

Zorro
althea avatar reviewed on + 774 more book reviews
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.