Zorro: A Novel (P.S.)
by Isabel Allende
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Book Summary Information
Author: Isabel AllendeEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2006-04-25
ISBN: 0060779004
Number of pages: 416
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Book Reviews of Zorro: A Novel (P.S.)
Book Review: A Big Letdown
Summary: 3 Stars
I love good adventure tales but this one was just pedestrian. Someone else here wrote that the author engages in too much telling and not enough showing. I think that is a fair, albeit unfortunate, assessment. The story is slow and plodding and the character of Diego de la Vega is rather tiresome. We follow the boy Diego and his 'foster' brother Bernardo (they shared the same wet nurse, Bernardo's mother) as they grow up in old Spanish California, endure hardships and are sent packing to Barcelona, Spain where the precocious young Diego is to complete his education.
En route, Diego and Bernardo perfect their acrobatic skills on their ship's rigging (having previously learned the secrets of the local Indian tribe from which they hailed -- Diego being one quarter Indian through his warrior Indian mother and Bernardo being full Indian). On board ship, our ever receptive young Diego learns magic tricks from an Italian seaman and perfects his skill with cards. In Barcelona they fall in with gypsies, of course, and learn even more skills. Meanwhile, Diego, besides getting an education suitable for a young scion of the Spanish nobility (and sharing all he learns with Bernardo of course) manages to become the prize student of the fencing maestro of the age, one Manuel Escalante who, it turns out, is also a member of a secret society dedicated to righting wrongs and helping the suffering into which our young Diego is promptly inducted!
In all of this, Diego continues to enjoy playacting and, especially, dressing up in a black costume, complete with mask, to scare or just amaze those around him. He first does it in public while performing in a gypsy circus. In fact, it's all a bit much and by the time Diego is forced to flee Barcelona (after the denunciation and execution of his host to the restored Spanish throne by way of the Inquisition) with two beautiful young damsels and their duena in tow, I had pretty much had it.
None of the characters are well drawn, the adventures are sparse and predictable, the narrative tension barely identifiable. Had it not been for the solid research and the craftsmanship of the prose (though I didn't much care for the self-conscious voice adopted by the author), I'd have been hard pressed to rate this one above two stars.
As it happens, though, it had enough to redeem it to warrant three, at least as I see it in my current state of mind. But I was sorely disappointed with the lack of excitement, vividness, characterization and dramatic tension. Perhaps this will please fans of Ms. Allende. I doubt it will please adventure lovers more generally and am surprised that aficionados of Zorro seem to find it satisfying as some reviews here have indicated.
SWM
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