Zorro

Zorro
by Isabel Allende

3 of 5 stars

Allende’s account tells the story of Diego de la Vega, beginning with a brief history of his grandfather, father, and mother and ending at the beginning of the traditional Zorro stories. We’ve all seen the movies and television shows where Zorro is leaping from buildings, sliding down ropes, swinging on flag poles, bullwhipping guns from the bad guys’ hands, and fencing with the best of them; In Zorro, Allende provides the backstory for this freedom fighter extraordinaire that explains how Zorro became the fantastic hero he was. Diego de la Vega spends his childhood in California wrestling and sparring with his best friend and “milk brother,” Bernardo. Diego witnesses the terrible treatment of the California natives by the Spanish colonists. Then he learns the ropes-- literally--while sailing to French-occupied Spain, where he takes fencing lessons from the best swordsman in the world, who also happens to be a member of a secret society that vows to protect the weak. Diego and Bernardo become friends with Gypsies who have a small circus and further hone their acrobatic talents. In Spain, Zorro seizes his first opportunities to put on his mask and protect the oppressed. All said, Zorro is a well-told swashbuckling adventure full interesting of historical tidbits.

For me, Zorro does for the legend of the Fox what Batman Begins does for the legend of the Dark Knight: creates a believable past and explains the skills and tools that each crusader has for fighting crime.

The few things that bugged me: Allende is too present, too visible, as the storyteller in the book--a bit ham-fisted for such an experienced writer. And the Epilogue was purely self-gratifying tripe; I wished I hadn’t read it. If I hadn’t read the Epilogue, who knows, I might have given this book 4 of 5 stars. My recommendation: Read this book in the spare time between your fencing lessons in Barcelona.