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Book Reviews of Zorro

Zorro
ISBN-13: 9780007201976
ISBN-10: 0007201974
Publication Date: 2005
Pages: 390
Rating:
  • Currently 4.5/5 Stars.
 5

4.5 stars, based on 5 ratings
Publisher: Fourth Estate
Book Type: Paperback
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

33 Book Reviews submitted by our Members...sorted by voted most helpful

MOMSBOOKS avatar reviewed Zorro on + 64 more book reviews
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!
reviewed Zorro on + 41 more book reviews
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!
reviewed Zorro on
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.
knittymama avatar reviewed Zorro on + 424 more book reviews
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.
reviewed Zorro on + 10 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
Very well written, very detailed childhood, a little romance, great characters and plot, worth the read!!
CozyLover avatar reviewed Zorro on + 335 more book reviews
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.
VivaLaVole avatar reviewed Zorro on + 119 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
Isabel Allende never disappoints ... beautifully written, a joy to read, unforgettable characters ... highly recommended!
reviewed Zorro on
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.
althea avatar reviewed Zorro 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.
reviewed Zorro on + 21 more book reviews
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)
reviewed Zorro on + 2 more book reviews
Another great Allende book. I enjoyed this new take on Zorro that explores his family history and childhood.
batgirl avatar reviewed Zorro on + 284 more book reviews
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.
reviewed Zorro on + 83 more book reviews
Very easy to read and quite enjoyable! Some new thoughts on how Zorro became Zorro!
reviewed Zorro on + 18 more book reviews
WONDERFUL book - could not put it down!!
reviewed Zorro on + 33 more book reviews
A wonderful adventure, it keeps you enthralled and laughing.
glbirch avatar reviewed Zorro on + 205 more book reviews
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.
lifelongbookworm avatar reviewed Zorro on + 7 more book reviews
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.
dougvieques avatar reviewed Zorro on + 6 more book reviews
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.
reviewed Zorro on + 42 more book reviews
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.
Janet13 avatar reviewed Zorro on + 20 more book reviews
great characters, twisting plot. I love everything Allende writes.
reviewed Zorro on
A wonderful story, full of intrigue, background information, oh and pirates :). Truly a must read
reviewed Zorro on + 130 more book reviews
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.
reviewed Zorro on + 11 more book reviews
As fantastic as all Allende is!
reviewed Zorro on + 34 more book reviews
Very good book!
perryfran avatar reviewed Zorro on + 1164 more book reviews
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.
reviewed Zorro on + 59 more book reviews
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.
buzzby avatar reviewed Zorro on + 6062 more book reviews
As far as I can tell, Zorro's (fictional) place of birth in 1795 is in or around what would later be called Hollywood.
reviewed Zorro on + 9 more book reviews
An incredible story, one of my favorite authors.
yolen avatar reviewed Zorro on + 92 more book reviews
This was a lot of fun to read!
NFP avatar reviewed Zorro on + 13 more book reviews
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.
reviewed Zorro on + 117 more book reviews
Great read
moonstar avatar reviewed Zorro on
Book was read once and is in very good condition. Dustjacket has a little wear.
reviewed Zorro on + 5 more book reviews
didn't read