Zorro Una novela

Review by Booklist Review

Allende, born in Peru and raised in Chile, now resides in California, and out of her abiding interest in Spanish American and California history and culture, she has fashioned her historical fiction (including the companion novels Daughter of Fortune0 , 1999, and Portrait in Sepia0 , 2001). In her latest historical novel, she imaginatively creates, in the words of the narrator, "the origins of the legend"--the legend being none other than Zorro, the famous Robin Hood of eighteenth-century colonial California. The novel's conceit is that the testimony offered here is a bird's-eye view of the provenance of Zorro as recorded by someone who knew him well, but the identity of that person is not revealed until the novel's end. Allende's complete familiarity with setting includes not only the "custom of the country" in Southern California when still in Spanish hands but also the complicated political atmosphere of Spain itself during the Napoleonic era, to which Diego de la Vega is dispatched as a teenager for his formal education. It is in Spain where the physical disguise of Zorro and the social-reform mentality that motivates him first bear adult fruit. (Diego is one-quarter Native American and thus understands the downtrodden.) Allende's mesmerizing narrative voice never loses timbre or flags in either tension or entertainment value. To describe her as a clever novelist is to signify that she is both inventive and intelligent. --Brad Hooper Copyright 2005 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

---

Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

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 natives-both through blood and friendship-that 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. Agent, Gloria Gutierrez at Agencia Literaria Carmen Balcells (Spain). (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

---

Review by Library Journal Review

How little Diego de la Vega, a child of mixed parentage from 18th-century California, becomes the indomitable Zorro. Look for The Legend of Zorro, starring Antonio Banderas, in September 2005. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

---

Review by Kirkus Book Review

A graceful imagining of the saber-wielding, justice-dispensing freedom fighter of yore. Children of the '50s may happily remember Guy Williams's TV portrayal of the legendary Zorro, who carved his signature initial into his enemies' flesh with the point of his sword and kept the entire Spanish army in Alta California busily searching for him. Latter-day Californian Allende (Kingdom of the Golden Dragon, 2004, etc.) provides a backstory that brims with modern concerns: In her hands, Zorro is an ever-so-slightly tormented revolutionary whose sense of justice comes from the accident of his birth. The child of a Spanish officer and a Shoshone Indian woman, Diego de la Vega grows up with a profound knowledge of the injustices wrought by Europeans on California's native peoples. He takes his vulpine identity--zorro is Spanish for "fox"--early on, after a fox delivers him from danger; says his grandmother, helpfully, "That zorro is your totemic animal, your spiritual guide. . . . You must cultivate its skill, its cleverness, its intelligence." He does, reaching adolescence "with no great vices or virtues, except for a disproportionate love of justice, though whether that is a vice or a virtue, I am not sure." A Rousseauian child of nature, de la Vega travels to Spain to acquire a continental education. Becoming radicalized in the bargain, he defies the country's Napoleonic rulers and joins an underground alliance to battle them, then takes the fight back to America. But first de la Vega must endure being shanghaied by pirates, who, neatly enough, haul him before the legendary Über-pirate Jean Lafitte for a parlay. He acquires yet more education in the bayous, then makes for California once more to visit mayhem on corrupt officialdom on behalf of truth, justice and the Spanish way of life. Allende's tale risks but resists descending into melodrama at every turn. The up-to-date, even postmodern ending makes for a nice touch, too, and will gladden the heart of anyone ready in his or her heart to carve a few Zs into the bad guys. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

---

Zorro SPA Una Novela Capítulo Uno Empecemos por el principio, por un evento sin el cual Diego de la Vega no habria nacido. Sucedió en Alta California, en la misión San Gabriel, en el año 1790 de Nuestro Señor. En aquellos tiempos dirigIa la misión ci padre Mendoza, un franciscano con espaidas de leñador, más joven de aspecto que sus cuarenta años bien vividos, enérgico y mandón, para quien lo más dificil de su ministerio era imitar la humildad y duizura de san Francisco de Asís. En California había varios otros religiosos en veintitrés misiones, encargados de propagar la doctrina de Cristo entre varios millares de gentiles de las tribus chumash, shoshone y otras, que no siempre se prestaban de buena gana para recibirla. Los nativos de la costa de California tenían una red de trueque y comercio que habIa funcionado por miles de años. Su ambiente era muy rico en recursos naturales y las tribus desarroilaban diferentes especialidades. Los españoles estaban impresionados con la economía chumash, tan compleja, que la comparaban con la de China. Los indios usaban conchas como moncda y organizaban ferias regularmente, donde además de intercambiar bienes se acordaban los matrimonios. A los indios los confundía el misterio del hombre torturado en una cruz, que los blancos adoraban, y no comprendían la ventaja de pasarlo mal en este mundo para gozar de un hipotético bienestar en otro. En ci paraíso cristiano podrIan instalarse en una nube a tocar ciarpa con los angeles, pero en realidad la mayoría de ellos prefería, después de la muerte, cazar osos con sus antepasados en las tierras del Gran EspIritu. Tampoco entendIan que los extranjcros plantaran una bandera en el suelo, marcaran llneas imaginarias, lo declararan de su propiedad y se ofendieran si alguien entraba persiguiendo a un venado. La idea de poseer la tierra les resultaba tan inverosImil como la de repartirse el mar. Cuando al padre Mendoza le ilegaron las noticias de que varias tribus se habían sublevado, comandadas por un guerrero con cabeza de lobo, elevó sus plegarias por las víctimas, pero no se preocupó demasiado, porque estaha seguro de que San Gabriel se encontraba a salvo. Pertenecer a su misión era un privilegio, así lo demostraban las familias indIgenas, que acudían a solicitar su protección a cambio del bautizo y se quedaban bajo su techo de buen grado; él nunca debió usar militares para reclutar futuros conversos. Atribuyó la reciente insurrección, la primera que ocurría en Alta California, a ios abusos de la soldadesca española y la severidad de sus hermanos misioneros. Las tnbus, repartidas en grupos pequeños, tenIan diversas costumbres y se comunicaban mediante un sistema de senales; nunca se habían puesto de acuerdo para nada, excepto el comercio, y ciertamente nunca para la guerra. Segün él, esas pobres gentes eran inocentes corderos de Dios, que pecaban por ignorancia y no por vicio; debIan existir razones contundentes para que se aizaran contra los colonizadores. Zorro SPA Una Novela . Copyright © by Isabel Allende. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold. Excerpted from Zorro by Isabel Allende All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

---