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Zorro
A Novel
by Isabel Allende

8.5 based on 18 reviews read critic reviews how did we calculate this? based on 6 votes read user comments rate this book

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The bestselling author offers her own take on the legend of the 18th century Californian swashbuckler, who was born Diego de la Vega and later adopted the name and disguise of Zorro which he used to seek justice for the poor and downtrodden.

HarperCollins, 400 pages
05/01/2005
$25.95

ISBN: 0060778970

Fiction
General Literature & Fiction
Historical Fiction

All reviews are classified as one of five grades: Outstanding (4 points), Favorable (3), Mixed (2), Unfavorable (1) and Terrible (0). To calculate the Metascore, we divide total points achieved by the total points possible (i.e., 4 x the number of reviews), with the resulting percentage (multiplied by 100) being the Metascore. Learn more...

Chicago Sun-Times Allen Barra

One of those rare and perfect matches of subject and author.

The Globe And Mail [Toronto] Paul Quarrington

It is hugely enjoyable. It appealed both to the sober-sided book reviewer that I am and the bespectacled, television-viewing lad that I was. I have been missing this kind of thing for 40-odd years; it seems simply not to be around. We have lost our appetite for narratives of frolicking farfetchedness and preposterous implausibility.

Los Angeles Times Yxta Maya Murray

In her hands, Zorro is the alter ego of the Spanish Indian magnifico Diego de la Vega and he emerges as a bundle of disturbing contradictions between light and shade, proportion and passion. It is within these tensions that the character is revealed as a classical hero whose fractured personality is of the kind described by no less than Friedrich Nietzsche, who limned the eternal battle between our Apollonian and Dionysian impulses in "The Birth of Tragedy." [1 May 2005, p.R3]

Library Journal Misha Stone

Allende is a beguiling storyteller, and Zorro provides a rich palate for her customary embellishments. [1 Mar 2005, p.74]

Publishers Weekly

Allende's latest page-turner explodes with vivid characterization and high-speed storytelling.

Boston Globe Ilan Stavans

She (Allende) is now the master of Nuevo Latino fiction, spicing her characters with multicultural ingredients and more than a bit of sex spiced throughout.

The Guardian Ian Sansom

Zorro: The Novel bears the usual scars of creation, but it's also beautiful and disturbing and profound, and anyone who tells you it isn't is clearly immune to whatever part of the normal human being thrills to feats of derring-do.

Washington Post Craig Nova

Frankly I am amazed at how enjoyable a picaresque novel can be, particularly one imbued with swashbuckling, swordplay, honor, hidden desire, unlikely coincidence and a good old-fashioned villain.

TLS: The Times Literary Supplement Anita Sethi

It is the tantalizing glimpses of the unknown world behind the surface of illusions in Zorro that keep the reader captive to the final page.

Booklist Brad Hooper

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. [15 Feb 2005, p.1035]

Kirkus Reviews

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.

The Independent Charles Shaar Murray

This may be an anomaly in the Zorro saga and the Allende oeuvre, but it is a highly entertaining one. As high culture-low-culch throwdowns go, it beats Ang Lee's Hulk.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Zorro is a light and ripe adventure yarn, a female-friendly variation on an already famous figure of boy-driven pop culture.

USA Today Carol Memmott

Allende, who already is celebrated for her gift of storytelling in such best sellers as "Daughter of Fortune," "The House of Spirits" and "Eva Luna," gives Zorro the feel of a folk or fairy tale with her ability to draw readers in, hold their attention and keep the story moving at an exciting pace.

Chicago Tribune Alan Cheuse

Allende's narrator, who turns out to have a special (and vested) interest in Diego/Zorro, allows that she sometimes veers from the facts. Allende seems to have followed this path herself, creating a lively and fascinating version of the Zorro story, with enough verve and swash to keep the reader with her all the way. [8 May 2005, p.C5]

The Guardian Tim Adams

As a character, however, through the uncritical eyes of one of the few women he does not seduce, Zorro fails to develop beyond the two dimensions of his legend.

Daily Telegraph Lucy Daniel

Allende is nothing if not a dogged storyteller. This story is about the creation of myths, of both personality and nation, but she falls short of exploring the nuances, preferring straightforward escapism.

The New York Times Book Review Max Byrd

Allende's narrator isn't the only one to reach the last page with a sigh and a confession: ''I have had my fill of Zorro.''

The average user rating for this book is 8.5 (out of 10) based on 6 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Bibliona gave it a10:
Who is the man called ‘Zorro?’ What drives him to seek justice for the oppressed, and to do so with such flamboyant finesse? Isabelle Allende brings the legendary Zorro to life in a compelling tale full of humor, pathos, and unforgettable characters. Set in late 18th century California, the story opens with an Indian attack on a Franciscan mission. Led by a charismatic warrior disguised as a wolf, they hope to drive out the Spanish and reclaim the hunting grounds of their ancestors. This fateful skirmish brings together Toypurnia, daughter of the shaman White Owl, and Captain Alejandro de la Vega, third son of a family of hidalgos descended from El Cid. Their son, the young man who becomes Zorro, is molded by Native American spiritualism, European secret societies, unrequited love, piracy, and strong family ties. Allende’s Zorro is at once human and mythological; her story both adventure and poetry.

Richard G gave it a3:
This book is a failure and a disappointment, and I am stunned that it received any positive reviews. Allende's novel should be required reading in writing courses everywhere, as an example of the sin of telling and not showing. At first, I thought the author was summarizing, in the beginning, in order to bring the reader into the moments of the characters' lives once "things got interesting." Instead, the whole book reads like a summary. Over and over again it tells us what the characters "would" do over periods of time, rather than relate specific scenes in the here and now and allow the reader to intuit that these events typified the characters' lives. In this manner the author, perhaps with an assist from her very awkward translator, succeeds in keeping her readers at arms' length. Don't tell me that Diego was (or posed as) a hypochondriac; show him being that way! Don't tell me in passing that over a oeriod of time Diego had an affair with Amalia, the beguiling gypsy, who by the way took his virginity and taught him the intricacies of love! For God's sake, show me! I know that at the end (yes, I am a few pages from finishing this frustrating book) it will be revealed that one of the characters, most likely Isabel, has been the narrator, and therefore she could not witness certain things, and might be reticent to discuss certain other things. Balderdash! When it suits the author, she describes things that only Diego could have witnessed. What a great novel this could have been.

Lucie C gave it a9:
Isabel just works her magic again by creating a vivid tale full of spiritual quest and funny adventures. Rocambolesque as we say in France. Zorro's always been a favorite character of mine but the way she approaches the story took me by surprise and made his childhood and adulthood so much richer... Please Ms. Allende just keep on going!

Liana C gave it a9:
Surprisingly, I loved this novel. It ended up being a real page turner for me. Allende does it again, she has figured out a way of making the reader part of the story.

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