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Post by schlager7 on May 22, 2005 9:15:28 GMT -6
I am usually a purist on such matters. ONLY Dumas can write about D'Artagnan, only Sabatini can write about Scaramouche, etc..
BUT, about a week ago I heard a very good review by a contributor to All Things Considered on a new novel about [shadow=red,left,300]Zorro[/shadow]
I have not yet picked up a copy myself, but it is presumably in the book stores now. The author is Elizabeth Allende (hope I got the spelling right.)
I want to recall that this was written in Spanish with a separate translator credit, but can not be certain.
In the novel we get the youth of Don Diego de la Vega and some of his covert activities in Spain during the Napoleonic period.
Has anyone else picked this up or recall the review?
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Post by fox on Jul 8, 2005 16:13:32 GMT -6
Needless to say, THIS I have to get!
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Post by fox on Jul 25, 2005 12:20:33 GMT -6
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly 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.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Bookmarks Magazine The fictional Zorro debuted in Johnston McCulley’s serialized potboiler in 1919; since then, he’s made some dramatic comebacks. By recasting this swashbuckling hero in the context of his personal history, Allende follows in the path of her recent historical fiction like Daughter of Fortune (1999) and Portrait in Sepia (2001). Critics agree that while Zorro is light and entertaining, it is also a serious piece of literature—even if some reviewers were confounded by Allende’s mix of history and reality. Allende inserts a postmodern bent into her traditional storytelling, drawing feminist and racial themes and presenting a narrator with a hidden identity. Critics mainly disagreed about Zorro. Most thought him convincingly contradictory, while a couple viewed him as one-dimensional. Despite these complaints, most agree that Zorro is a captivating, modern version of the famed legend.
Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.
From Booklist 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 Fortune, 1999, and Portrait in Sepia, 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 © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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Post by schlager7 on Aug 29, 2005 8:31:29 GMT -6
My lovely wife just got me a copy for my birthday. Now that Fete de Lune is over I'm diving in!
I couldn't help noticing that, in the inside of the cover is a map showing the world from California to Spain and, while it doesn't normally rate a legend on a map of this scale, Barataria Bay in Louisiana (home of the Lafitte brothers!) in noted.
I already know some aspect of the Penninsular War will play a part.
Zorro, Napoleon and pirates!
This could be fun.
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Post by Aldo N on Sept 18, 2005 20:33:27 GMT -6
I recently finished Ms. Allende's novel. While it certainly IS light reading, I found it very well written and a good read.
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