Zorro Review

This is a tough review to write. Why? Because this was the first book I've read this year that I was disappointed with.
Zorro is written by Isabel Allende, who is apparently a successful writer from Latin America. But frankly, I just don't think this was all that good. I expected more of a swashbuckling, action-packed story. Instead, the story focuses a lot on Diego de la Vega, whose alter-ego is Zorro, growing up in California and Spain. Zorro doesn't make his first appearance until something like halfway through the book. In addition to focusing the early parts of the book on young Diego's rearing in California, the bulk of the rest of the book focuses on Diego pining for Juliana, a young girl he meets when studying in Spain. That portion of the book was tedious and overly sappy, and somewhat pointless in the grand scheme of the plot. Even the plot, which built up to a confrontation that was totally predictable, was skimpy, and difficult to follow. There were long periods of the book describing things that happened that I really just didn't care about.
Maybe it was the translation, or maybe Zorro as a subject wasn't a good fit for Isabel Allende, but I just couldn't see where all the praise for her writing comes from. It certainly didn't come from this novel, I'm sorry to say.
Next up, A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby. Lisa finished reading it last night just before I finished Zorro, so I will include her bonus mini-review whenever I get done with it.