The final chapter: Zorro

Of all the books we read this semester, Zorro was the one I liked least. The book was commissioned, which didn't help the style of the prose. It was an easy read and would be appropriate for children. It would be interesting to read this book in Spanish, the language in which it was written. Maybe some of the problems stem from bad translation.

The plot was imaginative, that I will concede, but the style and characterization were poor enough to make up for it. I still have a really hard time believing that the narrator was really Isabel. Her style and personality are dramatically different from Isabel's characterization. I know that Allende set out to make the narrator's identity a surprise, but it was obvious to me about halfway through the book that she would probably try to use Isabel for narration, and this non-surprise was not a pleasant one. I can see how it would be a good idea to make the narrator an actual character and Isabel was the natural choice. However, Allende's execution needs a lot of work.

I also didn't like the scenes where the narrator talked about running out of ink, etc. That was a very childish way of saying "hi, yes, there's a narrator and it's me. I bet you can't guess who I am," and it distracted from the rest of the story. Allende also frequently forgot to mention important details and then threw them in when she needed them. For example, it bothered me a lot when she made a big deal about Julianna's first kiss twice, once with Rafael and once with the pirate. A girl can only get her first kiss once, and if you're going to make a big deal of it, you should remember when it was. Botching of details like this gives the impression that Allende never planned out her story and just kind of said what she felt like as she went along. It also makes the story seem less real and distracts from any meaning the reader might have been able to squeeze from the narrative.

Finally, I really enjoyed the reading group this semester. I actually liked it a lot better than colloquium, because it had a focus and we all had a common mindset from the start. I especially enjoyed the Vonnegut short stories in Welcome to the Monkey House and Rushdie's Satanic Verses.

Hope everyone has a nice break, see you next semester!