I gotta say, Isabel Allende's Zorro was my darling of the reading group's books. I have a kink for magical realism that Satanc Verses should've covered, but Zorro was both more easily accessible and higher swashbuckling adventure content. (Not to mention I spent many a Sunday morning watching the Warner Bros. cartoon that I don't think anyone else remembers. See right.) But onto actual content.
I especially appreciated that Zorro possesses both mestizo and white Spanish blood. It really hammers in the thematic conventions of magical realism, which celebrates the meeting of two worlds. Magic and the rational, tangible world come together at one obvious conjunction, and it parallels he coexistence of the mestizo and white cultures. Diego de la Vega does a lot of his own work, but he still has some magic in him. It emphasizes his role as a mediator between the two worlds, and his thirst for justice and fairness on both sides makes more sense. Kerry made a comparison to Batman; they're both men born into opulence who play wishy washy personas to counter their superhero egos. Both are stories of vigilante justice, but Batman's motivations stem more from "MY PARENTS ARE DEAD" while Zorro's are a result of culture clash, which I find a mite more interesting. (Though I do love Batman. Especially Little Batman.)
To summarize the semester, I really enjoyed the reading selections, especially the latter two since I doubt I'd encounter them in any English class or other honors colloquium. The dynamic pairing with cooking was a bonus, and especially in my personal discovery of chocolate and chili. So good! The sheer amount of material to read was a little daunting in some spots, (lookin' at you, Rushdie), but with books like Zorro, it was easy to blow through them in a couple of reading binges while putting off all my other work. I hope I see something similar in next semester's reading group offerings!
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