The Mark of Zorro by Johnston McCulley; narrated by Bill Homewood | 2016; originally published 1919 | Naxos Audio | Audiobook $ 18.30
The heroic and honorable Zorro, an ace with a gun and a demon with a sword, fights for the poor and oppressed – a far cry from the effete young aristocrat Don Diego, who spends his days reading poetry and dreaming of the beautiful Lolita Pulido. When Lolita’s family faces ruin and accusations of treason, Zorro must step in to save her family and her honor. But who is this masked caballero?
I’m just gonna go ahead and confess that this one ended up on my to-read list because of TV.
Well, that’s an oversimplification. The deeper reason is nostalgia. You see, when I was a kid, I often spent long weekends or sometimes even weeks during the summer staying with my grandparents. My grandmother and I, both night owls, used to stay up late watching classic movies or television shows together. One of those shows in particular has a special place in my heart — Zorro, 1957–1959, starring Guy Williams as the titular character.
I’d wanted to rewatch the series for years, but was never able to find a physical copy of it to borrow or buy (at least, not for an affordable price). I was delighted when it was added to Disney Plus. Subscribing to streaming services is not my favorite thing to do with our money — one has no actual ownership of the product, and my favorites can be and in some cases already have been cancelled or entirely removed at the company’s whim. But I’m delighted to have the chance to rewatch this one and experience an absolute blast of nostalgia while it lasts.
Anyway, all that is to say that it was only a short jump from watching the story of Zorro on TV to adding the source material to my list for Classics Club.
One thing I’ve learned over the course of this whole classic lit experiment is that I have a real soft spot for adventure stories. Action-packed, bloodthirsty and gritty and explosion-y thriller type movies are actually probably my least favorite genre, but to my surprise the more old-fashioned sort of swashbuckling grandfathers of the genre have turned out to be some of my favorite books.
Interestingly, The Mark of Zorro was originally published as a series of magazine stories called The Curse of Capistrano. These stories were first adapted into a silent movie called The Mark of Zorro, then republished as a complete novel by the same title. So I guess my screen-first approach to the story isn’t too far from what many of its original readers probably experienced, too.
I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I don’t have anything particularly thoughtful to say about this one, but… honestly, I don’t think this one calls for a whole lot of thought. It’s just a real good fun romp of a book. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and if you’re up for a classic adventure story I think you probably will, too.
Links:
- Public domain book available at Project Gutenberg
- Audiobook review from AudioFile Magazine
- “The True Tale of Zorro” from the Santa Barbara Historical Museum
Publication information: McCulley, Johnston. The mark of Zorro. London, UK: Naxos Audio, 2016. Audiobook.
Source: Public library, via Hoopla.
Disclaimer: I am not compensated, monetarily or otherwise, for reviews of books or other products.
Leave a Reply