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Smiling Shelves

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco [Review]

4/6/2016

4 Comments

 
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This book is a most interesting mix. It is part medieval history, part murder mystery, and part theological debate. William of Baskerville and his young scribe Adso arrive at an abbey in the mountains of Italy. They have two tasks to complete - solve the mystery of a monk who had been murdered (or had he?) the day before their arrival, and mediate a discussion between supporters of the Holy Roman Emperor and supporters of the Avignon Pope. Of course, it doesn't stay that simple for long (as if that were simple) when each progressive day, another monk turns up brutally murdered.

With an increasing number of murders, you would think the theological aspect would get totally swallowed up by the mystery. But that's really not the case. Many pages are devoted to explaining heresies of the day, as well as recording debates between the monks about the nature of God and the devil. These parts of the book can be rather confusing (especially trying to keep track of all the different heretics), but they don't get in the way of the overarching narration. The most annoying thing I found was that the monks kept throwing entire sentences in Latin into their dialogue - with no translation! I understood what was going on anyway, but it got a bit on my nerves by the end.

This was not a short book, but it was a surprisingly fast read. The mystery kept the plot on track, and it was very difficult to put down in the last few chapters. If you get the right edition, there is a postscript from the author at the end explaining some of his thoughts as he wrote this book. In my opinion, here's the best line in the whole book:

"I began writing in March of 1978, prodded by a seminal idea: I felt like poisoning a monk."
I guess the pages of fiction provide the safest way to go about doing that, and it certainly made for an entertaining read!
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Find it on: Goodreads  |  Amazon  |  Better World Books
4 Comments
Alex Baugh link
4/6/2016 09:01:25 am

Nice review of THOTR. This is one of my all-time favorite books. I was so sorry to hear about Eco's passing away a while back. I never liked his other books as much, but I did like reading his papers on postmodernism, including what he wrote about TNOTR at the end of my edition (was it in yours?).

Reply
Julie @ Smiling Shelves link
5/21/2016 11:49:28 am

Thanks. There is a fairly substantial postscript at the end of my edition that has his thoughts about many things. I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. I'm interested to read some of the other things he's written.

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maphead link
4/6/2016 11:18:26 pm

I've owned a copy of this for years and sadly have never touched it. Inspired by your review I now wanna read it.
Thanks!!

Reply
Julie @ Smiling Shelves link
5/21/2016 11:49:57 am

I hope you do finally decide to pick it up. I think you would really enjoy it! :)

Reply



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    My name is Julie, and I own a lot of books. As in, they are stacked on the floor because I've run out of room on the shelves. And those shelves? There are so many books on them that they smile -- not sag; smile. This blog will cover book reviews and all manner of other bookish things.

    You can contact me at julie@smilingshelves.com.

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