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3.97 AVERAGE
3.97 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Sometimes, you pick up a book at exactly the wrong time. Other times, your expectations are set way too high, or you come into a story expecting the wrong things. And sometimes, a book you thought you would love just really doesn’t work for you.
When it comes to my experience with The Name of the Rose, all of the above are true.
I should have loved this. On paper, a lyrical, erudite historical mystery that takes place within a monastery and delves into the intrigue surrounding a labyrinthine library sounds like so many of my favorite things that a single book shouldn’t be able to house them all. I love stories where religion is a focal point, where a library is not only a setting but almost a character in its own right. I also love Sherlockian characters, and Brother William is the definition of a proto-Holmes when it comes to his brilliant mind and styles of observation and deduction. He even comes with his very own Watson in the form of our narrator, Adso, a young monk who serves as Willliam’s apprentice. The string of mysterious deaths plaguing the monks who call this monastery home were also interesting.
So, why didn’t I love this book? Why did it not only fall flat, but inspire active dislike in me as I read it? Here’s where unpopular opinions are going to come into play. I know this is a beloved novel. So beloved, in fact, that I never doubted that I would love it. Instead, I found it to be tedious, bloated, dark, and packed with so much depressing discourse on the church politics and disturbing credos of the time that the mystery had no room to breathe. By the time I waded through all of the political maneuverings and witch-hunts and hatred to actually reach the heart of the library and the mysteries it housed, I no longer cared. I was just ready for it to be over.
The only redeeming quality of the book for me was William. I enjoyed him as a character, and I really respected his brilliant mind. He made some profound observations on many topics throughout the novel, from his critique of relics to his lovely views on books and libraries. He often seemed like the only sane person within the monastery walls.
I am so disappointed that I didn’t connect with this book. It’s a novel that I’ve looked forward to reading for years, one about which I had heard nothing but wonderful things. Alas, not every book can work for every reader, no matter how much praise it garners. And The Name of the Rose just didn’t work for me.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
challenging
dark
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Always wanted to read this, finally dug in and finished…
A darkly humorous and intellectual piece of historical narrative mingled with a multiple murder mystery that must have been at least a mild source of inspiration for CJ Sansom’s Matthew Shardlake novels.
I watched the film ages ago, and it was a poignant on-screen rendition, but as usual, the word on the page brings so many additional layers of unuttered nuance to the narrative.
This plot of intricate deceptions threads terror through a crumbling establishment, the sense of distrust growing among once bonded members, their faltering faith teetering on the brink of extinction while bodies drop daily at the hand of an unknown killer. Amid his astute observations and the detective work he employs to find the murderer, Brother William philosophises like an ancient Greek, theologises like a verbose Rabbi, and decodes symbols like Indiana Jones.
There’s a bit of action in here reminiscent of Indiana, too, if he’d been a Franciscan monk from the fourteenth century.
I can see why this became an instant classic in its time and now, these forty+ years on, has become a timeless piece of literature.
adventurous
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
It's very close to a 5star, but i can't forget the few pages i have skipped in this book that were filled with blabbering. The book is really...Interesting...I recommend everyone to try it out and leave it if it's not for you. Before i started, i didn't know it was for me either!
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
The Name of the Rose is less a mystery novel or work of historical fiction than it is a treatise on metaphysics and semiotic theory. Surprisingly, this isn't as dull as one would assume. I loved this book, but now feel content to spend the next month reading trashy romance novels. And also, if you decide to attempt The Name of the Rose, I'd advise finding a website that has translations for the book, since there is a lot of untranslated Latin sitting around.
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Glad I read it! Liked the movie too. 1200 AD Italy, fighting between orders and popes and kings.
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
The idea of a murder mystery set in a 14th century remote Italian monastery sounds intriguing as a concept. But as a 500+ page novel, so many difficulties must be overcome: a homogenous cast of characters; each boringly devout and celibate and male, anachronistic motivations and investigations of characters playing the part of crime-solvers hundreds of years before the time we begin to associate with them, and an overly pious and simple social hierarchy and setting. And yet The Name of the Rose manages to be quite convincing as a book following from its premise. Beneath the nondescript monastic habits there are a plethora of unique characters, distinct roles within the abbey and motives. Within the worship of Christ exists every manner of fractures, conflicts and competing orders, calls of heresy and blasphemy. Pursuing a murderer are our main characters Adso of Melk and his master: William of Baskerville. Their obvious parallels as proto Watson and Holmes figures are cute but never jarring as their perspectives are justified in a pantheistic outlook on life and faith. For most the book will shock the reader in how much variety exists in such a devout subject and place. A reader will be lulled and perhaps bored by the frequent prayers, latin hymns of monastic life just as quickly as reawakened by musings about great geopolitical machinations, poisons, inexplicable deaths and at the centre: an ancient, mysterious library.
That being said, the book's best component is not retrofitting a fairly modern genre in far older trappings but rather the rich accompanying background, provocative questions about nature and faith, and the constant tension of heresy: be it debates about humour, bloody histories of inquisitions, appreciation of art, pursuit of knowledge, natural philosophy or deep schisms about poverty and property. This feels like a maximalist novel enclosed in the very narrow walls of a monastery - each page of the book is used expansively, evoking so many overlapping symbols, epistemological paranoias, intertextual references, and historical contexts in the midst of a murder mystery that one will quickly lose track as to what is cogent to the murder. Some, I think, will find this annoying and over-written (certainly there is a scene describing the mural of an archway in the beginning of the book that feels deeply pretentious) but it grew on me and is key to really enjoying the novel, which has much more to offer than an Agatha Christie novel in 14th century Catholic garb. While mechanically it should be familiar and satisfying to those whodunnit novels, the subtext and atmosphere and peripheral subplots really elevate the book to something special.
That being said, the book's best component is not retrofitting a fairly modern genre in far older trappings but rather the rich accompanying background, provocative questions about nature and faith, and the constant tension of heresy: be it debates about humour, bloody histories of inquisitions, appreciation of art, pursuit of knowledge, natural philosophy or deep schisms about poverty and property. This feels like a maximalist novel enclosed in the very narrow walls of a monastery - each page of the book is used expansively, evoking so many overlapping symbols, epistemological paranoias, intertextual references, and historical contexts in the midst of a murder mystery that one will quickly lose track as to what is cogent to the murder. Some, I think, will find this annoying and over-written (certainly there is a scene describing the mural of an archway in the beginning of the book that feels deeply pretentious) but it grew on me and is key to really enjoying the novel, which has much more to offer than an Agatha Christie novel in 14th century Catholic garb. While mechanically it should be familiar and satisfying to those whodunnit novels, the subtext and atmosphere and peripheral subplots really elevate the book to something special.
content notes: historic homophobia; sexual assault/coercion; religious intolerance