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3.97 AVERAGE
3.97 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Too difficult for rn let me finish Foucault’s Pendulum and holla right back lmao
I'm going to have to go with 5 stars on this one - it was a challenging read, but you have to respect the craft when it's executed on this level.
Despite how long-winded and self-indulgent the prose is, it's a masterclass in philosophical writing and exploring a theme meaningfully. Definitely a book that's worth spending time with, though for my own preferences I would have wanted something a bit more accessible / reader-friendly.
Despite how long-winded and self-indulgent the prose is, it's a masterclass in philosophical writing and exploring a theme meaningfully. Definitely a book that's worth spending time with, though for my own preferences I would have wanted something a bit more accessible / reader-friendly.
the last 400 pages make the first 100 so worth it. inscrutable little bitch of a book. 10/10
This was not my favorite Eco (that is probably Foucault's Pendulum). There were parts of it that I quite liked. There were parts of it I found ponderous. Sometimes it felt like Eco was trying too hard, even for Eco. I'm glad I read it, and it has certainly given me tools to think with.
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
I simply do not understand enough about religion for this to click.
Huh. I *thought* I'd been spoiled for the ending, but the spoiler was wrong, so I guess that was a nice surprise. I'm giving this a totally arbitrary three stars to split the difference between what I enjoyed and what really annoyed me. Some parts of this are really beautifully written. The tirades that go on (and on) for pages without stopping are incredibly annoying. I find it fairly hard to believe that a library placed above a kitchen in constant use had never caught fire and totally lacked any anti-fire procedure. Kitchens caught fire frequently -- that's why they were often located in separate, expendable buildings!
This is mostly a book about mid-level people being unable to do anything to uphold the moral right, to save the innocent, or to prevent disaster. It reads like it wants to be a great tragedy, but the heart of the story is love for the library, only the characters who love it either die horribly or are evil, which destroys the story's heart and nulls my sympathy for them. If the library is Hamlet, then there has to be a Horatio at the end to tell of his lost love and make people weep. But there's no Horatio here. Adso is too young and naive and only loves William, not the library, so nothing in the epilogue makes me care about how things resolved. Frustrating.
glbt interest tag: academic use! for atrocious behavior, including dubious consent and homicidal jealousy, where absolutely no queer-bashing was required by the narrative. Granted, the narrator seems not to care one way or the other, but it's a typical case of villainizing queer characters and feels like a cheap shot.
This is mostly a book about mid-level people being unable to do anything to uphold the moral right, to save the innocent, or to prevent disaster. It reads like it wants to be a great tragedy, but the heart of the story is love for the library, only the characters who love it either die horribly or are evil, which destroys the story's heart and nulls my sympathy for them. If the library is Hamlet, then there has to be a Horatio at the end to tell of his lost love and make people weep. But there's no Horatio here. Adso is too young and naive and only loves William, not the library, so nothing in the epilogue makes me care about how things resolved. Frustrating.
glbt interest tag: academic use! for atrocious behavior, including dubious consent and homicidal jealousy, where absolutely no queer-bashing was required by the narrative. Granted, the narrator seems not to care one way or the other, but it's a typical case of villainizing queer characters and feels like a cheap shot.
I've read a few books recently, where the first 75% of the book is both very slow and very confusing, but in the last 25%, the pace exponentially increases and everything is made clear (looking at you, Terra Ignota series). And so, even though it's a slog to get through the first 75%, the last 25% makes it worth it.
It was in this hope that I continued to read this book, but unfortunately, this book turned out to be not worth it. While the plot line around the murders were interesting, that story was interspersed with very long speeches about the finer points of theology and Christianity (did Jesus Christ laugh? If no, does that mean humans shouldn't laugh?), which were, for lack of a better word, boring. I found myself unable to follow the lines of reasoning that were proffered by the speakers of these very long monologues, especially as these monologues had a ramble-like quality. The whole book felt as though we were inside a very large, twisted, train of thought, with branches coming off the thought that all meandered in wildly different directions.
I found myself struggling to read this, and even when the final reveal is done as to who the murderer is, I found myself sighing and just wishing the book was done.
It was in this hope that I continued to read this book, but unfortunately, this book turned out to be not worth it. While the plot line around the murders were interesting, that story was interspersed with very long speeches about the finer points of theology and Christianity (did Jesus Christ laugh? If no, does that mean humans shouldn't laugh?), which were, for lack of a better word, boring. I found myself unable to follow the lines of reasoning that were proffered by the speakers of these very long monologues, especially as these monologues had a ramble-like quality. The whole book felt as though we were inside a very large, twisted, train of thought, with branches coming off the thought that all meandered in wildly different directions.
I found myself struggling to read this, and even when the final reveal is done as to who the murderer is, I found myself sighing and just wishing the book was done.