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3.97 AVERAGE
3.97 AVERAGE
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.
Wow. The story is ostensibly a murder mystery set in a medieval monastery, but to me it is both a love letter and a dialogue about books. What they mean, how we use them, how we interpret them, what they do for us, and how they manipulate us. It wants to dwell on questions about semiotics and literature and literary theory and so on. And to that end, it plays endlessly with figures like Dante and Borges and with language (the perverse fun of reading Salvatore's hodgepodge of words). Having looked at the modern and classical world, I've skipped over the importance of the medieval world. It is not so far from our own time in its beliefs.
This is a book that I will have to return to again and again. I think it has the questions, if not the kernel of answers, I'm looking for.
This is a book that I will have to return to again and again. I think it has the questions, if not the kernel of answers, I'm looking for.
I read 50 pages and thought it was one of the most boring books ever. And usually I finish books! The author will go off in a tangent for pages, just describing a church, or some esoteric facts about the Franciscan monk order. Maybe it would have gotten better, but I'm going to reserve this book for times when I need to fall asleep in less than five minutes.
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Just couldn't wade through the church history. It's supposed to be amazing and I really wanted to read it but I just. don't. care. I read about 50 pp and that was as much as I could take.
Eco's postmodern masterpiece "The Name of the Rose" delivers on everything it promises. It lets you live the life of a 13th century monk and delve into some of the intricacies of religious debate of the time, such as whether Jesus smiled or owned a purse. All the while set against the backdrop of political tensions between the French Pope and Holy Roman Emperor and with a murder mystery to solve!While the use of Latin by Eco is navel-gazing, not to mention some of his prose, Eco successfully creates a wonderful, lived-in world. If you seek medieval literature that is engaging and makes you feel like you learnt something along the way, "The Name of the Rose" is a must read.
The Name of the Rose is an intresting novel. It certainly has themes, although I would embarass myself if I tried to list them.
I liked the character of William, the protagonist of the novel. His detective skills were quite intresting.
I did not love reading this, I felt bored a few times and struggled to motivate myself to keep reading. That's not to say that the book is badly written, it's a me issue.
I do think that I would be interested in reading a shorter book by Umberto Eco, maybe a history on Italian heresies. That could be very fun, although obviously me saying I'd like an unwritten book is a useless statement in some ways. Consider it praise for the man's ability to captivate me with his nerd facts.
There are weird moments in the book, of the two major plots I felt like both resolve well, but both left me dissatisfied during their midpoints.
I liked the character of William, the protagonist of the novel. His detective skills were quite intresting.
I did not love reading this, I felt bored a few times and struggled to motivate myself to keep reading. That's not to say that the book is badly written, it's a me issue.
I do think that I would be interested in reading a shorter book by Umberto Eco, maybe a history on Italian heresies. That could be very fun, although obviously me saying I'd like an unwritten book is a useless statement in some ways. Consider it praise for the man's ability to captivate me with his nerd facts.
There are weird moments in the book, of the two major plots I felt like both resolve well, but both left me dissatisfied during their midpoints.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I’ve had this book for almost 20 years and finally read it. The blurb on the back was interesting enough for me to read it, but sometimes I had a hard time following what was happening in the narration. My favorite parts all related to the mystery of the murders as well as the library. I am glad to have read it.