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niakantorka's review against another edition
challenging
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
I think it’s been about 20 years since I last read The Name of the Rose in my native language and the book (same with the movie) fascinated me. With this reread I’ve wanted to see if it could entertain me as well as last time again.
Well, this only happened in parts. On one hand the mystery was equally engaging even though I remembered the book’s ’culprit’ and that it ended rather abrupt. I still found Adso’s voice interesting, especially when it came to describing the life of the monks at the monastery and the murder mystery.
On the other hand I definitely didn’t enjoy those endless talks about heresy and religious musings. I was bored to tears by the descriptions of the riches of the monastery be it its doors, paintings and treasures. On top of that I loathed the inquisitor and his sneaky way of getting ‘his prey’ where he wanted to get him. You know that poor guy would have also admitted to have eaten children or whatever Gui wanted him to admit. How is such a confession worth anything? How was this man actually proud of a job well done?
This time I went and read some articles about the history of that time and how the happenings around pope John the XXII led to the church having more than one and up to three popes. I guess those Minorities were not wrong either because the greed of the Catholic Church finally led to Protestantism to rise and spread.
I still had a good time. I’m pretty sure a book like this wouldn’t become a hit today though because its discursiveness is hard to read. I know that Eco wanted it exactly like that because he didn’t want to write a simple crime story but wanted to write up modern political aspects into the historical context. I’m sure it was smartly done and he was a very clever man and yet it was exhausting at times. Whenever he (Adso) went on a tangent I decided pretty fast if it was a topic I found interesting or not and either worked my way through it or skipped over it.
Well, this only happened in parts. On one hand the mystery was equally engaging even though I remembered the book’s ’culprit’ and that it ended rather abrupt. I still found Adso’s voice interesting, especially when it came to describing the life of the monks at the monastery and the murder mystery.
On the other hand I definitely didn’t enjoy those endless talks about heresy and religious musings. I was bored to tears by the descriptions of the riches of the monastery be it its doors, paintings and treasures. On top of that I loathed the inquisitor and his sneaky way of getting ‘his prey’ where he wanted to get him. You know that poor guy would have also admitted to have eaten children or whatever Gui wanted him to admit. How is such a confession worth anything? How was this man actually proud of a job well done?
This time I went and read some articles about the history of that time and how the happenings around pope John the XXII led to the church having more than one and up to three popes. I guess those Minorities were not wrong either because the greed of the Catholic Church finally led to Protestantism to rise and spread.
I still had a good time. I’m pretty sure a book like this wouldn’t become a hit today though because its discursiveness is hard to read. I know that Eco wanted it exactly like that because he didn’t want to write a simple crime story but wanted to write up modern political aspects into the historical context. I’m sure it was smartly done and he was a very clever man and yet it was exhausting at times. Whenever he (Adso) went on a tangent I decided pretty fast if it was a topic I found interesting or not and either worked my way through it or skipped over it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Racial slurs and Torture
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