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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
fountainpenchess's review
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.75
definitive winter read
Content Warnings
Graphic: Religious bigotry
Moderate: Sexual content and Sexism
Minor: Pedophilia and Sexual harassment
dannyclarke's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
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? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Minor: Classism, Homophobia, Rape, Gore, Religious bigotry, Violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Misogyny, and Ableism
All of the -isms and bigotry in the book stem from its setting in a medieval monastery. Eco does not modernize the views of any of the characters, who are primarily monks from nobility with the standard prejudices of their day.marxxx's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Torture, Sexual content, Homophobia, Death, Suicide, Blood, Religious bigotry, Confinement, and Animal cruelty
Minor: Cannibalism and Excrement
milomoment's review
adventurous
challenging
funny
informative
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Its got monks!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Religious bigotry
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
its funny even though theres a lot of words and godbeautifulminutiae's review
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Torture, and Death
Moderate: Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, and Sexual content
iirreeaadd's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
This book is long and overwritten. I found myself skimming or simply skipping chunks of this book that were basically long lists of things that were not relevant to the plot of the book at all. Despite this, I found the core murder mystery plot of the book to be engrossing, as well as the reasons for it. I was able to finish the book fairly quickly and felt engaged throughout as I wanted to know what happens next. It's definitely a bit dense at points but overall I found it a good read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Religious bigotry, Classism, Sexism, Violence, Torture, Murder, Misogyny, and Blood
Moderate: Sexual content, Suicide, Islamophobia, Antisemitism, Colonisation, and Homophobia
erebus53's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I read this as book club read (specifically the two-monthly thick book). It was a book that I had heard the name of and I had heard was a "classic" but I really had no idea what I was getting myself in for.
This is a book that is.. weighty.. and verbose. It is full of smatterings of French, Latin, Italian Arabic and German (deftly and comprehendibly narrated in the Audiobook!) that don't have any subtitles or footnotes, so unless your Latin is top notch, it is advisable to arm yourself with a companion or glossary.
The story is historical drama meets murder mystery ..less cozy more cloistered. (All the monk stuff reminded me of reading Anathem.. though it is a vastly different book.) The inquisitors and the politics crafted a labyrinthine theoretical minefield that made me wonder how people could ever seek truth in a place where philosophy could be so dangerous. Power, control, and orthodoxy, and their interaction with piety, truth, honesty and love, are in constant antagonism.
Through this all is strung a lot of dark humour. Holmes-like deduction baffles people who are unaware of the underlying logic, and intellect is lauded, while at the same time it recurs that truth is often uttered by the foolish or innocent who don't have the guile to hold their tongues. Major theological arguments about charity and poverty (is it ethical for the church to own riches?), and the use of humour to convince the commoners to follow a righteous path (because surely if they aren't taking their Faith seriously, then they are destined for ruin), are battled over many chapters. A lot of dry sarcasm is employed in ironic exploration of the values of humour.
As people seem to be dropping dead in Shakespearean abundance, there is some discussion of the use of herbs and healing things for making poisons. The use of hallucinatory herbs is in there, and I felt less in over my head when the monks were talking about herbs, of which I had previous knowledge. Along with hallucinations, visions and dreams there are a lot of demonic descriptions, some of which come from Classical mythology. All that time I spent reading the Revelation of John and Rick Riordan's Demigods was not wasted, as some of those slightly more obscure monsters were also familiar to me. I was reallly impressed with the way the narrator related a ridiculous fever-dream / prophesy(?) filled with historical and biblical characters and familiar characters from the story, gabbling at a fairly constant patter. Comedic indeed!
Depictions of women in this book are ... 12th century monastic misogyny? The main character falls for someone and thinks it's love despite never having had a conversation with the object of his desire. Homosexual relationships are telegraphed quite early in the peace and decried by the monks. Not every coupling in the story (none of which are particularly explicit, save maybe one(?)) is based in mutual consent, many being for payment or favours. Demonic visions get a bit bawdy and grotesque, as does the talk of bodily fluids.
I honestly think I would have never finished this if I was attempting to read it with my eyeballs, not just because I can only read in half-hour increments due to my eye injury, but just because it's lofty and dense and full of lengthy Latin quotes from other texts that I would have laboured over rather than getting an approximate understanding of. My Latin isn't super great, but it's not non-existent either.
I think the lumbering pace of the book knocks a star off. The mystery of it was not too taxing to figure out, and it was funny, but I won't be hustling to re-read it any time soon.
This is a book that is.. weighty.. and verbose. It is full of smatterings of French, Latin, Italian Arabic and German (deftly and comprehendibly narrated in the Audiobook!) that don't have any subtitles or footnotes, so unless your Latin is top notch, it is advisable to arm yourself with a companion or glossary.
The story is historical drama meets murder mystery ..less cozy more cloistered. (All the monk stuff reminded me of reading Anathem.. though it is a vastly different book.) The inquisitors and the politics crafted a labyrinthine theoretical minefield that made me wonder how people could ever seek truth in a place where philosophy could be so dangerous. Power, control, and orthodoxy, and their interaction with piety, truth, honesty and love, are in constant antagonism.
Through this all is strung a lot of dark humour. Holmes-like deduction baffles people who are unaware of the underlying logic, and intellect is lauded, while at the same time it recurs that truth is often uttered by the foolish or innocent who don't have the guile to hold their tongues. Major theological arguments about charity and poverty (is it ethical for the church to own riches?), and the use of humour to convince the commoners to follow a righteous path (because surely if they aren't taking their Faith seriously, then they are destined for ruin), are battled over many chapters. A lot of dry sarcasm is employed in ironic exploration of the values of humour.
As people seem to be dropping dead in Shakespearean abundance, there is some discussion of the use of herbs and healing things for making poisons. The use of hallucinatory herbs is in there, and I felt less in over my head when the monks were talking about herbs, of which I had previous knowledge. Along with hallucinations, visions and dreams there are a lot of demonic descriptions, some of which come from Classical mythology. All that time I spent reading the Revelation of John and Rick Riordan's Demigods was not wasted, as some of those slightly more obscure monsters were also familiar to me. I was reallly impressed with the way the narrator related a ridiculous fever-dream / prophesy(?) filled with historical and biblical characters and familiar characters from the story, gabbling at a fairly constant patter. Comedic indeed!
Depictions of women in this book are ... 12th century monastic misogyny? The main character falls for someone and thinks it's love despite never having had a conversation with the object of his desire. Homosexual relationships are telegraphed quite early in the peace and decried by the monks. Not every coupling in the story (none of which are particularly explicit, save maybe one(?)) is based in mutual consent, many being for payment or favours. Demonic visions get a bit bawdy and grotesque, as does the talk of bodily fluids.
I honestly think I would have never finished this if I was attempting to read it with my eyeballs, not just because I can only read in half-hour increments due to my eye injury, but just because it's lofty and dense and full of lengthy Latin quotes from other texts that I would have laboured over rather than getting an approximate understanding of. My Latin isn't super great, but it's not non-existent either.
I think the lumbering pace of the book knocks a star off. The mystery of it was not too taxing to figure out, and it was funny, but I won't be hustling to re-read it any time soon.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Infidelity, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Animal cruelty, Blood, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Outing, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and War
michela_ognibeni's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Religious bigotry and Violence
laurajeangrace's review against another edition
challenging
informative
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Homophobia, Confinement, Islamophobia, Sexism, and Sexual content
Minor: War