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A review by elerireads
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
3.0
This was a bit of a slog to get through. The first half of the book, in particular, was dominated by long-winded theological debates (the poverty debate, did Christ laugh?, etc.) and drawn out architectural descriptions. The theoretical debates I could just about cope with, but I got quite lost when it came to all the different factions and monastic orders who took different positions on those questions, and kind of lost track of who was being called a heretic and why. There was also loads of Latin, which I suppose is realistic, but without any translation provided, so in places it felt like you were genuinely losing out on meaning if you can't read Latin.... Which is true of most people???? I'm guessing it's a slightly different story for the average Italian reader, but still in a note at the end the author says he was surprised that it caused difficulty and his first response to this criticism is "I am always anxious to submit my reader to a little punishing discipline". So basically the author is a bit of a pretentious twat, willing to sacrifice reader understanding in the name of authenticity.
On the other hand it did feel very authentic! It had a consistent tone and pacing that made it believable as a 14th century manuscript (although of course I'm easy to convince because I know nothing about medieval history!) and really captured the atmosphere and day to day life of an abbey and the monks who lived there. Although the beginning section was a bit of a punishing read, retrospectively I'm glad it was there because I think it helped me to settle into the style and pace, so I felt more comfortable following the more dramatic plot points later on. I liked the narration from the perspective of a young novice who had to have things explained to him all the time - otherwise I wouldn't have had a clue what was going on!
The mystery itself was heavily intertwined with all the philosophical debates and centred on access to a forbidden book. It didn't feel particularly gripping until quite late in the story. There were no really surprising twists, perhaps because in the interest of making it realistic, the author left too many clues, too early on? For example, it was super obvious early on that Berengar was gay for Adelmo, and I worked out immediately how all the monks were being poisoned... and I'm generally terrible at working out these kinds of things. I had initially suspected the main culprit, was then convinced he wasn't possible, but there came a point when so many of the characters had either been murdered or locked up for heresy that there weren't exactly many candidates to choose from! It did somehow still manage to be exciting - the sinister, creepy atmosphere was really effective there too. All the prophetic ravings about the Apocalypse were good fun too, and contributed to a general theme of predictions colouring people's decisions.
Finally, whilst probably an accurate portrayal of the attitudes of the time in that setting, the role of women was horrifying to read. The monks only ever referred to women at all in the context of 'temptations of the flesh' and as "vessels for the devil". The only female character in the entire book seems to have been inserted solely so that the virgin main character can have sex with her (seriously they were at it one paragraph after she was introduced) and then suffer deeply tragic spiritual torment for his sins. Don't you just feel for the guy?? Meanwhile the nameless woman gets burnt at the stake for witchcraft (: Pretty galling reading tbh.
On the other hand it did feel very authentic! It had a consistent tone and pacing that made it believable as a 14th century manuscript (although of course I'm easy to convince because I know nothing about medieval history!) and really captured the atmosphere and day to day life of an abbey and the monks who lived there. Although the beginning section was a bit of a punishing read, retrospectively I'm glad it was there because I think it helped me to settle into the style and pace, so I felt more comfortable following the more dramatic plot points later on. I liked the narration from the perspective of a young novice who had to have things explained to him all the time - otherwise I wouldn't have had a clue what was going on!
The mystery itself was heavily intertwined with all the philosophical debates and centred on access to a forbidden book. It didn't feel particularly gripping until quite late in the story. There were no really surprising twists, perhaps because in the interest of making it realistic, the author left too many clues, too early on? For example, it was super obvious early on that Berengar was gay for Adelmo, and I worked out immediately how all the monks were being poisoned... and I'm generally terrible at working out these kinds of things. I had initially suspected the main culprit, was then convinced he wasn't possible, but there came a point when so many of the characters had either been murdered or locked up for heresy that there weren't exactly many candidates to choose from! It did somehow still manage to be exciting - the sinister, creepy atmosphere was really effective there too. All the prophetic ravings about the Apocalypse were good fun too, and contributed to a general theme of predictions colouring people's decisions.
Finally, whilst probably an accurate portrayal of the attitudes of the time in that setting, the role of women was horrifying to read. The monks only ever referred to women at all in the context of 'temptations of the flesh' and as "vessels for the devil". The only female character in the entire book seems to have been inserted solely so that the virgin main character can have sex with her (seriously they were at it one paragraph after she was introduced) and then suffer deeply tragic spiritual torment for his sins. Don't you just feel for the guy?? Meanwhile the nameless woman gets burnt at the stake for witchcraft (: Pretty galling reading tbh.