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A review by ppkfs
Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco
5.0
I really felt like Casaubon when reading this. I thought I had a grasp on things, and then it proceeded to spiral everywhere at once.
The obvious comparison is Da Vinci Code, except where Dan Brown telegraphs exactly what is going on in such an obvious way ("aha, it is clearly the Catholic church but it needs a famous symbologist to be able to follow the trail!"), here there is no magical thread to follow. It sends you this way and that through the rabbithole of The Plan, and I spent far too much time trying to google various things to work out if they were real or just made up. It feels less like a book about some eccentric historians researching a Templar conspiracy and more like a portal to becoming part of the conspiracy yourself.
I found the middle section focusing on Belbo's past somewhat boring, but I do understand its purpose. Despite this flop in the middle, the way this book drew me in and kept me wondering was really something special.
The obvious comparison is Da Vinci Code, except where Dan Brown telegraphs exactly what is going on in such an obvious way ("aha, it is clearly the Catholic church but it needs a famous symbologist to be able to follow the trail!"), here there is no magical thread to follow. It sends you this way and that through the rabbithole of The Plan, and I spent far too much time trying to google various things to work out if they were real or just made up. It feels less like a book about some eccentric historians researching a Templar conspiracy and more like a portal to becoming part of the conspiracy yourself.
I found the middle section focusing on Belbo's past somewhat boring, but I do understand its purpose. Despite this flop in the middle, the way this book drew me in and kept me wondering was really something special.