The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco (1983)
I hate not finishing books I’ve started reading. I’ve done it a couple of times – Cold Mountain and Sabbath’s Theater are two prime examples – but generally I force myself to finish whatever I start. Forcing myself is how I’d describe the last two months with The Name of the Rose. A highly regarded novel by a highly regarded novelist that I found a chore to read.
This book was described to me as a sort of (intelligent) precursor to the Da Vinci Code. A religious based mystery novel but concerning itself with a different mystery – the strange and criminal happenings at a famed monastery in 14th century Italy. Can our hero, a brilliant Sherlock Holmes-esq character solve the mystery before anyone else is killed? Will the competing forces for control of the Church destroy each other? Can the wealth and treasures of the Church be reconciled with the life of poverty Jesus led? Will the Waldesians, Minorites, devotees of Francis Bacon and Thomas Aquinas, the Italians and French, and other parties ever reconcile? Do you care? I don’t and I read the damn book.
I recognize that I’m a blasphemous heathen so perhaps those more excited about the history of the Catholic Church, the role of monasteries as repositories of knowledge during the dark ages, the philosophical arguments underpinning key aspects of Church dogma, will dig this book. Unfortunately even the detective/mystery parts of the book left a little to be desired – I didn’t understand many of the “ah-hah” moments because many of the clues were in Latin or they were just too much like mensa puzzles for my limited faculties. Umberto Eco is clearly an intelligent and scholarly man and I know he has a well deserved reputation around the world but this simply wasn’t the book for me. Perhaps a fan of Eco will shed light on what I missed.
I hate not finishing books I’ve started reading. I’ve done it a couple of times – Cold Mountain and Sabbath’s Theater are two prime examples – but generally I force myself to finish whatever I start. Forcing myself is how I’d describe the last two months with The Name of the Rose. A highly regarded novel by a highly regarded novelist that I found a chore to read.
This book was described to me as a sort of (intelligent) precursor to the Da Vinci Code. A religious based mystery novel but concerning itself with a different mystery – the strange and criminal happenings at a famed monastery in 14th century Italy. Can our hero, a brilliant Sherlock Holmes-esq character solve the mystery before anyone else is killed? Will the competing forces for control of the Church destroy each other? Can the wealth and treasures of the Church be reconciled with the life of poverty Jesus led? Will the Waldesians, Minorites, devotees of Francis Bacon and Thomas Aquinas, the Italians and French, and other parties ever reconcile? Do you care? I don’t and I read the damn book.
I recognize that I’m a blasphemous heathen so perhaps those more excited about the history of the Catholic Church, the role of monasteries as repositories of knowledge during the dark ages, the philosophical arguments underpinning key aspects of Church dogma, will dig this book. Unfortunately even the detective/mystery parts of the book left a little to be desired – I didn’t understand many of the “ah-hah” moments because many of the clues were in Latin or they were just too much like mensa puzzles for my limited faculties. Umberto Eco is clearly an intelligent and scholarly man and I know he has a well deserved reputation around the world but this simply wasn’t the book for me. Perhaps a fan of Eco will shed light on what I missed.
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9 comments:
hahah...funny freaking review. finally a review that trashes a book. see why i don't read books big-d? well except pookie books and self-help books---"finding the inner zoid", "in the zoid zone", "I am zoid, you are a zoid, we are all fucking zoids!" "The Tao of the Zoid"
I feel the exact same way about finishing books and am currently struggling mightily through Wolfe's "Look Homeward, Angel", which I picked up after reading that Rob131's brother highly recommended it.
It has to get better. Or at least that's what I keep telling myself.
yeah, I take responsibility for the recommendation... I liked it! I saw it as a good history lesson on a period of history that I didn't know shit about. I am definitely one to finish a book and have struggled through some books with a mission to take it to the end. The Sound and the Fury by Faulkner was definitely one of those. It seems that a lot of early 20th century authors -- Faulkner, Wolfe, Dos Passos -- really used a lot of liberty to mess around with writing styles. Right now, getting into The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass -- acclaimed as the best German novel since WWII - good enough of a reason for me to learn more about my aryan roots...
speaking of books and reading fads...i found a very funny article--enjoy
No responsibility needs to be taken, Pau. As much as I wasn't into the book, I'm not claiming it's not a good book. I've been a big fan of Atonement by Ian McEwan but several people who picked it up at my urging were less enthused. We're not all gonna like the same books regardless of their merit, different things appeal to us for different reasons. As for Tin Drum, I looked it over in a bookstore once but it looked like too big a project for me at the time. Good luck.
Yup, no one put a gun to my head and forced me to read it. I'm not saying it sucks - he's a very good writer - but it doesn't do it for me.
Regarding Faulkner, if I hadn't taken a college course devoted to his works taught by an interesting Southern professor who knew his shit, I wouldn't have enjoyed it anywhere near as much. As a matter of fact, I tried rereading it, but without his direction, it just wasn't the same.
I thought that Atonement was every bit as good as BigD did - thanks for the recommendation. I'm looking forward to other McEwan books but can't decide whether to read more of him or Salman Rushdie first. It's great that books are discussed here and gives me a little insight into things I wasn't aware of or just haven't gotten around to reading. Keep the opinions coming...
Anyone read any Pynchon (author of "Gravity's Rainbow")?
I've been wanting to pick up Pynchon and Palahniuk but didn't know which ones I should start with.
**sitting in the corner with his dunce hat on**
I recently read Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Rushdie, which was a nice "fable" a la Alice in Wonderland which he wrote for his son who he couldn't see while he was in hiding. It's a tale, yet addresses issues of censorship and freedom of speech. I have Midnight's Children on my list as a result now. ACtually, I decided to pick up Grass' Tin Drum as a result of Rushdie's reference to Grass as his inspiration to take up writing.
I have Pynchon's V. but haven't read it yet, supposedly it and Gravity's Rainbow are good reads, but "projects".
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