May 21, 2013

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

Title: The Name of the Rose
Author: Umberto Eco
First published: 1980
Add it: Goodreads, The Book Depository

This book has been stirring my imagination for some time now. I've heard that it's a kind of historical mystery, but the opinions about it were very different, ranging from hate to love. Of course I was interested! And now I can say that I'm completely on the lovers' side!

May the word "mystery" not drive you to the conclusion that it's an easy and relaxing read. It is certainly not. The book if FULL of theological discussions, gospel citations and historical references. Fortunately, my edition had a very good commentary section, and I consulted it all the time, as my historical and ecclesiastical background was definitely not enough to understand anything. But all this created the unique atmosphere of the book, and in the end it all made sense regarding the motives of the murderer.

The setting is fascinating - a rather secluded monastery in the mountains, full of scholars from all over Europe, attracted by the riches of the biggest library of the Christian world. And this library is a very mysterious place. As it is not considered safe for everybody to read anything he might want (and some writings there are very dangerous by the measure of the church), only the librarian has access there and knows the secret of how to find his way in this labyrinth. To scare everybody else away, there are tales of spirits and demons hunting the library at night, and some disobedient monks have encountered them. In this mysterious atmosphere a murder happens.

Two days after Brother William of Baskerville with his apprentice Adson, our narrator, comes to the monastery. He is known for his outstanding deductive abilities (look at his name :) ) and his successful work as an inquisitor in the past. So no surprise he is asked to look into the case by the abbot himself. One corpse, however, does not seem to be enough for the murderer, so soon there are more homicides, and the investigation unveils some very nasty secrets of the monastery.

Even though there are some rather difficult and lengthy passages in the book, overall it is so gripping that I read it through the beginning of my exam session and then through my BF's visit, which doesn't happen that often. But there is actually nothing strange here, as a mystery connected with books and a library, which is also a labyrinth is just a combination of all my favorite things! So for everybody sharing my passion for the mentioned above this book is just a must read!


12 comments:

  1. I read this in college and LOVED it. I don't love everything by Eco, though. I tried Baudolino a few years back and was so turned off I couldn't finish it. But I've just recently read Six Walks in the Fictional Woods, and the love is back. :)

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    1. OK, I'll try to avoid Baudolino the next time I pick something by him. And I bet this will happen soon! :)

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    2. Hey, don't avoid it on my say-so! Who knows, it may work for you. :)

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    3. Well, I haven't heard about this book anyways, so it will be easy to avoid it :) I've googled his works now and I think I'll go for Foucault's Pendulum, as it's not only his second book, but also seems to be the second famous :)

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    4. Good, I'll wait for your review. I'd like to try something else by him, too.

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  2. For whatever reason, I've not heard about this book before, but your review definitely has me intrigued!

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    1. Oh, you really should try it! It's somewhere between the genres, but that makes it really unique :)

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  3. It took me forever to finish this, but I really liked it anyways. Mysteries involving books are always a good choice for me. The history wasn't so difficult for me as I think I had enough background from university classes that I could keep up. Glad to hear you enjoyed it so much.

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  4. This is one of my favorite books and I'm really glad that you liked it. However, I'm sorry to have to point out that it cannot count for the Vintage Mystery Challenge. All books for the challenge must have been first written before 1960 (not historically set before 1960). I hope you can find another book to use for the category you planned for this one.

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    1. Oh, I'm sorry for the confusion! I guess the stylization is so good that I completely forgot that it was actually written not so long ago :) I've deleted it from my list, thanks for pointing it out!

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  5. Interesting thoughts! I just read it myself and loved it.

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