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El nombre de la rosa by Umberto Eco, Ricardo Pochtar

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spenkevich's review against another edition

5.0

This is one of those rare near-perfect books that crosses through many genres and could be universally acclaimed. There are dozens of great reviews on here already, but this book struck me as so profound that I felt I needed to briefly put down my own thoughts. I could not bring myself to put this down and it was always a battle to not skip work and continue reading in the parking lot after lunch break. Eco crafts a novel that could be labeled as historical fiction, mystery, theology and philosophy, metafiction, a plot-boiler, literature, and many others - hell, there's even a bit of love and sex thrown in and of multiple sexual orientations! He essentially takes Sherlock Holmes and Watson and recasts them as monks in a 1300's Abbey where murder and theological debates appear around every corner. The two main plots, the murder mystery and the religious debates, weave together effortlessly, each feeding off each other as the tensions rise and the plot thickens.

This is no simple plot-driven thriller however. Eco brings a tome of medieval and christian history to the table, working it as a period piece and educates the reader as well as entertains. This has drawn a lot of comparisons to works such as Dan Brown's Da Vince Code, yet Eco surpasses Brown in almost every category. This book truly deserve to be considered "literature", as there is much more to it than a history and research tossed into a plot. Eco can spit prose with the best of them and he will keep your dictionary close at hand. His character's speech is all believable and what fascinated me the most was how expertly he wrote the theological arguments between the Abbey occupants. Through these characters, many which were real people, he presents believable, and often fiery, multifaceted discussions on a range of topics such as heretics, vows of poverty, and gospel interpretations. Eco has a vast knowledge of medieval studies and it shows. He is also a professor of semiotics, which play a critical role in this novel. William's method of deduction hinges on his ability to "read the signs" in the world around him. He carefully crafts syllogisms, which brought me back to my logic and reasoning courses at MSU, to produce his theories. Eco puts his best foot forward and gives the reader a good introduction to his own fields of study with Rose. However, he also throws in the loophole that the world may not be comprised of any inherent meaning and that it is senseless to try to apply meaning to randomness. This could present quiet a dilemma for a monk who's life draws meaning from the gospels.

Perhaps the most exciting aspect of this novel was that it was a book about books. The whole novel spins around several texts, such as Aristotle and Revelations, but is made up of other books. He even draws the readers attention to this as William explains to Adso how the contents of one book can be discerned by reading other books. He strings together hefty allusions to other medieval texts and also to one of Eco's, and one of my own, personal favorite authors: Jorge Luis Borges. This novel is saturated with allusions to Borges works, there is even a blind librarian (much like the real Borges) named Jorge of Burgos. I would highly recommend picking up a copy of his collected fictions, simply because it is a phenomenal read, and to read selected stories such as The Library of Babel simultaneously with The Name of the Rose as Eco drew much of his inspiration for this book from Borges story. The scenes in the labyrinthine library of the abbey are gold, I wanted to get lost with William and Adso as they flipped through great works together while trying to make sense of their obfuscating surroundings. Eco's use of metafiction greatly adds to this novel, as an acute reading will show Eco is often talking more about the book itself than the actual plot with his two leads. He also leaves in plenty of untranslated Latin while having William conclude that true scholars must first master languages, and to key in on the idea that this book was a text found and translated by the character of Eco. He leaves some detective work for the reader, and I thank him for that.

You really need to read this book. There are scant few people who would not find something of interest within it's pages. It is a deep, dense ocean of a novel and not a little plot-driven pool to be waded through just for enjoyment, but with just a little effort it will provide a fountain of enjoyment. That was a weird, out of place and senseless string of water metaphors, but you get the idea. Easily a 5/5

eliamyro's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

jujudepamplemousse's review against another edition

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3.0

Si je notais Le nom de la rose sur sa qualité littéraire, je lui attribuerais sans aucun doute 5 étoiles. Les 3 étoiles correspondent au plaisir personnel que j’ai pris à cette lecture. Ce livre est un excellent roman historique. La forme du récit, le schéma narratif, l’environnement et les personnages, les thèmes transportent indéniablement le lecteur au coeur de la vie monastique moyenâgeuse.
Et ne vous m’éprenez pas, Le nom de la rose n’est pas un roman policier mais bien un roman historique avec un fond d’intrigue policière. J’ai beaucoup apprécié l’intrigue policier, cependant les nombreux débats théologiques composant l’histoire étaient bien souvent obscures pour moi.