Reviews

Der Name der Rose by Umberto Eco

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chiefmcclane's review against another edition

challenging informative mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Spoilers for both this book and the 2023 video game inspired by this book, Pentiment.

I wanted to read this book because Pentiment was my 2023 game of the year, and this was cited by Josh Sawyer as a direct inspiration on multiple fronts: themes, the central plot of a murder mystery in an abbey, the structure of days broken into liturgical hours, the semiotic expression of works that inspire other works each building on top of each other.

This was a difficult book to read. In fact, it may be one of the most difficult fiction books that I have ever read. I have struggled with reading a lot lately, taking the time to sit down and focus on something without diverting my attention away. Despite that, I loved every moment of it.

This difficulty was attributed to nearly every character is a reference to either a literary figure, philosopher, theologian, or else an allusion. While I was reading I would frequently take a pause to do a quick dive on Wikipedia on different topics and persons. This research, in my opinion, directly contributed to my enjoyment of the book. This book helped me rediscover my love of reading.

In between scenes of logic and rational murder mystery explanation, there were theological debates that I did not expect myself to enjoy, topics like, "Did Jesus laugh and is laughter a sin?" or "Should priests and the church be allowed to be wealthy?"

And it is in these seemingly one-off conversations that weave their way in and out of the plot that the destination of the journey arrives - the central mystery is solved and then framed by these theological discussions.

I loved this book, and just like Pentiment was my GOTY 2023, this will likely go down as my BOTY 2024. In closing, I'll echo the words of Claus Drucker, the printing press owner from Pentiment: "Love is the only reason to do anything in this life."

grack21's review against another edition

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4.0

I feel like this would be a 5 star book if I was smarter.

penguin_emperor_of_the_north's review against another edition

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5.0

August 7, 2016
It's possible that I'm not smart enough to enjoy this story properly. Eco wove in enough historical and literary references that I did get that I'm reasonably certain there's plenty more that I didn't get.

But that's okay. I enjoyed it in spite of my . . . dimness.

Half the fun from this book is the back and forth between William and everyone else. Both relating to his investigation and the philosophical/theological debates. And how all the monks try to draw William into the latter to avoid the former.

And there are some darkly funny moments. Like William's constant exasperation with Adso. Or the cellarer's trial.

Spoiler

He confesses to heresy but is adamant that he didn't kill anyone in the monastery. The inquisitor decides to torture him anyway. To avoid that the cellarer confesses to all of the murders and gives over the top and petty reasons.

Or Salvatore's arrest. But that one gets unfunny fast.

But that ending. Gah, it's just so frustrating. Major spoilers:

Spoiler

The monastery and library burns down. The bad guy succeeds in his plot and dies triumphant. The inquisitor walks away free and burns three people including that poor girl. And to top it off, William dies of the Plague twenty some years later.

Way to punch me in the gut there, Eco.

Also, learned that Umberto Eco died February 19 of this year. There go my plans of flying to Milan and ambushing him to talk about this book. RIP

May 25, 2014
Wow. That was cool.

The Name of the Rose is a murder mystery set in a medieval Italian monastery against the backdrop of tensions between the Holy Roman Emperor and the Avignon papacy. Besides the murder investigation that drives most of the plot, there is plenty of discussion of philosophy and theology.

This novel's central mystery is engrossing, the philosophy and theology discussions are fascinating (though if you're not interested in those topics you'll likely be bewildered for pages at a time) and our heroes, William and Adso, are relatable to a reader and provide a window into medieval politics in Italy, the Catholic Church and the Holy Roman Empire.

I should note that there's a lot of untranslated Latin and German, I don't think it detracts to much from the story but it did leave me wondering what the characters were talking about at times. Also, some scenes just happen without a lot of build up (or any at all in one case) leaving me confused as to why it just happened. Eco does a good job of pulling everything together but some scenes left me confused for a while due to their abruptness.

alex_mlynek's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny informative mysterious sad medium-paced

4.0

katie_perry_the_platypus's review against another edition

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dark funny informative mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

bbrassfield's review against another edition

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5.0

I am somewhat surprised that this wasn't the first book that I listed as read when I joined Goodreads about a decade back. The Name of the Rose is one of my favorite novels. Top 5. I love Eco's novel and have read it more than once. Eco states that he wrote this, his first novel, because he wanted to kill a monk and indeed this makes for a great mystery story! The Name of the Rose is definitely my favorite mystery of all time (that I've read) but what makes this novel so special is that it is about so much more than just solving the mystery, although that part is incredibly fun. Eco was a professor of semiotics in life and his love of language and learning, and of what makes books special in the first place, comes through on every page. The Name of the Rose is an incredibly detailed and rich tapestry to borrow a little medieval imagery. This book rewards the reader in so many ways it's worth reading multiple times. Eco's first and greatest novel.