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shetef's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Do you like murder mysteries?
Do you also like extended dialogues on Christian theology and semiotics?
Do I have a book for you
Do you also like extended dialogues on Christian theology and semiotics?
Do I have a book for you
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Homophobia
Minor: Antisemitism
geekmom's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.0
This was interesting, funny, deeply intellectual, and quite unlike most other novels I've read. I'm glad I persisted with it even when it felt a bit slow (I wish I had picked this up when I had a bit more time to get immersed in it, instead of reading it in bits and pieces over a couple of weeks!). I'd love to see an annotated edition of this book that translates all of the quotes and phrases in other languages, and gives a bit of background info to help those who aren't well-versed in the history of the Catholic church.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
sarah_tani's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Sexual content
emtees's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
I’ve tried to read Umberto Eco in the past and found his work impenetrable, so I was surprised that I flew through The Name of the Rose. It’s one of the most brilliant works of historical fiction I’ve ever read.
The story follows two monks - the young Benedictine novice Adso and his mentor, the scientifically-minded former Inquisitor William, a Franciscan - on a journey to a remote monastery at which they will be present for a historically significant meeting between representatives of the Franciscan Order and the pope, with whom they are in conflict over the question of what role poverty played in the life of Jesus and, therefore, should play for monks. But upon arriving at the monastery, William and Adso are confronted by a more immediate problem - one of the monks has died in a fall from a tower, possibly a suicide but just as likely a murder. The abbot asks William, who has a reputation for being able to solve mysteries, to figure out what happened before the conference can begin and the monastery’s reputation can be compromised. William begins to investigate and quickly discovers that the mystery is tied to the monastery’s library, a literal labyrinth to which very few have access.
This is a book that you can’t split into the good and the bad; it only has the aspects that work well, and those that work incredibly. The characters are definitely a strong part of the book. Adso is a fairly bland character, but that’s the point of that sort of naive, POV character; he’s there because he’s young and relatively ignorant and so he can be used to explain things to the reader. The real protagonist is William, our “detective,” who belongs on the list of great fictional detectives. William used to work for the Church’s Inquisition before he came to have doubts about their methods; he is an “Inquisitor” in the more literal sense, a person who solves mysteries by asking questions and following up on seemingly disparate threads. The workings of his mind are often beyond Adso, but Eco writes him so clearly that the audience understands his perspective. His insistence on rational inquiry in the face of superstition and emotion is admirable. I particularly enjoyed that William was far from infallible; he made mistakes, sometimes tragically, and came to conclusions that were wrong. For all his brilliance, he never actually solves the real mystery; he gets caught up in secondary mysteries and then the original one just gets solved in front of him.
The mystery itself is a twisty one, with a complex and intense ending. It’s very well spooled out through the story. Like (in my opinion) the best mysteries, it’s not one the reader will figure out themselves, but it is one where someone reading closely will have all the right suspicions before the final reveal.
The really excellent part of the story, though, is the way it handles its two genres. It’s difficult to talk about what Eco does with mystery without spoilers, so:I loved the way he played on the audience’s expectations. As the murders piled up, he introduced what seemed to be a pattern to the killings. William, the rationalist, was confused and disturbed by this pattern, like a sane man suddenly finding himself in a world ruled by the dictates of fictional storytelling should be, but the evidence continued to build for this pattern and so he felt he couldn’t ignore it. And yet, in the end, it turned out to be a trick; the pattern wasn’t real. Just as the characters had fallen for it because of their human desire to find order in chaos, the audience fell for it because we expect that sort of thing in a story. . As for the historical fiction aspect, The Name of the Rose immerses the reader in another time in a way few historical stories manage, not by making the story relatable to a modern reader but by not doing that at all. A huge amount of the action in the story is concerned with a specific thirteenth century conflict within the church around questions of poverty as they applied to people in religious orders. It’s not a period most readers will be familiar with, and it’s not one of those religious conflicts that still has resonance today. To understand it requires getting as deep into the mindset of the characters as possible. And yet Eco manages to make this conflict feel vital, so that when characters make decisions because of it, they feel real and believable.
The story follows two monks - the young Benedictine novice Adso and his mentor, the scientifically-minded former Inquisitor William, a Franciscan - on a journey to a remote monastery at which they will be present for a historically significant meeting between representatives of the Franciscan Order and the pope, with whom they are in conflict over the question of what role poverty played in the life of Jesus and, therefore, should play for monks. But upon arriving at the monastery, William and Adso are confronted by a more immediate problem - one of the monks has died in a fall from a tower, possibly a suicide but just as likely a murder. The abbot asks William, who has a reputation for being able to solve mysteries, to figure out what happened before the conference can begin and the monastery’s reputation can be compromised. William begins to investigate and quickly discovers that the mystery is tied to the monastery’s library, a literal labyrinth to which very few have access.
This is a book that you can’t split into the good and the bad; it only has the aspects that work well, and those that work incredibly. The characters are definitely a strong part of the book. Adso is a fairly bland character, but that’s the point of that sort of naive, POV character; he’s there because he’s young and relatively ignorant and so he can be used to explain things to the reader. The real protagonist is William, our “detective,” who belongs on the list of great fictional detectives. William used to work for the Church’s Inquisition before he came to have doubts about their methods; he is an “Inquisitor” in the more literal sense, a person who solves mysteries by asking questions and following up on seemingly disparate threads. The workings of his mind are often beyond Adso, but Eco writes him so clearly that the audience understands his perspective. His insistence on rational inquiry in the face of superstition and emotion is admirable. I particularly enjoyed that William was far from infallible; he made mistakes, sometimes tragically, and came to conclusions that were wrong.
The mystery itself is a twisty one, with a complex and intense ending. It’s very well spooled out through the story. Like (in my opinion) the best mysteries, it’s not one the reader will figure out themselves, but it is one where someone reading closely will have all the right suspicions before the final reveal.
The really excellent part of the story, though, is the way it handles its two genres. It’s difficult to talk about what Eco does with mystery without spoilers, so:
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Some of the murders are pretty gruesome.extase_3r1c's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, and Murder
ebullientbunny's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Torture, Blood, Dementia, and Murder
jayisreading's review against another edition
challenging
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
3.0
I’ll admit that it never crossed my mind to pick up this novel, partially because of my slight aversion to semiotics (which Eco is well-known for). However, knowing that it was a huge influence on a video game I absolutely loved (i.e., Pentiment), I thought I’d give his novel a try.
Not entirely to my surprise, The Name of the Rose was quite dense in its themes, writing style, and theoretical frameworks. I would even go so far as to say that Eco’s philosophical interests overshadowed the story itself. As a result of this, I felt a bit frustrated by the novel, because I wasn’t particularly interested in the erudite discussions that somewhat strayed from the main story, which I wanted more of. Ultimately, I think I would have liked the novel far more if there was a better balance of creative storytelling and scholarly writing. To me, at least, I felt that Eco had a very particular group of people in mind while writing this novel; I was definitely not a member of this audience, which might be why a fair bit of what he wrote flew over my head (for example, I know very little about Catholicism, which is central to the story).
That being said, I will say that this is a novel that demands the reader’s full attention, as well as their willingness to take the time to digest Eco’s ideas. Unfortunately, I didn’t have either of these due to my schedule and having borrowed the book from the library (i.e., I had limited time), so these definitely played into why I struggled to fully appreciate this novel. I guess this is to say take this review with a grain of salt, because it’s clear that a fair number of readers found the book quite rich and engaging (e.g., the developers of Pentiment, haha), and that’s likely because they had the time to sit with Eco’s words.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Religious bigotry, and Murder
Moderate: Homophobia, Misogyny, and Suicide
Minor: Torture and Cannibalism
astrangewind's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
slow-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
3.0
I'm not really sure if I liked The Name of the Rose.
The book was incredibly slow-moving, and written very densely, full of philosophical and literary references and tirades that I'm not well-read enough to understand. In general, I feel like philosophers (and their work) have a smugness about them that I find distasteful, which was true for the portions of this book that devolved into arguments or monologues about whether or not Jesus Christ laughed.
That said, I did find the plot compelling enough to finish the book. At times, it lulled, but the mystery was sufficiently mysterious to keep me reading. There was humor to be had, too; a 14th century monk talking about a perpetual motion machine made me chuckle. The ending was fascinating, and I genuinely couldn't put the book down at the last 70 pages or so. I'm sure there's some kind of allegory there, or other kind of metaphor or lesson, but even without the background to be able to understand it, I still enjoyed the plot for what it was.
The book was incredibly slow-moving, and written very densely, full of philosophical and literary references and tirades that I'm not well-read enough to understand. In general, I feel like philosophers (and their work) have a smugness about them that I find distasteful, which was true for the portions of this book that devolved into arguments or monologues about whether or not Jesus Christ laughed.
That said, I did find the plot compelling enough to finish the book. At times, it lulled, but the mystery was sufficiently mysterious to keep me reading. There was humor to be had, too; a 14th century monk talking about a perpetual motion machine made me chuckle. The ending was fascinating, and I genuinely couldn't put the book down at the last 70 pages or so. I'm sure there's some kind of allegory there, or other kind of metaphor or lesson, but even without the background to be able to understand it, I still enjoyed the plot for what it was.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Homophobia, Sexual content, Blood, and Islamophobia
Minor: Confinement and Torture
dprice805's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder
deparme's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Suicide, and Murder
Moderate: Homophobia, Religious bigotry, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Animal death, Misogyny, and Torture