Reviews tagging 'Islamophobia'

The Name Of The Rose by Umberto Eco

8 reviews

cjm1701's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Misogyny, and Islamophobia

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Homophobia, Sexual content, Blood, and Islamophobia

Minor: Confinement and Torture

iirreeaadd's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

This book is long and overwritten. I found myself skimming or simply skipping chunks of this book that were basically long lists of things that were not relevant to the plot of the book at all. Despite this, I found the core murder mystery plot of the book to be engrossing, as well as the reasons for it. I was able to finish the book fairly quickly and felt engaged throughout as I wanted to know what happens next. It's definitely a bit dense at points but overall I found it a good read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Homophobia, Sexual content, Suicide, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, and Colonisation

laurajeangrace's review against another edition

challenging informative mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Moderate: Confinement, Homophobia, Sexism, Sexual content, and Islamophobia

Minor: War

directorpurry's review

challenging dark reflective slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Minor: Torture

seanml's review against another edition

challenging dark informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

A very well-written story, centered on a mysterious death at a Catholic abbey in the 1320s, and the two monks that set to uncover the truth. Despite its length, I thought this book was very well written (Or perhaps, translated since it was originally published in Italian) and goes by quickly. However, if one half of this book is mystery, the other half (And I’m not exaggerating: 50% of the narrative at least) is all theological discussion in the setting of medieval Italy. If that doesn’t sound very interesting to you, brace yourself. And even if that does sound interesting, brace yourself even further because with medieval Abrahamic religion comes intense, indoctrinated misogyny. Is it culturally and historically, accurate? Perhaps. Does the author actually believe in the evil of women? Luckily, no. Nevertheless you’ll encounter multiple sections where monks preach the evils of womanhood, all while the abbey is beset by lies and murder. But as our main characters trudge on, they must ask: Where is the goodness of their God? Where is the justice in His cosmic plan? The answer becomes less and less confident. Equal parts mystery, equal parts Catholic history, equal parts theological skepticism, I thought this was a captivating story. 8/10.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Sexism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Homophobia, Suicide, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, Outing, and Classism

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Dementia, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

sherbertwells's review against another edition

adventurous challenging informative mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

As the apocalypse looms, two monks investigate the lethal secrets of a wealthy abbey. One of those books which is more smart than enjoyable, but mystery fans will love the labyrinthine plot and fellow nerds will admire the semiotic shenanigans.

“It is a hard thing for this old monk, on the threshold of death, not to know whether the letter he has written contains some hidden meaning, or more than one, or many, or none at all” (610)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Moderate: Gore, Misogyny, Sexual content, Suicide, and Blood

Minor: Animal death, Drug use, Torture, and Islamophobia

benasbooks's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Racism, Sexual content, Suicide, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Minor: Confinement, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Torture, and Islamophobia