A review by katdid
The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco

3.0

Don’t know how to describe this novel without using the word “weird”, except it’s not weird in a David Lynch way; just that it seems like such a strange mix of things. But then I was talking about it to a friend who described it as a product of its time. I said that I didn’t think it would get published today, let alone turned into a film(!) — and then I saw that it’s been re-made as a series(!!), so what do I know anyway. Murder-mystery set in a 14th century Italian abbey with a LOT of theological discussion — whole pages of it. I mean, really? And yet I did find the ending pretty satisfying to be honest. I was on the brink of giving up on this countless times ‘cause my kindle told me I’d only read say 30% and I could not imagine sticking with it twice over again. But it turns out that the ebook version I read had crazy formatting so that the novel ended, then came the preface(?!), and THEN the novel repeated itself all over again. Unless that was Eco’s intention, as a kind of 1980s version of Ali Smith. At any rate, I was stoked to hit like 52% and realise that I’d finished.