From the Bookshelf of Constant Reader…

The Name of the Rose

Umberto Eco

Start date: December 1, 2009

Finish date: January 1, 2010

Discussion: Classics Corner

Discussion leader: Whitaker

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What Members Thought

Oct 09, 2009 Mounir rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: a-to-re-read

Very interesting book. Can be read for entertainment or for intellectual purposes. Many levels of interpretation. Mixture of historical, philosphical, detective, religious novel.

12 likes · Like · see review

Oct 10, 2007 Gail rated it really liked it

Shelves: suspense, historical-fiction-medieval

I read The Name of the Rose twice, about 20 years apart. The first time I read it, I found it somewhat confusing and esoteric, with a strange plot resolution. The second time I found it still a bit confusing, but the plot resolution was much clearer, and I had become more familiar with things medieval and monastic in the intervening years. The book is an excellent read for those interested in the medieaval period or interested in exploring the huge part, for good or ill, that religion can play i ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Apr 19, 2011 Robert marked it as books-i-stopped-reading

I really can't rate this book; I didn't get very far and I disliked it so intensely that I chose not to continue. I have to find characters that I like or that engage me in some way that makes me want to stay with them and share my time with them. I came to the book with a lot of very bad feelings about the role of the church in the politics of the Middle Ages, their prosecution of the Inquisition, and the widespread corruption that characterized a significant portion of the priesthood of the ti ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Feb 17, 2012 Inder rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, history, 1001-books, alltimefaves, 20th-century, italy, books, europe

My brother expressed interest in reading this, which of course inspired me to start rereading it. I was instantly reminded of how dense and difficult it can be, but also how worthwhile and amazing. It is not an easy book, by any definition, but it is so rich and rewarding. I mean, it's not just a mystery novel, it's an immersion course in 13th and 14th century history and theology. And it's not just one of the most ambitious historical novels ever written, it's a whodunnit!

Now the question is w ...more

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Aug 04, 2009 Rashida added it · review of another edition

Shelves: literary-history, unrankable

This book is dense. I cannot pretend to have understood everything. Which I'm still trying to decide if that's good or bad? Is it a mark of something that will take many reads and lead to richness of understanding as different insights are reached? Or is it just pretentious? Something that folks will say is excellent because it will make it appear they are smart? It reminded me a lot of the experience of reading My Name Is Red, just 10 times more so. There were times when I just had to let the p ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jan 12, 2008 Magda rated it it was amazing

GREAT Thriller!!! (Watched the movie with Sean Connery also) William of Baskerville arrives at an abbey and gets involved in solving the deaths of several monks. The abbey, the mysterious monks, the Inquisition, and William's great deductive and analytical mind in solving the crimes makes this a very thrilling read! ...more

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Feb 06, 2013 Nanci Svensson rated it really liked it

Shelves: satire-humor, fave-fiction, spirituality-religion, philosophy, pop-culture

I love Eco and I thoroughly enjoy his masturbatory euro-bitchy need to be both extremely high brow AND clever. This is a fun book with lots of meta-quirks, but you can tell he was just warming up his name dropping skills here in order to write his pièce de resistance Foucault's pendulum.... ...more

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