Name of the Rose: Prologue - Second Day

[Alana]

I'm posting this a couple of days early but I didn't want to forget! Please post your thoughts for the first section of the book.

[Alana]

So I've just read the little introduction/explanation before the prologue and I'm already intrigued. So this is a copy of a copy of a copy of a manuscript, written in various languages, about a situation that might have happened in the fourteenth century? Is that really true (the author's account, I mean) or is it a literary device made up by the author to give a mere tale a certain level of "authenticity" or legendary quality? Or am I just reading too much into that because a lot of authors use devices like that today?

[Alana]

I'm actually impressed with how much I'm enjoying this. I actually did a "class" of sorts a couple of months ago which talked about a lot of the intrigues and goings-on of the Church (both East and West) during the timeframe being discussed. While I don't remember all of it (too many names!) just having some names and circumstances that ring a bell is really helping me to understand the politics and mindsets going on in the background. Who knew monastery life could be so thrilling?

[Alana]

Somehow this ended up being one of a string of murder-related books I've picked up recently. I'm not sure what that says about me...

I keep wondering all kinds of things, though, based on the timing of the publication of the book, and the implications he makes about the time of writing and also about the time of the original happenings. Sherlock Holmes and the detective genre as such did not exist in the time of Adso and company (playing the part of Watson to William's Holmes?), so I'm wondering how much of that is "added" to the story from the modern perspective. The aspects forensics and deductive reasoning are certainly all in play.

And maybe it's the recent study into Church history that I've made, or just my own spiritual background, but I'm actually finding what should by all rights be tedious forays into religious debates actually quite entertaining and even enlightening. The differing ideas of those in even the Catholic church alone in that era are not so different from the differing ideas among today's denominations. I didn't know how much I had in common (or how different I am from) some of these characters.

[Jennifer]

Glad to see that you are enjoying this one Alana. I hope to start the book tomorrow and contributed to the conversation.

[Alana]

I had to put it down for several days due to sheer busyness, but I hope to pick it back up soon. I think enjoyment of this one will probably depend a great deal on the individual's interest in the time period, religious politics, and crime solving in general. I'm finding it fascinating, but I can imagine others finding it incredibly tedious and boring if the subject matter isn't appealing to them. Don't let my enjoyment deter anyone from expressing any opposing thoughts, I welcome them! :)

[Alana]

Curiouser and courioser! Some more tedious sections near the end of this first section, but some real mysteries are arising! (Spoilers for this section!) They finally enter the forbidden library (seriously, how bizarre is that whole situation?!) and get lost in the labyrinth, but see some cool Indiana Jones-esque trickery along the way. Plus, we've got all this cryptography going on, making it feel more like a Dan Brown novel, with a quest for the Holy Grail at the end. Plus, two dead monks (looking like a third), a mysterious missing book, some "shenanigans" between the monks, and WAY too many secrets for even an order of monks in a convent with vows of silence! Not to mention the politics of arranging the meeting with the Pope's intermediaries and the other groups, plus Christmas coming on. All this in the first third of the book!

[Mike]

I am with you Alana on the tedious comment. The word I was going to use was pedantic. The main character, William, doesn't ring quite true for me as a 14th inquisitor...

[Alana]

I'm enjoying the story, I just don't find it all realistic for the time period. William is way too moderate and forward-thinking for the time. He "knows too much," and seems wiser than he really should be.