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The Name of the Rose
I recently joined this group and was very pleased to find that The Name of the Rose is next in the queue. It has been at the top of my list for quite some time and always seems to get passed over for something less daunting.I will check it out of my local library today!
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Some info about the book:The Name of the Rose is a historical murder mystery set in an Italian monastery in 1327. It's described (on the author's website and in Wikipedia) as "an intellectual mystery combining semiotics in fiction, biblical analysis, medieval studies and literary theory." According to the author's website, "Eco's celebrated story combines elements of detective fiction, metaphysical thriller, post-modernist puzzle and historical novel in one of the few twentieth-century books which can be described as genuinely unique."
The book was originally published in Italian in 1980. It has been translated into dozens of languages and quickly became a modern classic. The English translation was published in 1983. The story has also been turned into a film, "The Name of the Rose" from 1986, directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud and starring Sean Connery as William Baskerville and Christian Slater as Adso of Melk.
About the author:Umberto Eco is a world renowned novelist, medievalist, philosopher, semiotician and literary critic.He was born in Alessandria, Italy on January 5th, 1932.
Eco is still best known for his novel Il nome della rosa (The Name of the Rose) which was published in 1980. His 1988 novel Foucault's Pendulum could be described as a "thinking man's Da Vinci Code".
Currently, Umberto Eco is President of the Scuola Superiore di Studi Umanistici, University of Bologna.
In addition, he has written a multitude of academic texts, children’s books, and essays. He was also voted 2nd in Prospect Magazine's 2005 global poll of the world's top 100 intellectuals.
(From Wikipedia and Eco's website, where you can go for more information about Eco and his works.)
Oh, I'd really love to join this reading, too. And I'd especially love to dive into this huge book again. But I don't know if I'll manage to read along (with exams coming up now). I hope I will. :)
I want to read this book with the group but I'm still waiting on it to come to the library for me so I might get a bit of a late start.
Okay, I'm cruising along with this one and I'm so happy this was picked!Great start Katri. Love the background info. I know of the movie, but never made the connection to the book! Funny. Now I want to see it.
I've always heard this was The Da Vinci Code before there as a Da Vinci Code; however, I'm not seeing the similarities. (I've read Foucault's Pendulum and that one IS the Da Vinci Code, but on steroids.)I liken this story more to Angels & Demons (if we have to liken it to a Dan Brown book), mixed with The Pillars of the Earth, with a dash of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. I have expect to read "It's elementary, my dear Adso" from Brother William at any moment!
I find that this based on true events a little fascinating. It reads like a crime fiction, but I have no reason to doubt Eco's own words. My studies in art history and architecture both make what's written here fairly accurate. And after reading Dante's Inferno, I already knew about the political climate (Italy's politics were in great upheaval) and the relationship with the church.
Okay, not to give any spoilers, but does anyone have a guess of "who dun it?"[My bet is on the blind dude.:]
I suck at guessing who dun it even in much simpler mysteries than this, so I'm definitely not going to try. :D I anyway like it better when I can't guess it beforehand! I do have a list in my head of who is going to get killed yet, though, and we'll see if I'm right. ;-)I'm really really enjoying this, too. I haven't been so psyched to read a book in quite a while.
Oh that could be another question. "Who do you think is going to get it next?!" I've been on a mystery kick since reading Miss Marple in November. Now I'm trying to find clues in things where there are no clues. But it makes the books more fun!
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I sort of feel dirty trying to compare Eco to Dan Brown, but having a very limited personal experience with Brown makes it difficult for me to comment fully. The biggest attack on Brown is the lack of historical fact backing his stories, or things that he passes off as fact which most any armchair historian can tell you is incorrect information. Eco, on the other hand, takes a lot of historical fact and context and uses it to weave his story. I'm not saying he doesn't take literary licenses also, but he does it in a way that could be realistic, as in he doesn't change the reality of certain things. The complaint I hear most often about Brown is he does change reality - and his education on Freemasonry is apparently highly flawed.Okay, sorry for the digression.
Eco is certainly not a writer one would consider a beach read. I read Name of the Rose first when I was about 15 or 16 for a history class and wrote a paper and all, but now at 31 I'm glad I'm taking the time to re-read it. Obviously my reading habits have matured over the past 15 years or so, and my education has grown. I enjoyed and appreciated the story in high school, but now as an "adult" I am enjoying and appreciating it even more because I understand a lot of the historical context, and a lot of the political jabs were lost on me entirely the first time around. So this is good, and wish I had more time to sit down with it for extended periods of time. I just finished the first part. I feel like I'm dragging my feet!
Having read the book and watched the movie a few times I'm going to refrain from the "whodunnit" discussion so as to avoid letting anything slip. I love William and his way of coming to conclusions, and I love that the story is being told from Adso's perspective as an onlooker and participant, as if we, the readers, are in his position looking on. It makes William a larger-than-life character in a lot of ways.
Yeah. I think the problem people have with Brown is that the lay person took what he wrote as fact, which is a problem with historical fiction. What is based on truth and what is literary tweaking? But I can understand why Eco was upset. He had been writing these kind of stories for decades before Brown and then everyone else heralded Brown as this avante garde writer of religious historical fiction. I kind of wish I could read Italian though. I've noticed that his stories are similarily written but there is a difference between translators. So while I found Foucault extremely cerebral, I am finding Rose much more digestable. And I'm curious to know if it is due to the writer or the translator.I agree with you Ed though on William. And it is interesting having the story told through Adso. What I find most interesting is how these two very different monks (William is Franciscan and Adso Benedictine) developed such a great relationship and report.
I find it interesting the clashes between the monestaries and the Church (the bishops and cardinals and even the pope at times). You saw that much more evident in Pillars, but I understand why much better from this story. To see how these monks had so much power due to their ability to read and write. It makes me think that the printing press really had a hand in their ultimate decline in stature.
I had read Eco's intro, and vaguely remember him talking about the timeline of everything (something about the herbs and the medicine book being farther along the timeline than when this story took place)?Anyone know about the compass and eye glasses and mirrors? I know I could google it, but I'm too lazy at the moment. I find it interesting that what we take as so extremely ordinary today were carefully guarded so the "simple" wouldn't decry witchcraft (and some did call it magic, just 'good' magic). Kind of makes me think that magic did exist, just not the Harry Potter kind. But when new inventions were discovered that moment of when old beliefs were turned into new ones must have been amazing.
This kind of makes me think of the movie Avatar and how everyone is just raving about all the new technological advances Cameron made. And yet, somehow, it's almost ordinary. It is amazing that he did it, but the details of this technology are above my understanding and so I don't appreciate it at all. It's almost so expected that these things happen now that the "magic" of what he's created is lost (or at least diminished) on me.
The world must have been like babies then, where everything was so startling and new.
In addition, he has written a multitude of academic texts, children’s books, and essays. He was also voted 2nd in Prospect Magazine's 2005 global poll of the world's top 100 intellectuals.I can't imagine the kind of children's books he would write. I wonder if your child would have to be a Doogie Howser or Baby Einstein to appreciate it?! (kidding)
Eco wrote a book called Mouse or Rat on the art of translation that you might be interested in Meghan. I'm still at the beginning of this but am already enjoying it so much! Eco is a very witty writer. His introduction was really interesting too, regarding how he fled the soviets into Austria with this huge untranslated and captivating manuscript in tow. I never really knew much about Eco's background, but it sounds like he's had a pretty exciting life himself.
oh, also saw the movie when I was about 8... so it's been awhile. Hopefully long enough that I don't recall all the twists and turns. I recall it being really well done though.
Does anyone know who was the friend he was traveling with (and had the subsequent falling out with and who took the manuscript)? I found that to be almost too good to be true.
Arctic wrote: "Eco wrote a book called Mouse or Rat on the art of translation that you might be interested in Meghan.Awesome! Thanks. It sounds really interesting, especially since we just finished up Sijie's book too. I like how it talked about that it's not just language but culture as well.
I think that some translation miss that concept--I found that when I read Marquez's love in the time of cholera. There seemed to be some errors when I was reading it, but then it was pointed out to me that culturally, it made not translate as well into English.
Meghan wrote: "But I can understand why Eco was upset. He had been writing these kind of stories for decades before Brown and then everyone else heralded Brown as this avante garde writer of religious historical fiction."Yeah, I agree. I found Da Vinci Code fun fluff, but Eco's books are obviously as a different caliber, and it must be frustrating when people think Dan Brown found out all this stuff when in fact he was just putting into thriller form something that had come out ages ago, and didn't do it in an especially educated way, one could say. And Dan Brown's books like representing these theories as great facts and awesome historical conspiracies, whereas Eco is a lot more conscientious to represent different sides to the story and ponder how much we can really know etc.
I'm finding fascinating all these things about the clashes between religious sections, powers of priests, monasteries, the Pope and the Emperor, etc. At a first sight it might seem very far removed from our time, but when you actually read what William and Adso discuss, you realise how eternal these things are. The forms change, but humans are always forming power blocs and rebellious sects, blaming each other for heresies and so on. I feel (which is probably the mark of good literature and good historical ficton) that reading about these far-off events makes me better understand similar events in our time.
And at the same time I'm anxiously waiting to find out who dies next. :D I'll refrain from speculating, though, because speculating about those things might make someone actually spill out who has already died where they are, and we're at different places in the book.
I simply love Foucault's Pendulum. It's one of my all time favorites. I saw the comparison between Eco and Brown for that story, but I agree, Eco is much more an historical writer. Altough, Brown doesn't do that bad a job either. Being an arthistorian myself, I kind of tend to focus on the historical details. What Brown wrote and speculated about (okay really soft spot for Leonardo and I consider myself as bit of a connaisseur on Da Vinci) Da Vinci and in Angels and Demons about Bernini wasn't to far of if you consider the gents biography. It was obvious to me that Brown at least did extensive research in the artists biographies. But...Eco is in another league. SPOILER
If you consider the details that he mentions in the Name of the Rose not only about the art in Sankt-Gallen monastry but also in his knowledge of herbology, his vast knowledge of the benedictan and franciscan orders, I mean he is just an amazing author. I really like the part when friar William points the men in the direction of the horse Brunellas...utterly brilliant. But, and this is were Eco really excells, by giving so much details and correct details I might add, he gives is stories credibility. And that's just the genius of Eco (sorry that I'm ranting on about him, but he really is just my favourite contemporary author), he puts us on a track with real details and blends in the fiction. And we believe part of it, until he goes way of track like in the end of Foucaults pendulum.
I'm actually listening to an english audiobook version of in the name of the rose, and really enjoying it. I've read the story a long time ago and saw the movie once (Sean Connery!).
I agree with you Katri, that the parts about the religious sections are completely fascinating, but also very complicated.
I just love it that we are reading this one now! :))
I feel stupid asking this, but in the intro of the book, is Eco writing about himself, or is he explaining something to come in his novel? After the first time reading the intro, I came to the conclusion that he was writing about himself and his own manuscript, but he may as well be writing about another manuscript?Excuse me if I offend any of you with my ignorance.
I got this from wikipedia about the characters' names. I thought it was kind of interesting."The name of the central character, William of Baskerville, alludes both to the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes (compare The Hound of the Baskervilles) and to William of Ockham (see the next section). William's physical description and manner closely parallel those of Holmes. The name of the narrator, his apprentice Adso, is among other things a pun on Simplicio from Galileo Galilei's Dialogue; Adso = ad Simplicio ("to Simplicio"). The name Adso also compares closely to the name of Sherlock Holmes's investigative partner, Watson."
My intepretation of the intro was to give the reader the idea of how this book came into being--that the author had this mysterious manuscript only to lose it again, etc. It implied that the author was basing the following story on truth, but a truth that could not be proven (since the missing manuscript was the only one of its kind). The author is never mentioned, but the intro is dated 1980, which is the year that Eco published the book, so I assumed it was his story. But I'm not sure if it's just an imagined author as this story is a blend of fact with fiction.My book did not have a postscript, but I did read that the postscript was written several years after this book was written because there was so much speculation over this book. Eco gave his version of what he was "up to" with it. It may explain more about the intro.
Kristel wrote: "I simply love Foucault's Pendulum. It's one of my all time favorites. I saw the comparison between Eco and Brown for that story, but I agree, Eco is much more an historical writer. Alt..."You know what I liked best about William? Was that he wasn't just a "know-it-all". When he explained to Adso about the horse, he told him that it was all based on conjecture. Taking the little facts around him and creating a hypothesis and only when he saw the monks, did he feel confident it was correct. However, he still wasn't 100% sure. I also liked that he wasn't fallible. That in the end, he probably contributed to the death of the cellarer and of course the library. He wasn't perfect and didn't try to act like it. It was a nice change of pace.
The intro definitely doesn't refer to anything in the novel - but I don't know if it's a truthful story about the author and the writing of the book, either. It made me think of all those 18th century novels where the author would explain in a preface how they got all these letters into their possession and now decide to publish them for the common good etc. even though they were writing something completely fictional. It would strike me as very Eco-like to do something similar just because there is a tradition in literature to do that. Or perhaps it's true. I haven't found information either way.My book also doesn't have the postscript, so I haven't been able to read that. Will need to see if any Finnish translations of the book have it...
I finished the book a few days ago and totally loved it. I'm eager to get to discuss it, but we probably should wait until there are a few people who've finished it before beginning a really spoilery discussion. Well, gives me time to think up discussion questions!
Katri: Did you read the book in Finnish? I was very unsure about whether to read it in Norwegian or English, because it is very few Norwegian translators that I truly like. My edition doesn't have a post-script either, but I will also try to look it up later.
I read it in Finnish. I thought the translation was quite good; can't say about the Norwegian, of course. I tend to read so many books I can only get in English or other foreign languages that I mostly choose a Finnish translation if there's a decent one available. Translators should be supported, anyway, to the extent that they're doing a good job of it. :-)
I have a tendency to choose English even if it's not the original language, because I have this idea of Norwegian that it's an inferior language. It's just a complex, I suppose, and I should try to overcome it. I really like the New-Norwegian translation of Ensemble, c'est Tout by Anna Gavalda, mostly because New-Norwegian is a richer language and compliments French better than Norwegian, but not many books are translated to New-Norwegian :(Sorry for spinning this off-topic. Thanks for clearing up the intro-thing, it was really confusing me. So far I'm really enjoying The Name of The Rose, it's a long time since I've read such a complex novel.
Hmm. No offence meant, but I find that a really odd way to think (though it's certainly not the first time I hear it). No language is inferior to another! Certainly in non-English countries the media propagate the idea of English as being somehow cooler and fancier than other languages, but in my opinion it's absolutely rubbish. All languages are intriguing, expressive and beautiful in their own ways. In my country one can find such an attitude just as easily, but I find my language entirely fascinating. I don't speak Norwegian, but I've studied Swedish and find it quite a lovely and poetic language. So don't underestimate your own language! Of course those who make poor translations don't really help make their language look any better. In Finnish this also happens; there are a lot of badly translated books, and the TV programmes are abysmal; and I have a great love for musical theatre but Finnish musical translations are so horrible that they easily make theatre-goers think Finnish is a clumsy and poor language that isn't suited for music, though it's really just a matter of some people not knowing how to use it!
Ahem, sorry for going even more off-topic. It's just that languages are a passion for me; and as much love as I have for the English language, I'm also concerned about it sweeping away the appreciation for other languages, including appreciation of many non-English-natives for their own language.
As I said, it's probably just a complex, and I am trying to overcome it as good as I can. I read a lot of Norwegian literature, and I write mostly in my own language, but I sometimes feel handicapped when it comes to wanting a word in Norwegian, but can only find the English one.
Well, that happens when you're working with any language, because they have the words for different things. I sometimes can't find in Finnish the word I know in English (or another language) which suits the situation perfectly, sometimes I can't find a word in English that exists in Finnish. Though English has a particularly rich vocabulary, I think, which may be why it comes up especially often in that direction...Speaking of languages, there are quite a lot of Latin passages in The Name of the Rose. How did you others feel about them? It took me until the middle of the book to realise there actually were translations for them in the back of the book, but still I didn't find them distracting even though my Latin is very poor (mostly gathered from church music I've sang at my choir!). They were usually well enough explained by the contest.
Even though I'm usually annoyed when novels set in another language environment feel a need to put lots of words in that language even though the text is otherwise in another language, e.g. novels set in France but written in English where the author feels a compulsion to put in random French words to show that they're in France, even though the whole dialogue is as though translated. But in this case it fit - perhaps because it tended to be straight quotations they were saying in Latin, or set phrases among such Biblical scholars, and something they would probably quote in Latin even if they were speaking another language. Which is not the case with the novels where the characters are randomly crying out "Voilà!" and "Je t'adore, mon chéri!" ;-)
Oh Katri, you are so lucky for those translations! I'm quite jealous :) My book had nothing and so it was REALLY hard (I hate it when I don't know what I'm reading). Some of it I could garner from context and most I felt didn't leave me out in the dark if I didn't know what it was. But I couldn't sit there and google every one! I do wonder if I knew what every one meant, if I would gain some "insider knowledge" or joke.I need to find a better version for this one (that includes the postscript). My poor copy must have been a cheap copy because the glue that held the binding dried up and disintegrated while I was reading it.
Hmm, based on some material I read online at least some English translations also have the translations for the Latin bits, but maybe some editions have left it out. In my opinion you don't miss out on any essential material without them, though; the dialogue around it always explains the most important things, but of course it enrichens your reading if you can understand it.
Karina, I'm a native dutch-speaker myself. There's only about 15 million of us in the world speaking Dutch, so I know the feeling. But, really, you shouldn't feel that Norwegian is inferior to English. I don't speak Norwegian, but it's also a German language, quite similar in his built up as Dutch. So therefore...my language is an interesting one and yours definitely is :) Besides, in a country which ones had rulers of Europe living in it no one should feel inferior about there language. English only became the lingua Franca because of Britannia ruling the waves at the right time and age...consider that for a change. If the Vikings had come later in history, we all would be speaking Norwegian now.Apologies for going way of topic.
Haha, Kristel. That's probably true. Norwegian has been altered a lot, especially when Denmark ruled Norway and banned everyone from writing anything but Danish. Norwegian sounds very different from Danish, but looks mostly the same in written text. I like New-Norwegian better. A man named Ivar Aasen traveled through the entire country collecting the different dialects and based New-Norwegian on the true core of our language. I don't speak New-Norwegian, though, since I'm from the south, but people from the north speak it.
Megan, that's because he's also a great scolar, and I get the feeling that he sometimes forgets that he's writing a novel for a big audience in stead of a theoretical paper for university. That might be his only flaw as an author.
I could not get into this book. From page 1 it felt like a translation. Yes, I know, it is a translation -- but I shouldn't be able to tell. Then again, if the language remains as stiff and academic as some of the other comments suggest, perhaps it wouldn't matter if it had a better translator.
I have to say that I like the extra meat on the bones of this book. Eco is an intelligent guy and I appreciate that he doesn't feel the need to water anything down for readers. As with any of his books, reading them takes patience. It's not easy to breeze through his books, this one being no exception. I find that it is accessible, even with all the history, language and symbolism I might not understand. A lot of it can be grasped through context (as with the Latin phrases as mentioned above) which again just takes some patience, and which I again believe shows Eco's skills as a writer. He's like that one history teacher in school that makes learning history fun, even if it isn't always easy. I don't think Eco goes out of his way to write above his readers' heads, but he certainly expects his readers to put a little work into it as well.
Karina wrote: "I have a tendency to choose English even if it's not the original language, because I have this idea of Norwegian that it's an inferior language. It's just a complex, I suppose, and I should try to..."Karina, I know that I'm ignorant, but please tell me about New Norwegian. How new is it and how does it differ from Norwegian? I was really curious when I read your post.
El wrote: "I have to say that I like the extra meat on the bones of this book. Eco is an intelligent guy and I appreciate that he doesn't feel the need to water anything down for readers. As with any of his..."I totally agree with what you said. And as to what Kristel said a bit earlier - I don't think Eco precisely forgets who he's writing for - it's more that he doesn't really try to write for any other audience than whoever will enjoy that style of writing, whether it's a big audience or a small one. I remember hearing that he wrote the first 100 pages difficult on purpose, because he only wanted to write that book for the kind of people who would get through those pages and still remain interested. I didn't even find those pages difficult, but I can how it wouldn't be appealing to someone else. And I don't think Eco meant it as being a judgement of those readers who wouldn't enjoy the first 100 pages - it's just a fact that not all people are interested in the same things, not all books are for everyone, and this book has the most to give to people who are able to get through all the scholarly discussion and philosophical ponderings and detailed descriptions and find something interesting in them. I was all psyched about them, but then, I am a huge big geek and a lover of wordy descriptions and obscure discussions. It's not for everyone.
I find it fascinating that as geeky and wordy as this book is, it has become so popular. Perhaps many people are thirsty for honestly intelligent and scholarly books which try to say important things about life and humanity but which still have exciting and thrilling elements, too.
Meghan: I assume you meant to refer to what Katri said.Elizabeth: you can actually read everything about new-norwegian on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nynorsk. :)
Haha, you don't have to blame anything, Meghan.I wish I could have agreed with Katri and Kristel, though. I really want to like this book, but I'm not that interested in 14th century monks and the disputes between them. Maybe this book is just too smart for me.
The only thing I'm excited about is that I found Waldo on page 73.
Meghan wrote: "The name of the central character, William of Baskerville, alludes both to the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes..." Ha! you totally called it on the Holmes reference Meghan. good eye.and completely agree on the majority assessment of Eco. He takes the art of writing to another level with his knowledge and wordplay.
about the intro - the date at the end had me thinking that it was written by Eco. However, my infallible google results suggest that the preface is indeed fictional made to look factual, which fits. but which is too bad because I really was quite impressed with his little authorian research adventure. ah well. won't be taking anything else for granted then.
I don't have a postscript or a latin appendix in my copy. :( I took a couple of years of latin but my skills are a bit rusty and I have to say, an appendix would be really nice to have.
at some point we'll have to talk about this if anyone's up to it...sounds pretty interesting: (from Wikipedia)"Eco is a pioneer of Reader Response theory and the idea of the ‘open’ text. He often focuses on the reader's role in creating the meaning and experience of a literary work. He combines this with the science of Semiotics, the study of sign processes and the creation and interpretation of symbols. Eco uses the process of solving the murders as an extended metaphor for a reader’s experience of interpreting a text. William’s search for the truth is a reflection of Post-modernist ideas on the relativistic nature of truth and meaning in this process."
There's some good commentary on The Name of The Rose as a postmodern novel, too, but it's kind of spoilerish. Apparently Eco states in his postscript though that "books always speak of other books, and every story tells a story that has already been told." I think this is pretty telling of him as a writer.
Also, is anyone familiar with the story of "The Vizier Who Was Punished" from The Arabian Nights? might make for some interesting supplementary reading.
Arctic wrote: "Apparently Eco states in his postscript though that "books always speak of other books, and every story tells a story that has already been told.""I haven't been able to read the postscript, but the book itself contained some similar ideas. I can't remember at all in which part of the book it was - I read the entire second half of it within a couple of days so it all meshes together in my head a bit when it comes to the thoughts and not just the plot developemnts - but there's one part where Adso thinks about the library and suddenly realises that all the books there are conversing with one another, and the books are all commenting on other books. And somehow reading that gave me some kind of an enlightment about books and all other stories - about how all of my favourite books and plays and everything communicate with each other. Not just the obvious things, so that Rebecca comments on Jane Eyre and The Thirteenth Tale comments on them both (anyone who's read these three books can probably see the intertextuality), but really every book comments on the many many other books in a great many ways, also when the connection is less obvious. So many many other books that don't seem at all like it also communicate with Jane Eyre and countless other books.
Speaking of books, already a while ago in the discussion for some other book, someone pointed out that a great many of our selected books have been about books in some way, and obviously this is yet another and says a great deal about books and their meaning to humankind. Why do you think we end up reading such books so often? Because books just are so important to writers, readers and humans that they often come up in other books? Because Gilmore Girls as a series would often reference books that are about books because such would be enchanting to Rory? Or because we as readers also gravitate towards those books, being that we love books so much?
(I'm not going to count how many times I wrote "books" here!)
I am about half way through the book, and I am really enjoying it so far. I am also glad that he didn't water his writing down. However, I am frustrated with the latin. My copy does not have any appendix or notes. I wish I knew beforehand and I would of brought a different edition...
The Rory Gilmore Book Club
Books mentioned in this topic
The Key to The Name of the Rose: Including Translations of All Non-English Passages (other topics)Postscript to the Name of the Rose (other topics)
The Pillars of the Earth (other topics)
The Da Vinci Code (other topics)
Foucault’s Pendulum (other topics)
More...
I haven't yet read the book myself (though I have started, and am enjoying it a great deal) so like most of you probably, I'm getting to know it the first time now. I hope to be able to finish the book reasonably early so that I will be able to think up some discussion questions by the time many people have read the book and there can be a discussion.
I was thinking of breaking the book into two parts as it's rather long, but decided against it because I at least am doing a pretty good progress of it so hopefully it's not too slow-going for most of you either; and anyway as it has a mystery structure - even though it's about a lot more than just the whodunnit - it would make particularly little sense to discuss it in parts, I think.
I will soon be posting information about the book and the author.