Book Review: THE NAME OF THE ROSE by Umberto Eco

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


"The young no longer want to study anything, learning is in decline, the whole world walks on its head, blind men lead others equally blind and cause them to plunge into the abyss..."

So starts this awe-inspiring novel, one that has been a “must-read” for every wannabe intellectual college freshman out there.

I remember buying a secondhand copy of this book after two of my college crushes either carried this novel to class or mentioned it was their favorite when I “casually” inquired after their favorite book. To my dismay, I found that the language was too dense for me to penetrate, at that time. :’(

Fast forward 15 years, and I was FINALLY able to finish it!!! But to be perfectly honest, it was more out of sheer determination, rather than love for the text.

What’s not to love? A medieval monastery where monks start dying, one by one, sounds like the plot of a blockbuster film! However, I had a HUGE problem with the pacing. This is a mystery intermingled with pages upon pages of theological, philosophical, artistic and historical discussions. I remember one chapter in particular where the author waxed poetic about a church door. For basically the entire chapter!!! Now this is all very well and good, had it not it been for the fact that these extra pages did nothing to advance the flow of the story. From a dramatic point of view, the plot suffered as a result of these dialogues and diatribes. I'm all for intermingling genres but I felt like the story could have been told more efficiently in half the number of pages.

Still, I thought the concluding scene was sheer genius! I felt it more than made up for any pacing problems, it had me shrieking and gasping in my room!

I particularly appreciated the care with which the author illustrated the historical context of the novel: 14th century Catholic Europe was torn apart by the Avignon Papacy, which led to the Western Schism. Church history has always been interesting to me, I’m forever wondering how one man’s teachings can have 33,000 different interpretations today.

Umberto Eco writes: “Fear prophets, and those prepared to die for the truth, for as a rule they make many others die with them, often before them, at times instead of them.”

This novel still feels very timely, when read as a warning on the political nature of truth and how authority figures seek to control or conceal it.

I’m looking forward to watching the Sean Connery film version of the book! Here's hoping the novel translated better as a film. And apparently there's a new German-Italian TV mini series out this month! See trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpQ_l...




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