Before I read this, I read somewhere that it is considered the thinking man's Da Vinci Code. I don't know if that's true because I've never read the Da Vinci Code, but it seems like it could be the case. I know this is supposed to be a post modernist masterpiece about relativism and the nature of truth and how books speak to other books. BUT. I just read it for the whodunit, and because I have a history degree and enjoyed all the medieval stuff. SO it's very smart blah blah whatever but it's also very ENTERTAINING, which I (sometimes) find more important. ( )

Once I completed “Foucault’s Pendulum” I knew that I wanted to read more from Umberto Eco. And soon after picking up Mr. Eco’s first novel “In the Name of the Rose” I greedily devoured its contents. While not taking as many digressions as Mr. Eco’s later work, “In the Name of the Rose” does develop many tangents not inclusive but wholly in line with the murderous storyline. What I love most about Mr. Eco’s work is the relative esoteric history lesson one gets when reading, especially the story of Dolcino’s heresy. Hopefully, I’ll be picking up his next novel in the near future. ( )

Not uninteresting but blown way out of proportion. Umberto Eco is not the Messiah, he's a dull microcosmopolitan academic and nothing more. ( )

Let's get straight down to business: The Name of the Rose is a tough read. It is about equal parts history, theology, eschatology, literary criticism, and murder mystery. In short, you will almost certainly learn something new while reading it. However, Eco seems to presume a certain amount of knowledge on the part of the reader going in: I can barely imagine beginning this book without a passing familiarity with Catholic ecclesiastical history in general, and the Avignon papacy in particular. A very determined reader might overcome such a deficit, but my suspicion is that he would find considerable stretches of the narration disorienting, if not downright confounding.

However, I am hesitant to discourage anybody from giving it a shot, because the murder mystery aspect of the novel makes it a real page-turner. I ordinarily read at least two books at a time, but from the moment I picked up The Name of the Rose until the moment I finished it, I don't think I read a word from any other book.

The action is interrupted at regular intervals by (a) history lessons, in the form of supporting characters narrating their life stories, (b) theological arguments, in which various monks debate, among other things, the poverty of Christ, and (c) overlong descriptions of aesthetic objects. Although all of these interrupt the book's flow to some degree, only the last became truly tiresome. Look for it when Adso describes the doors of the church, the illuminations on Adelmo's manuscripts, and especially his dream.

The book contains a sex scene, which is problematic only because it feels a bit implausible, and accordingly, a bit tacked-on. This effect lasts only as long as you're reading the scene itself, because its fallout is subsequently woven satisfactorily into the balance of the plot. Still, it enters as a loose thread, and I can't help but think something more could have been done to integrate it organically in the first instance.

Adso, a novice monk of the Benedictine order, accompanies Brother William, a Franciscan friar, to an abbey with the task of religious/political negotiations. But a murder has occurred and Brother William, a master of logic in a Sherlock-esque mode, is called on to investigate. Over the course of the investigation, William and Adso encounter many mysteries: the past lives of the variant monks living at the abbey, a labyrinthine library that holds untold secrets, and signs of the Apocalypse.

I have been putting off reading this novel for quite some time. A discussion of this procrastination can be found here. One reason for my procrastination was fear of the length, which was overcome by my attraction to the Chunkster Challenge. Then, as fortune would have it, I joined the Take a Chance Challenge which called for me to read a book from 1980. Lo and behold, that is when Eco published The Name of the Rose = reason number two to read the novel. Then, while talking with Brandon, he recommended the book and that was the trifecta. And just today, I joined the R.I.P. IV Challenge and ta-da, it works for this too.

Brandon gave me a good piece of advice - read up on the history before reading the book - which I in my arrogance promptly ignored. I really should have. I probably would have gotten so much more out of the novel if I knew a bit of what was going on in Italy and around Europe at the time, especially as regards Papal and political history.

Of The Name of the Rose's 502 pages, I probably only fully comprehended half. This was not just a murder mystery, but also a lengthy discourse on religious politics, literary theory, the nature of truth, semiotics, logic, the validity of inquisitions, syllogisms, and history. I was fascinated even as I was confused. Overall though, the book is a good story with many and diverse characters, beautiful language, and intriguing philosophies. ( )