The Folio Society Limited Edition - The Name Of The Rose

One tends to think of the Dark Ages as a gloomy colourless period of restraint and oppression. Eco, however, shows that straining against the yokes of this repression is a vibrant, vivid and fantastical cast of characters. Styled as a "who-dunnit", this story is nevertheless a very realistic and accurate portrayal of 13th century Europe. (I have even seen The Name of the Rose on a recommended reading list for a university history course).

But besides been an accomplished writer, philosopher and historian, Eco has deep and extensive knowledge of Western Occult tradition, and, although the story takes place within the isolated confines of a Christian monastery, the dark secrets hidden within the depths are ever present adding a chilling realism to the unfolding plot.

To sample more of Eco's profound Occult knowledge, I'd recommend "Foucault's Pendulum", a polished forerunner of the "Da Vinci Code" genre.

The long and intricate dialogue does not make for fast reading, but if you put aside a cosy weekend, the plod will be well worth it in the end.

Ultimately this is a deeply philosophical book about the nature of truth. The conclusions are a bit too deconstructionist for my taste, but I think there are important things to consider here. I do not agree that there is no such thing as truth, but I do agree that truths are hard to come by, that even our most sacred scientific laws are approximations that have exceptions, that the world ultimately always defies our attempts to categorize it. Ultimately all we have are the particulars. The only certainties we can have are about particular things. General principles are useful, but they always fall short and there are no absolute truths. Still, I believe the search for order and meaning is worthwhile and useful. All I can say is that we should maintain a healthy doubt about our beliefs. I also agree with Eco that the search for absolute truths and the certainty some people feel that they posses absolute truths can be dangerous. Take life with a grain of salt and keep an open mind.
About more specific aspects of the book: though excellent there were places where it drags. All the talks of heresy contribute to the philosophical thrust of the book, but they are a little overdone for my taste.
Over all this is an excellent book for readers who have some interest in or prior knowledge of philosophical issues. Even if you do not agree with the overly-deconstructionist view (and I do not) you will be intrigued by how Eco uses most of what happens to address his main question which is namely: what is the nature of truth.
However, if you are not interested in the deeper issue and are looking for an historical mystery this book will not please. It is not really a mystery and is not an action book (in my opinion!).

"The Name of the Rose" has an interesting plot, lots of history, and some theological and philosophical questions for the reader to consider, but ultimately, it was too slow for me to ever really get into. The plot centers around two men trying to solve a string of murders in an abbey, and there are several suspenseful moments. However, there is also a lot of discussion between the two main characters and among the other monks in the abbey.

I noticed several other reviews here mention the Latin in the book. The Latin is untranslated, but even though I don't know the language, I was still able to follow the book. I'm sure having the companion book to "The Name of the Rose" would have enhanced my understanding of all the theological references and the Latin, but I was fine without it.

What it comes down to is how interesting you find theological debates, discussions of symbols, and religious history. There's only so much of those subjects I can take, which is why I didn't love "The Name of the Rose." It's worth getting to the end because there are some exciting moments, but it's not what I would call a page-turner.

This is a clever mystery set in a remote time period. Combined, these two things pulled me into the story and kept me focused on the characters, setting and crimes. The Name of the Rose should be on the table of every mystery writer/reader as the standard for every book they write/read afterward.

this book was my answer to NaNoWriMo (a national endeavor in which people write a novel in the month of november). i vowed to finish the book in a month or bust. As it turned out, I read it in a little over a week, and spent that time running around praising it to the heavens.
I readily acknowledge that it might not appeal to the common tastes. It's very dense, there's a lot of history and latin passages that aren't glossed or explained. It presupposes an interest in late medieval history, without which you'll get bored before the mystery really kicks in.
That aside, Name of the Rose really packs a punch. Eco's monastery is flawlessly recreated (read the postscript for more insight into this aspect of the novel), the tone is dead-on, and the mystery is chilling and well-wrought.
The library brooding at the center of the story is both a wonderful focus and an apt allegorical anchor for the philosophies that are woven through the story. Borges' short stories come to mind - the authors share the same gift for creating settings that seem to have their own evil intentions.
You can't expect an easy read from this book. You CAN expect an intelligent, well-written, deeply interesting journey into the medieval mind. Enjoy.

I think reviewer J. Mullin has hit the nail on the head, calling THE NAME OF THE ROSE "a rewarding but painstaking read." Often I felt that my enjoyment of the novel was like that of one of the groundlings at a performance of HAMLET. That is, there's an exciting murder mystery going on but there's a lot that's going over my head, what with all the passages in Latin.

That said, this is a highly enjoyable caper set in a medieval Italian monastery, a setting ripe with atmosphere to say the least, that should appeal to intelligent readers as well as the admittedly middle-brow folks such as myself. I did not have the companion books available when I read it, so I simply skimmed over parts that I didn't udnerstand until I got back to the meat of the story. Perhaps someday I will revisit the book and get even more out of it.

"The Name of the Rose" has a theme I've seen more in science fiction than in mainstream fiction. L. Sprague de Camp, Larry Niven, and Tony Rothman, for example, wrote books about the coming of the Renaissance. Perhaps because science fiction is a genre where ideas can be more important than deep characterization and elegant prose, it's not surprising that many authors gave this idea a go.

This book is thoroughly entertaining. It's a good mystery/suspense story that is also a thoughtful look at the way people's thinking changed at the end of the Middle Ages. The type of reasoning William of Baskerville uses to unravel the mystery exemplifies the new way of thinking that, for better or worse, led to the modern world.

Some reviewers thought the book was a bit academic. My high school Latin came in handy, but I didn't find it hard to read. I got a lot of pleasure out of the combination of well paced suspense and historiography.

Umberto Eco is the most complicated and most interesting authors in the world today (if you don't believe me, read Foucault's Pendulum). To call it a "mystery" is vastly oversimplifying things. The book is about discovery, and those who do not want things to be discovered. Shrouded in a cloak of historical reality (the poverty debate between the Papacy at Avignon and the ascendant Franciscan order), clever in even its most mundane details (the labyrinth of the library), the Name of the Rose is easily one of my top ten books of all time. Be forewarned: this book is not to be approached lightly; it is intellectual in every sense of the word, and despite its labelling as a mystery, it does not resemble contemporary mysteries at all.
A word of advice (for any Eco book): if you don't understand something, keep going. Either it will be explained or it will never come up again, in which case it need not be worried about.

This has been reviewed in many places, and by people more knowledgable than me. This has been the basic for a murder-in-the-monastery movie, but it's way, way more than just a thriller. This is a sophisticated commentary on 13th century Catholicism. Eco has the ability to describe complicated scenes, with commentaries running over several pages ... and I am dazzled.

I read this book because it was a class assignment onlu and that is also the only reson i finished it. In the ending authors note the author actually has the audacity to write that the first 100 pages were there as penance and that were put there to make sure you were worthy of reading the book. I would not recomend this book but if you think you can deal with 100 pages of penance to get to the meat of the book which still takes forever to pick up. Have fun and I hope you are "worthy"

The Name of the Rose is a jumble of abstruse references and philosophical asides expertly kneaded into a coherent and captivating story about murder, truth and lunacy. What is amazing is that Eco is entertaining when he doesn't have to be. He could have easily compiled his reflections on religion and semiotics in a less cleverly-written mass of erudition. Instead, we are given characters who breathe, locations crawling with detail and a plot that is as good as any historical whodunnit. Some will be dismayed with the sometimes excessive amount of Latin and obscure church history, but these all buttress Eco's purpose behind his work. You must refer to other books to fully appreciate this one (just as every book refers to every other). The first 100 pages can be a bit of a bog, but consider it purchase into the wonderful medieval world Eco has recreated. The Name of the Rose will be set alongside other great works of literature that are continually re-translated and re-interpreted; literature that never ceases to speak.

This another historical mystery. It is probably the best of its kind. The detective is special and he spends a lot of time explaining why he is so rational and looking for facts. This is in the age of superstition, 1300s. Even Sir Isaac Newton was looking for magic in the Bible, and this is way before Sir Newton and the accumulated knowledge he had available.
A monk, Adso of Melk, wrote this story in his old age of a time when he was a young novice Benedictine sixty (60) years before. It was his duty to assist Brother William of Baskerville, a Franciscan monk, as he went to a Benedictine monastery for a meeting for political talks. Before they get to the monastery, the first body has been discovered, and the vaunted talents of Brother William at deduction are called into play. Brother William has to solve the mystery before the talks begin to assuage the participants of their security. But daily, there is a new body found and so begins the race to find the killer.
It is interesting all the detail that is written into the story, such as the door way to the church, because it is written sixty (60) or so years after the fact. The superstitions he alludes to are all very real and relevant.

First, a warning: Umberto Eco's "The Name of the Rose" is, at times, as daunting as the intellect of the man who wrote it. Eco, armed with his almost unique flare for combining philosophy and history, sets out to recount the mysterious, and sinisters, events occuring over a week long period in an Italian monastery in 1327. The premise and events are deliciously obscure, the solution far superior to your average who-dunnit climax.
Second, a fanfare of trumpets: the film was a great big, historically accurate flop. But that was because it was trying to be a big, historically accurate book and that was never going to work. Yes, the prose is dense, and yes, there are several paragraphs written wholly in latin without translation, but the novel overall is so rewarding that ploughing through it proves worth it. The characterisation of William of Baskerville, with his enormously proud intellect and his dry, satirical sense of humour, is quite classic. Adso the self-starring narrator-come-sleuthing novice is innocently fervent, while still retaining his seedier lusty boy-self. The remaining cast? A virtuoso performance of character studies and cameos (take special notice of the Bishop of Kaffa, the man who is still alive despite all piously hopeful statements to the contrary). And far from being a book for serious people, there are some crack-you-up, laugh-out-loud moments from the stand-up act that is Wlliam of Baskerville.
Third, beautiful and terrible as an army arrayed for battle: Eco is exploring some very deeply interesting philosophical statements concerning human nature in "The Name of the Rose" and he leaves you to puzzle out their origins. Find the mirror in yourself and hold it up - what does it show you about human nature, whether its mediaeval or modern-day?
In a nutshell: settle down in the cold of winter, focus and dive in...and don't expect satisfaction until you've worked your way through the labyrinth and found the real book, the real "The Name of the Rose", the key to the whole mystery.

Adso de Melk, a young Benedictine novice, follows Franciscan Brother William of Baskerville, to facilitate a meeting between Pope John XXII's and Louis the Bavarian's emissaries. Through their journey, they end in an Italian Abbey. There they will find a large library, protected fiercely by the Abbot and a librarian, a body of monks who diligently copy and illustrate books. The Abbey has many mysteries and several deaths follow. The book takes us in a fascinating journey of emotions and beliefs in the 1300 century. The days of Adso and his reflections are majestically described. It made reflect on how many injustices were made in the name of God. I found the first pages hard to follow, yet the book is easier to follow after the first chapter.

I think Eco himself sums up this daunting novel best when he states in his afterward that the first 100 pages are essentially a test. A test is right. This book is erudite, painstakingly reasearched and would be terrifying to the novice or casual reader. I enjoyed the book for its beautifully textured plot and descriptions and I loved the complexity of the central murder mysteries. Eco weaves a wonderfully dark and esoteric tapestry that kept me guessing the entire length of the novel. Unfortunately, the work is bogged down by needlessly long dialogues and page after page about the religious and political climate of the time....pages that are tedious at best. The main protagonist, William of Baskerville, is an intriguing character but I found his philosophical insights mind numbingly obtuse. I defy anyone to expalain some of his diatribes in a way that makes any sense. If you can stomach the passages on the various religious orders of the day and the nonsensical explanations, this book does contain an engaging story, full of hidden secrets and dusty corners dying to be explored. Plus, I am sure people will think you are smart when they see you reading it.

My sister who just graduated from college convinced me to read The Name of the Rose. It was my first book by Eco, (she has read Island of the Day Before and Foucault's Pendulum). I enjoyed this book immensely. As the reader you become wrapped into the lives of the monks. I had to read this book in one night because it was so fascinating that I couldn't put it down. The only problem that I had with the book was the lack of translations for the Latin phrases. However that intrigued me if anything and I plan on finding out the translations for a better understanding. I next plan on reading Foucault's Pendulum as it was the only other Exo book that my library has. The Name of the Rose has become one of my favorite books. I recommend this book to anyone looking for a challenge.

I thoroughly enjoyed Eco's "The Name of the Rose" in three distinct and almost independent roles. As a mystery-thriller, the fast-moving, convoluted plot left me anxiously awaiting the next twist lurking in the pages ahead. As an account of history, Eco's detailed and, from what I understand, accurate portrayal of specific events during the Inquisition was intriguing and educational. Finally, as a matter of philosophy, the naturally interspersed philosophical dialogues among the monks were coherent and thought-provoking.
"The Name of the Rose" is a challenging read. Eco, in his postscript, descibes the first hundred pages as a "penance", written for the purpose of "constructing a reader suitable for what comes afterward." Let there be no doubt that readers who endure their penance are rewarded ten-fold.

"The Name of the Rose" is quite the interesting book, and somewhat demanding of the reader. As Eco claims in the postscript, it is written in such a way as to require the reader to approach the story on the book's terms, at the pace of the time it depicts. It is also written as a sort of game played with the reader. The effect is enthralling and challenging.
Since the story is essentially a murder mystery, you wind up approaching the story with a detective's eye, attempting to solve the crimes alongside one of the principal characters, a Sherlock Holmes-like inquisitor named William. What really sets this particular story apart, however, is how Eco has anchored the story, the setting, the story's manner of telling, even its language in some ways, firmly in the Medieval era. Eco himself claims to be a staunch Medievalist, even viewing the present world through a medieval eye, and that bias shines through in the story.
The reader is left with both a compelling story and a multi-layered riddle consisting of church history, architectural puzzles, and riddles of language to solve. And I was just expecting a good murder mystery set in the middle ages.

Not being fluent in Italian I had to read this book in translation. I first got the english one (later it was also translated in Greek). What gave me a really hard time reading it, was the fact that the english translator had left the latin parts untranslated. Were they assuming that we all know Latin?. I know that there is now a book named the Key to the Name of the Rose which provides those translations but fifteen years ago when I first attempted to read this book it was unavailable. Does all that sound whiny and bitchy? Perhaps it is, but if I had let myself be discouraged by those difficulties I would have missed out on a truly superb book. This one has so many layers, so many levels on which it may be read that it could in my opinion be highly enjoyed by both the most profound lover of religious philosophy and the most avid fan of Sherlock Holmes-like "whodunits". Not to mention that the description of the library embodies every bibliophile's wet dream. And referring to some previous reviewers' comments that it supplies too much unnecessary information I will only mention that as Kavafy says sometimes the journey to a destination is more important to achieving the goal itself. So trust me and stick with this book to the end and you will not be disappointed. I most heartily commend it

Don't be put off by Eco's erudtion and medieval setting. This is a classic detective novel, summed up perfectly by Renoir (see below). Not only will you be drawn into 14th century Italy, you will learn about the what Eco is really talking about -- the semiotics of detective writing. Throughout all the arcane writing, Eco is talking about his theory of semiotics -- signs, to teach his readers how to cull the most important clues from his works. This is high brow entertainment -- I recommend the most annotated version you can find. Not many readers will be all that familiar with 14th century conventions, but with good footnotes, this book becomes all the more accessible. Eco is worth reading as one of the foremost literary critics/writers of his day.

In 1327, Brother William and Brother Adso investigate murders at an Italian abbey. The deaths appear linked to the abbey's labyrinth of a library, a mysterious place of secret rooms and poisonous vapors, where books are collected (or imprisoned depending upon your point of view) but seldom shared. Eco knows his medieval history. In his abbey, he creates a setting so vivid it seems like he's describing a place from his past and not the distant past.

Although I do recommend The Name of the Rose (Everyman's Library Classics & Contemporary Classics), I give you fair warning: Read this book only when you feel like swimming in the deep end of the intellectual pool. Scholarly journals have influenced Eco's writing style more than novels. After reading many a passage, I experienced the "Wait. What?" effect. And I'll be honest, after rereading the passages, I still didn't understand what Eco meant. The characters often converse in Latin; the Latin is not translated. But if you feel up for a challenge, give it a go. While I often felt like an uneducated peasant eavesdropping on the learned class, I did pick up a thing or two. I now know what semiotics means.

There are already plenty of reviews of this amazing book so I just want to add my voice to those readers who missed out on a large part of the book because it was in latin. While the particular characters in that time and place no doubt did use Latin, whole pages and paragraphs of it become impossible for many of today's readers to follow. There ought to have been more translation, especially in a mystery where the facts are important, and given the underlying themes of the book. Readers shouldn't have to buy a guide that costs more than the original book to understand what is being said.
This is my one criticism. I found the book fascinating, learned a great deal and had trouble putting it down. I have no trouble giving it 5 stars, latin or not.

I am out of my league here, this used to be a place where the average reader would say what he thought about a book, now I feel like I am at a table with PhDs and all I can do I think that if I would offer my contrasting viewpoint, it would comeback with a spin I could not handle.So, since there are plenty of scholarly reviews, I will just tell you that I loved this book, I am not going to pretend I understood all of it, but we all get different things from books.Some could say that you need a background in 14th century society to understand it, and perhaps you might, but I found that the popular knowledge of what life used to be like in that era was enough for me to enjoy the "trama" of the book.I took a day off from work to finish reading the book, since I could not put it down.I really like it. Hope you enjoy it too.

This book not only shows the religious conflict of whether
Jesus laughed or not, but also the conflict between the old and
young generation. Since it illustrates the incidents happened
in a very strict Benedictine monastery, the story is quite
religious and written in restricted language which we cannot
find in modern detective novels. This has also been made into a
movie starring Shawn Conery, and thus known better to people.
In the old time, there were a lot of debates over the topic of
whether Jesus truly laughed or not. Some even argued that he
didn't even smile at all because laughing or smiling was not
regarded as noble or high. However, there was an ancient
philosopher who proved and left the record that Shakespeare
actually wrote not only tragedies but comedies. Then
unfortunately the book had been stolen by some Jesus followers
and disappeared since then. However, the main character
happened to stay in the monastery with his teacher. With the
main character's appearance and curiosity, the uncertain fact
of the existence of the book uncovers through chain murders of
the old librarian. It was poison on the book that the librarian
used for killing the monks. The book was so old and dry that it
needed saliva to turn its pages. This is how he murdered them
without any armors.
I can understand his feelings of resistance against new world.
All the old generation wanted was to keep the secret only to
protect in what he believes by removing rebellious elements.
After all, it turned out to be still unknown of the fact of
Jesus's smile or laugh because the book was burned away and the
librarian died in the burning monastery, which seems to me that
it was more likely to be a commitment of suicide.
Regardless time and place, There are always the same kind of
conflict of the two generations; the old and young. One tries
to innovate and reform the reality, the other struggles to keep
the existing stability and position wishing no change at all.
Maybe Eco wanted to deliver something more than this but what
he efforts to say is definitely clear enough. It really doesn't
matter if Jesus laughed. What matters is that whether we
believe it or not. Often a hypothesis turns out to a fact when
people begin to have faith in it. Moreover, whether you accept
it is up to you. To be left as the old fallen monument or to
lead the world progressively in your own way depends on you.

This fascinating book is something only a genius as Umberto Eco can write.
In this book, he managed to describe monk's life in the monastery, a complete psycological review of all the characters and all the clerical environment which includes the struggle between the different parts, the struggle between the pope and the monarchy and the Inquisition.
I read the book several times, each time with emphasys in one of these aspects. First time as a mistery novel, second time as a middle ages essay, third time as a essay about religion and its paradigms, fourth time as a phylosophical discussion about "laughing" (special attention to the final chapters) and many other times as a unique masterpiece.
No one can pass without it.

I was given a copy of Il Nome della Rosa and, because my Italian is only so-so, started to compare it with the English translation to make sure I was missing nothing. I wasn't - but the translor was! For those who found the medieval details a bit dry (I am not one of them) you should know that already on p. 3 of the text (excluding Ecco's prologue, which I did not check) half a dozen lines of text have been omitted. I don't know who made the decision, but when you are publishing a book that is going to be over five hundred pages anyway, why trim phrases here and there? (Especially when adding a lengthy introduction by David Lodge!)

Here's a book I read several times. The story captivates from the start, and the characters are interesting. Also the story paints a picture of the times in a fascinating way - the religion of the times, the layers of society... And the basic human nature you find under the skin of every monk, no matter how "holy" they wish to appear. That is the most interesting thing in any story, really - the basic humanness that repeats itself through times. The story isn't exactly fast, but the psychology of the characters kept me fascinated. Yes, I think it definitely is time to re-read this again.

With large chunks of text in Latin and numerous discussions of 14th century religious controversies and political squabbles, Umberto
Eco's Name of the Rose appears, at first glance, to be one of the more unlikely bestsellers of all time. But if you want to understand the
real key to its success, you need look no further than the structure of the story and the name of the protagonist, William of Baskerville.
Though Eco claims that while he was writing the book he actually referred to William as William of Ockham, it seems implausible that
he did not realize all along that he was simply transplanting Sherlock Holmes to a medieval monastery. After all, he even gave William
an overly innocent sidekick and awestruck narrator, in the form of Adso of Melk, an old man now who relates the series of events he
witnessed back in 1327.
The story then proceeds like the best of the Sherlock Holmes imitations (sort of a medieval Seven Percent Solution) and adds in
elements of the gothic thriller. Combine these sure fire formulas with a sufficiently intellectual patina to make us feel like we're reading
real "literature" and you've got an odds on recipe for a hit. There are quite probably a number of other levels on which the book can be
read and Mr. Eco is assuredly trying to accomplish other things, but the fact remains, it works quite well as a garden variety mystery,
and that's how almost all of its readers have likely understood it.
GRADE : B+
N. B. I recently found a slender volume by Mr. Eco entitled Postscript to the Name of the Rose (1983) and picked it up (for $1) on the
assumption that within its pages he might offer some explanation as to his purposes in the book. However, the theories he does expound
are so absurd or obtuse--hard to tell which--that I now assume that it is merely a hoax. His failure to even acknowledge his debt to Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle renders everything else he has to say more than somewhat suspect.
Perhaps the point of the novel really is as simple as he says early on in this postscript :
I felt like poisoning a monk.
Mindful of at least the possibility that he's being serious in this admission and of the fact that the novel concerns a series of characters
who are killed by their own literary curiosity perhaps it is best that we delve no further.

Forget the movie version of THE NAME OF THE ROSE. This brilliant book by Umberto Eco is meant to be read, absorbed, considered, held close to your chest before you reluctantly put it down. Filled with complexities - philosophy, historical details, superb characterizations - it does not make for easy reading. I'm a seasoned reader of classics and literary fiction, and yet I struggled through the first pages. What a mistake it would have been to give up! Once I reached page 50 or so, I couldn't put it down.
By now, the plot is well known: a monk and his young assistant (the narrator) arrive at a monastery to investigate heresy at the height of the Inquisition. No sooner do they arrive when their focus is shifted to a series of mysterious murders. Who is behind the atrocious acts, and why? Is there greater meaning to the deaths than first appears?
While the suspenseful plot keeps the story moving forward at surprising speed (surprising, given the language and wealth of historical details), the philosophy of the era is the soul of the novel, lending credulity to the characters and their situations as well as having implications for those living in the 21st century. Issues of censorship, free thought, the power of the written word, and the need for rational thought in chaotic times all come into play.
THE NAME OF THE ROSE is a magnificent example of fiction destined to last. I highly recommend it for serious readers of all tastes.

Historical mystery fans who might be drawn to Umberto Eco's "The Name Of The Rose" by its reputation as being one of the best historical mysteries written might find themselves stumbling into a unexpected morass of Latin and theology instead. This book can be very intimidating at first, but if you can hang on through the slow beginning, you will be rewarded with a good, thought-provoking story. Some paperback editions provide a "companion," which makes the story much easier to understand (I plowed through the book three times before all the pieces began to fit!), but nonetheless readers whose normal oeurvre are the likes of Grisham and Patterson may find "The Name of The Rose" extremely tough going.

I took my time reading this book. Because it promised to be a multi-layered reading experience, I took to underlining important passages, so I could go back to them, especially the first passages about the Fraticelli, the Minorities, and the descriptions of the layouts of the kitchen, the staircases, etc. Because my edition was not annotated, I took to making my own notes in the margins. While I was told I could look up translations of the Latin passages over the Internet, I did not, because I was reading this book for enjoyment, not academic purposes. However, I did ruin the ending of the book early on because I was googling the name of this book -- a mistake I warn you not to make. Reading "The Name of the Rose" turned out to be an enriching and marvelous experience for me. It would have been much more rewarding had I been told to avoid the Internet for supplemental resource help during the reading of this book.

I bought this book while searching for Lewis's _The Monk_ having just done a research paper on Gothic novels. I was captured by the summarization on the back, alluding to what seemed to me a modern Gothic. Well, it wasn't quite what I expected, but, in a way, it was more so. Gothic novels are steeped in the Supernatural, and the only perfect modern Gothic novel is in which, in retrospect, a different approach is taken. In Gothics, humanly vices are personified by the otherwordly. A modern take on such a novel should allude to the Supernatural with humans. Eco has succeeded.
The book is excellent. I would describe it alternately as "A Religious Sherlock Holmes in the 14th century", "A Extended Parable Against Censorship", or "The Best Kind of Pop Fiction". A few years ago I read _The Club Dumas_ by Perez-Reverte (the film The Ninth Gate is based on it). Finishing it, I realized that the entire book was a monstrous joke! I was insulted. Having finished this, I was left with the same effect, with one important difference: I didn't feel cheated. Umberto Eco pulls it off!
The novel is filled with extended passages dealing with the nature of religion. While these are initially troubling, they cause an appreciation of the time period, and when juxtaposed with the murder mystery, everything is improved. A visceral texture to the entire novel is created. I look forward to Eco's other works.

This book is not for the faint of heart. It's a slow. dense. read. In short, it is centered around various heretical sects, and is primarily philosophical and historical in nature. Most of the book is spent arguing about whether it is theologically sound that Christ laughed, whether laughter is good (and what is good, dear readers?), and if Christ was truly poor. While in the long run it is all ties into the plot, you'll have to endure paragraphs--chapters--concerning all those issues. So if you're not up for getting a little cozy with Aristotle, Franciscan theology, logic debates, insane amounts of detail, and bits of untranslated Latin, I wouldn't recommend it. In this case, the movie would be better suited for you!

That is not to say that it isn't a great book, however.

I personally loved it. The translation by William Weaver is superb. The passages are practically poetic! I can only imagine what it reads like in its native form, Italian. I thought the intrinsic details of the monastery, the sentences of untranslated Latin, and the philosophical/theological debates gave the book a rich flavor.
Even though this book is head-oriented, Eco does an amazing job of drawing out the fear that wracked villagers and monks alike. In the end, for all of their philosophical quandaries and debates, they are still human made of flesh and bone, filled with incorrigible hate or love, unshakable lust, greed, dread, and misguided intentions. I got real sense of what it would have been like to live in that time period and be thrown into the turmoil that seized Europe at the time, especially the scene where Bernardo Gui comes to the monastery to interrogate all of the monks.

This book is definitely a classic to read. I know it can be tough at points but it is worth sticking it out. The ending is spectacular! The suspect/murderer for me was easy enough to guess at towards the climax of the story, however, the actual ending of the novel surprised me. I think it is eloquent because of its sad, ironic twist. It made me cringe. Then again, I thought it would be given the premise of the story.

This is one of the best books I have read in years! It is like candy for the brain. Reading it was a pleasure. Eco has carefully crafted the story with several layers of detail. Read it as a detective story. Read it as a narrative on Middle Ages history. Read it as a parable describing the search for knowledge. The book speaks on many levels and most readers (especially those who love books) will find this book has much to say. I would also recommend getting the Key to The Name of the Rose, a useful text that will shed light on some of the more subtle aspects of the narrative; but read the first hundred pages before buying the key. If you like the book the key will only enhance the experience (and if you don't like the book the key will probably only serve to remind you of why you don't like the book). Give yourself plenty of time to read--and do not expect to soak it all in at once. Stories this good should be savoured slowly.

Eco is a great writer. This mystery story set during a time when Popes were being overthrown and the terrors of the Inquisition were in full force not only brings alive the contesting ideas and terror of that time in human history, but also humanizes it and makes it seem real. Eco's knowledge of the era comes through in this book, and the result is a mystery unlike any other mystery you are likely to read. This is a brilliant novel. Brilliant.

Eco is an Italian philsospher who specializes in semiotics, the study of symbols and their relationship to the world. Eco is known to write deliberately obscure and literary books just for the fun of it. I have read that Monk and Miles and Bird used to make their tunes deliberately difficult to drive amateurs off the bandstand. This book is like that. This is not a book for the ordinary mystery reader. It is long and dense and filled with discussions of philosophy and religion. It is also a great mystery. Unfortunately, there is almost nothing to compare this book to, which makes it hard to describe. Maybe C.J. Sansom's Shardlake stories or Pynchon's Crying of Lot 49. It will take some work to get through, but for me it is one of the best mysteries ever.

Eco's novel is a multidimensional, geometric construct with tons of historical, Christian dogma related details, a thriller core that in the end, miraculously, melts into one organic, flesh-and-bone entity. Like in a well written musical piece, the timing of his delivery is nothing short of perfect.

For the most part, the book reads like a thriller. The theological debates, the political fights between state and church can be skimmed over without missing much from the actual murder mystery. But those details, secondary to the plot, paint a vivid and dramatic picture of the 14th century. Those were perilous times for the free thinker.

And free thinking is precisely the covert characteristic of William of Baskerville, the prelate investigator of the murder, in his time a student of Roger Bacon.

The final brings out the well concealed, mute heresy implied, incorporated into any logical, fact embracing philosophy: in such a world faith has no place. With this revelation, William's young scribe Adso of Melk, who first and foremost is a lover of God but also a lover of logic and facts, receives a devastating blow. He will spend the rest of his life looking for the hidden divine message looming in the ruins.The passage that brings forth the revelation of the fundamental contradiction between the methods of science and those of faith uses a metaphor created and made famous by L. Wittgenstein in his Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. While it fits in Eco's novel, it reveals a philosophy well beyond the means and depth of the 14th Century.

Along with the austerity and richness of the universal ideas presented, Eco captures the core of human essence - the battles within - with unsurpassed mastery. Absolutely one of the finest reads you'll ever feast your brain on!

As a mystery author with my debut novel in its initial release, I consider Umberto Eco's THE NAME OF THE ROSE to be one of the finest historical mysteries ever written. William of Baskerville is sent to a monastery during the 14th century to investigate the death of a monk. While he is investigating that death, several other deaths occur. Before you know it, you are reading one of the best mysteries written in the last quarter-century. Eco captures the time and the place of his story perfectly. He knows his history. He knows the church of his chosen era. His characters are perfectly rendered. He knows his people. His plot is magnificent. He knows how to tell a story. THE NAME OF THE ROSE is a mystery like few others. Excellent beyond belief.

With large chunks of text in Latin and numerous discussions of 14th century religious controversies and political squabbles, Umberto
Eco's Name of the Rose appears, at first glance, to be one of the more unlikely bestsellers of all time. But if you want to understand the
real key to its success, you need look no further than the structure of the story and the name of the protagonist, William of Baskerville.
Though Eco claims that while he was writing the book he actually referred to William as William of Ockham, it seems implausible that
he did not realize all along that he was simply transplanting Sherlock Holmes to a medieval monastery. After all, he even gave William
an overly innocent sidekick and awestruck narrator, in the form of Adso of Melk, an old man now who relates the series of events he
witnessed back in 1327.
The story then proceeds like the best of the Sherlock Holmes imitations (sort of a medieval Seven Percent Solution) and adds in
elements of the gothic thriller. Combine these sure fire formulas with a sufficiently intellectual patina to make us feel like we're reading
real "literature" and you've got an odds on recipe for a hit. There are quite probably a number of other levels on which the book can be
read and Mr. Eco is assuredly trying to accomplish other things, but the fact remains, it works quite well as a garden variety mystery,
and that's how almost all of its readers have likely understood it.
GRADE : B+
N. B. I recently found a slender volume by Mr. Eco entitled Postscript to the Name of the Rose (1983) and picked it up (for $1) on the
assumption that within its pages he might offer some explanation as to his purposes in the book. However, the theories he does expound
are so absurd or obtuse--hard to tell which--that I now assume that it is merely a hoax. His failure to even acknowledge his debt to Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle renders everything else he has to say more than somewhat suspect.
Perhaps the point of the novel really is as simple as he says early on in this postscript :
I felt like poisoning a monk.
Mindful of at least the possibility that he's being serious in this admission and of the fact that the novel concerns a series of characters
who are killed by their own literary curiosity perhaps it is best that we delve no further.

Forget the movie version of THE NAME OF THE ROSE. This brilliant book by Umberto Eco is meant to be read, absorbed, considered, held close to your chest before you reluctantly put it down. Filled with complexities - philosophy, historical details, superb characterizations - it does not make for easy reading. I'm a seasoned reader of classics and literary fiction, and yet I struggled through the first pages. What a mistake it would have been to give up! Once I reached page 50 or so, I couldn't put it down.
By now, the plot is well known: a monk and his young assistant (the narrator) arrive at a monastery to investigate heresy at the height of the Inquisition. No sooner do they arrive when their focus is shifted to a series of mysterious murders. Who is behind the atrocious acts, and why? Is there greater meaning to the deaths than first appears?
While the suspenseful plot keeps the story moving forward at surprising speed (surprising, given the language and wealth of historical details), the philosophy of the era is the soul of the novel, lending credulity to the characters and their situations as well as having implications for those living in the 21st century. Issues of censorship, free thought, the power of the written word, and the need for rational thought in chaotic times all come into play.
THE NAME OF THE ROSE is a magnificent example of fiction destined to last. I highly recommend it for serious readers of all tastes.

Historical mystery fans who might be drawn to Umberto Eco's "The Name Of The Rose" by its reputation as being one of the best historical mysteries written might find themselves stumbling into a unexpected morass of Latin and theology instead. This book can be very intimidating at first, but if you can hang on through the slow beginning, you will be rewarded with a good, thought-provoking story. Some paperback editions provide a "companion," which makes the story much easier to understand (I plowed through the book three times before all the pieces began to fit!), but nonetheless readers whose normal oeurvre are the likes of Grisham and Patterson may find "The Name of The Rose" extremely tough going.

I took my time reading this book. Because it promised to be a multi-layered reading experience, I took to underlining important passages, so I could go back to them, especially the first passages about the Fraticelli, the Minorities, and the descriptions of the layouts of the kitchen, the staircases, etc. Because my edition was not annotated, I took to making my own notes in the margins. While I was told I could look up translations of the Latin passages over the Internet, I did not, because I was reading this book for enjoyment, not academic purposes. However, I did ruin the ending of the book early on because I was googling the name of this book -- a mistake I warn you not to make. Reading "The Name of the Rose" turned out to be an enriching and marvelous experience for me. It would have been much more rewarding had I been told to avoid the Internet for supplemental resource help during the reading of this book.

I bought this book while searching for Lewis's _The Monk_ having just done a research paper on Gothic novels. I was captured by the summarization on the back, alluding to what seemed to me a modern Gothic. Well, it wasn't quite what I expected, but, in a way, it was more so. Gothic novels are steeped in the Supernatural, and the only perfect modern Gothic novel is in which, in retrospect, a different approach is taken. In Gothics, humanly vices are personified by the otherwordly. A modern take on such a novel should allude to the Supernatural with humans. Eco has succeeded.
The book is excellent. I would describe it alternately as "A Religious Sherlock Holmes in the 14th century", "A Extended Parable Against Censorship", or "The Best Kind of Pop Fiction". A few years ago I read _The Club Dumas_ by Perez-Reverte (the film The Ninth Gate is based on it). Finishing it, I realized that the entire book was a monstrous joke! I was insulted. Having finished this, I was left with the same effect, with one important difference: I didn't feel cheated. Umberto Eco pulls it off!
The novel is filled with extended passages dealing with the nature of religion. While these are initially troubling, they cause an appreciation of the time period, and when juxtaposed with the murder mystery, everything is improved. A visceral texture to the entire novel is created. I look forward to Eco's other works.

This book is not for the faint of heart. It's a slow. dense. read. In short, it is centered around various heretical sects, and is primarily philosophical and historical in nature. Most of the book is spent arguing about whether it is theologically sound that Christ laughed, whether laughter is good (and what is good, dear readers?), and if Christ was truly poor. While in the long run it is all ties into the plot, you'll have to endure paragraphs--chapters--concerning all those issues. So if you're not up for getting a little cozy with Aristotle, Franciscan theology, logic debates, insane amounts of detail, and bits of untranslated Latin, I wouldn't recommend it. In this case, the movie would be better suited for you!

That is not to say that it isn't a great book, however.

I personally loved it. The translation by William Weaver is superb. The passages are practically poetic! I can only imagine what it reads like in its native form, Italian. I thought the intrinsic details of the monastery, the sentences of untranslated Latin, and the philosophical/theological debates gave the book a rich flavor.
Even though this book is head-oriented, Eco does an amazing job of drawing out the fear that wracked villagers and monks alike. In the end, for all of their philosophical quandaries and debates, they are still human made of flesh and bone, filled with incorrigible hate or love, unshakable lust, greed, dread, and misguided intentions. I got real sense of what it would have been like to live in that time period and be thrown into the turmoil that seized Europe at the time, especially the scene where Bernardo Gui comes to the monastery to interrogate all of the monks.

This book is definitely a classic to read. I know it can be tough at points but it is worth sticking it out. The ending is spectacular! The suspect/murderer for me was easy enough to guess at towards the climax of the story, however, the actual ending of the novel surprised me. I think it is eloquent because of its sad, ironic twist. It made me cringe. Then again, I thought it would be given the premise of the story.

This is one of the best books I have read in years! It is like candy for the brain. Reading it was a pleasure. Eco has carefully crafted the story with several layers of detail. Read it as a detective story. Read it as a narrative on Middle Ages history. Read it as a parable describing the search for knowledge. The book speaks on many levels and most readers (especially those who love books) will find this book has much to say. I would also recommend getting the Key to The Name of the Rose, a useful text that will shed light on some of the more subtle aspects of the narrative; but read the first hundred pages before buying the key. If you like the book the key will only enhance the experience (and if you don't like the book the key will probably only serve to remind you of why you don't like the book). Give yourself plenty of time to read--and do not expect to soak it all in at once. Stories this good should be savoured slowly.

Eco is a great writer. This mystery story set during a time when Popes were being overthrown and the terrors of the Inquisition were in full force not only brings alive the contesting ideas and terror of that time in human history, but also humanizes it and makes it seem real. Eco's knowledge of the era comes through in this book, and the result is a mystery unlike any other mystery you are likely to read. This is a brilliant novel. Brilliant.

Eco is an Italian philsospher who specializes in semiotics, the study of symbols and their relationship to the world. Eco is known to write deliberately obscure and literary books just for the fun of it. I have read that Monk and Miles and Bird used to make their tunes deliberately difficult to drive amateurs off the bandstand. This book is like that. This is not a book for the ordinary mystery reader. It is long and dense and filled with discussions of philosophy and religion. It is also a great mystery. Unfortunately, there is almost nothing to compare this book to, which makes it hard to describe. Maybe C.J. Sansom's Shardlake stories or Pynchon's Crying of Lot 49. It will take some work to get through, but for me it is one of the best mysteries ever.

Eco's novel is a multidimensional, geometric construct with tons of historical, Christian dogma related details, a thriller core that in the end, miraculously, melts into one organic, flesh-and-bone entity. Like in a well written musical piece, the timing of his delivery is nothing short of perfect.

For the most part, the book reads like a thriller. The theological debates, the political fights between state and church can be skimmed over without missing much from the actual murder mystery. But those details, secondary to the plot, paint a vivid and dramatic picture of the 14th century. Those were perilous times for the free thinker.

And free thinking is precisely the covert characteristic of William of Baskerville, the prelate investigator of the murder, in his time a student of Roger Bacon.

The final brings out the well concealed, mute heresy implied, incorporated into any logical, fact embracing philosophy: in such a world faith has no place. With this revelation, William's young scribe Adso of Melk, who first and foremost is a lover of God but also a lover of logic and facts, receives a devastating blow. He will spend the rest of his life looking for the hidden divine message looming in the ruins.The passage that brings forth the revelation of the fundamental contradiction between the methods of science and those of faith uses a metaphor created and made famous by L. Wittgenstein in his Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. While it fits in Eco's novel, it reveals a philosophy well beyond the means and depth of the 14th Century.

Along with the austerity and richness of the universal ideas presented, Eco captures the core of human essence - the battles within - with unsurpassed mastery. Absolutely one of the finest reads you'll ever feast your brain on!

As a mystery author with my debut novel in its initial release, I consider Umberto Eco's THE NAME OF THE ROSE to be one of the finest historical mysteries ever written. William of Baskerville is sent to a monastery during the 14th century to investigate the death of a monk. While he is investigating that death, several other deaths occur. Before you know it, you are reading one of the best mysteries written in the last quarter-century. Eco captures the time and the place of his story perfectly. He knows his history. He knows the church of his chosen era. His characters are perfectly rendered. He knows his people. His plot is magnificent. He knows how to tell a story. THE NAME OF THE ROSE is a mystery like few others. Excellent beyond belief.

Es difícil explicar realmente el porque este libro debe de clasificarse dentro de los grandes. Es posible que su grandiosidad esté reflejada en su simplicidad; es natural sorprenderse si hablo de simplicidad, pero es que es realmente lo que este libro es, un libro simple, una historia simple,detectivesca, pero al mismo tiempo bañada en un mar de erudición, como ejemplo nótese muy particularmente la discusión sobre la pobreza de cristo, es excepcional. Yo siempre he comprendido que los grandes libros y las grandes películas necesitan obligadamente una gran historia de por medio, y es eso lo que El Nombre de la Rosa tiene.

MY RATING SYSTEM:

* - if you have to chose between torture and reading this book, then you might want to consider reading the book - although it depends on just how severe the torture would be.

** - if you've lost your job and have quite a bit of free time on your hands, and don't have anything else better to do, then you might want to consider reading this book; don't expect to learn much or really be entertained. It will however, help you pass the time until your death.

*** - meh...I'm indifferent. Reading this book will not alter your life in any significant way, yet it is not so horrendously dreadful that your taking the time to read it will be a complete waste of time.

**** - Good book to great book zone here. You should probably read this book if you have some spare time. This book could be interesting, entertaining, or informative.

***** - Outstanding book! Make time to read this book - you'll learn or be entertained or intrigued. The book might even be good enough to provide original or helpful insights into the world that we live in.

REVIEW:

The Name of the Rose is a murder mystery taking place within the confines of a 14th century northern Italian abbey. The main characters, William of Bakersville, and his assistant Adso (the narrator of the story) arrive at the abbey to investigate an unusual death, and find themselves immersed in a place with such a depth of bizarre and mysterious characters that one can only imagine how difficult such an investigation must have truly been.

The book can be a very slow read - I found that things didn't really start to move until about 100 pages in, and after that it moved as one travels across a series of mountain peaks. It is littered with Latin phrases varying from a few words to a few paragraphs that cause some frustration, but a lack of understanding of which will not detract from the enjoyment of the 'mystery story'. Finally, the history - oh my, there is so much history - can cause the progress of the 'mystery story' to stall out at times.

All that being said, having finished the book and read some of the reviews on the store, I've realized that, while at times the historical digressions of the author - his recounting of religious debates, heretics, the state of the Church, etc. - seem to be academic or literary grandstanding, they actually are strongly linked to the plot and the crimes at the abbey.

I don't imagine that Ecco set out to create a book that was widely accessible and simple to read (a John Grisham thriller this is not). Instead, he has crafted a story that is so thick with context, so rich in illustrating the world in which the abbey existed, and so thorough in explaining the various conflicts and agendas that motivate the behaviour of so many of the story's participants, that at many times throughout the novel progresses at a difficult pace.

Despite the effort required to finish this book, Ecco demonstrates in several instances that he is capable of producing gripping, fast-paced, accessible work. There were at least a few sections in the book where 50 to 100 pages would fly by with hardly any effort required at all. Those sections were a joy to read, and in retrospect, made all the more enjoyable by the context that Ecco sets elsewhere in the novel.

In summary, I did not find this book to be an easy read, but if you've got some significant time to dedicate to getting through this book, it can be quite rewarding.

I bought this book after seeing the movie of the same name starring Sean Connery, with the view that the book had to be better than the movie. It wasn't. While admittedly a fascinating story, the book was saturated with dialog between Brother William of Baskerville and his pupil Adso of Melk, which made the reader feel as if he was intruding in a personal conversation. Additionally, there was entirely too much Latin used in the book. If the Latin were confined to an isolated phrase here and there, fine, but I found myself having to skip entire paragraphs, because they were written in Latin. This made the book very difficult to read, and although I knew the premise of the book from having seen the movie, very difficult to enjoy as fully as I'd hoped. It would be a much better book if footnotes translating the Latin had been included, but it was a fascinating story nevertheless.

I agree with most of the complaints of those reviewers who gave this novel 3 stars or less. I have no doubt that it was a big hit with the Italians as it goes into great depth, way too much depth, on the local politics of the time, something that would naturally be of interest to Italians moreso than to readers at large. Having seen the movie (starring Sean Connery), I was looking forward to reading the book because I love mysteries regardless of the historical setting. However, I was at times bored with the erudition (to borrow a fitting term used by other reviewers). Still, because there was an interesting mystery woven in among the dry historical lessons, I give it three stars. For those who, after reading some of these reviews, might hesitate reading or purchasing the book, rent the movie. It isnt' the best mystery movie I have ever seen but it does capture the essence of the mystery without the history lessons. And, I like Sean Connery.

The book was first recommended to me in the late 1970's (by my dermotologist!). I read it then and many times since. Eco captured me and has me forever looking for his name on a book. Many say the book is too difficult to read, too many "things" to know, that may be, bit whoever said that reading was an easy task. The book (as all of Eco's books do) makes you think, recall, learn and argue points of intellectual importance. Is the book of humour a metaphor, or is it just plain old 11th century Italian Jansenism? I recommend the book, as I do all of Eco's books, with the following cavet, don't read this as you would a grocery store romance, your mind will have to work!

This book is simultaneously challenging, frustrating, scandalizing, edifying and entertaining. Taking place in a very dark period in the church's history, it helped me to have studied history, theology (and Dante) before I read this. Otherwise the political, theological and other themes will only serve to confuse.

The one thing I can say is, if you don't speak Latin, buy the "key to the name of the rose" instead.

I loved this book when I first read it 6 years ago so much that it was one of the few things I took with me when I came to US. Reading NR is a many-fold experience, so many reviews are right about it. However I was deeply disappointed with the way Eco is published in English. You see, my Russian edition has about 70 pages of comments ranging from historical to theological ones. Who in this modern world remembers Dolcino or a difference between katars and minorites ?? It is nice when a reader is well versed in both Latin, medieval Deutch and some Italian but at least my Russian translator and editors went to great pains to help me, a reader, along the way. You can see so many comments (read those about "Pendulum", for example) that blame Eco for being a pompous intellectual while it is really the result of modern day education that does not prepare an average reader to deal with such a multi-layered work. Otherwise we would not have people asking about the meaning of last words in novel.
Stat rosa pristina nomine, nomina nuda tenemus.
With the past name of rose, names are shed (naked) in future.

I first read this book while traveling through italy and never found anything else that captured ancient italy so well. Despite tangents into architecture that are totally boring, it's a fantastic read that i highly recommend, even if you've seen the movie. I'm a little dismayed to see it listed for so much on the kindle version, considering my paperback copy is $4.99 and this book has been published since the '70s. Worth it if you absolutely must have it on your kindle, but just as good in print for half the cost.

This thrilling medieval tale is only apparently based
on seven misterious deaths in an italian abbey.
Though the story is intriguing and puzzling itself, Eco
uses it admirably to direct the attention of the reader
to a certainly more important topic, the eternal search
for truth. Keeping hidden the essential tools for human
knowledge is a horrible crime as it is a murder. This has
been a hallmark of all dictatorships, that have made use of
it to subject people to ignorance.
A superb, precious book abundant in philosophical and
historical fascination.

I absolutely loved reading this book for its thoughtfulness and for the way in which it brought medieval thought to life. I was even more enthralled by the book after the fact. Approximately 12 months after reading the book, I went to Austria for vacation and to my surprise found that the abbey actually exists. The abbey is called Stift Melk and is located on a mountain in Austria. There are tours of the abbey offered and the library, while not as impressive as the description in the book, is quite impressive. I found myself lost in a world, not exactly medieval, but certainly condusive to imagination

This is indeed a great story, an interesting plot set in medieval Italy where the life of some monks is unveiled in order to solve a mistery. A book sauced with history, where you can grasp the difficult and monotonous life in those days and the Inquisition's brutal way of dealing with heresy. This book is also painfully long, with long valleys of white noise that defies your will to continue or sleep. Despite the later, I recommend this book, perhaps the Abridge edition, and of course the movie. "The hand of God creates, it does not conceal".

This might be a good story. I couldn't tell because I got completely bogged down by the overly verbose and archaic writing style. The only thing I can compare it to is Les Miserables. There is no flow and it can be difficult to not reread sentences (which average 8 lines long). If you enjoyed the word flow of Les Mis, then you may enjoy this book. If you like the idea of the story, stick with Authur Conan Doyle.

I hate to compare a book's worth to that of others, but in this case the comparison serves it justice: The Name of the Rose is to 13th century monastic Italian life as the Alienist is to Puritan, New York turn of the 19th century life. Eco braids an intricate plot using strands of historical context, philosophical cleavages, sectarian politics, and personal struggles. Some details are more relevant than others depending on what you read for, but they are all neccesary in exposing the whole story. An erudite storyteller who produced the Godiva chocolates of historical fiction.

I knew nothing of this book when I opened it; I had picked it up literally because I needed something to read and I liked the cover. It completely blew away my expectations. Eco does a stunning job of depicting daily life in the past, even daily life gone awry. This book takes you back in time into the world of the monks, a world that is incredibly deep, lush, and detailed. The characters and the motifs give this plot great flavor; they are all well-developed. Eco narrates with the confidence of an eyewitness observer and clearly knows what he is talking about. Yes, the book is a challenging read, one which will be time consuming. If you're looking for something light and quick, this isn't it. Even so, a lack of knowledge of history or Latin or religion will not keep you from enjoying this book; while I was reading it, the characters themselves taught me about their world. Try to view those background-knowledge challenges as something that makes this book good enough to read twice, and enjoy it!

I don't have the benefit of a college education, yet I found this an easy read. Don't be scared off by some of the other reviews. The latin passages don't hinder the book's plot or its history lessons nor does the book's introduction, as extraneous as it may be.

The Middle Ages or Age Of Faith is mysterious to most of us because we live in a time in which the study of our past is not valued by our public education system. However, some of us, for whatever reasons, have not had our curiosity for the non-commercial squashed by our consumption driven pop-culture. We want to know about things other than what phone numbers Paris Hilton has stored in her PDA. And if you're one of these curious people who likes to learn about the new or the old, you may wish to consider The Name Of The Rose. No, this book isn't literature, as others have pointed out, but it is a guilty read for those of us who actually enjoy reading non-fiction history. And for those of us who don't, it's a painless way of getting a good dose of the Middle Ages.

And if you're one of those history buffs curious about the political power struggles that took place in Europe during the 13th century between popes, emperors, and the various orders of monks, as well as everyday life in one of their monastaries, then this is definitely the book for you.

It's made entertaining by an albeit conventional mystery plot, so if you're an ardent reader of contemporary mysteries without an interest in history, you may want to pass on this one, although I admit you may be part of the audience for whom Umberto wrote the book.

In this brilliant book, not only does Eco present a startling and provoking philosophical history of mankind, but also a charming and pointed political allegory. Written at the height of U.S panic and the apex of propagandic rhetoric in the Cold War of words, Eco presents not only a telling political commentary on conditions in ( then ) contemporary Europe; but also a tightly written, brilliantly paced narrative, so rich and complex it is a joy to immerse yourself in. Not only the best book I have read, but my favourite as well. Keep that Latin Dictionary by your side, however...

Eco's book is one of my top five books of all time; first exposed to the story from the 1986 film, I knew there was "more to the story" and sought the book out. The first 100 pages are admittedly difficult, but Eco precisely designed them that way to prepare the reader mentally for the wonderful, complex, enriching and delirious story to come.

After 263 reviews, what else can I say?

Don't let the poor film adaptation fool you. It works so well on so many levels.
* Detective story. Its a traditional (and very good) Sherlock Holmes-type murder mystery. The setting is colorful and unusual.

* Philosophical/theological/historical treatise. Eco is a world-class authority on Medievel theology. His academic book on Aquinas is a classic, for example. He knows his stuff and is able to give the readers all kinds of things to puzzle over: the poverty of Jesus; the history of the papacy; implications of William of Occam, etc. Eco's atheism shows through subtly, but is an interesting challenge to the believing reader.

I hate mysteries. I really do. I'm terribly sorry but that is the honest to goodness truth. This is different; obviously or why in God's name would I have bothered to read it?
Struck by the phrase "apocolyptic terror" I impulsively bought it and immediately began to read, foresaking all previoius engagements, hoping against hope that I had finally found a mystery that followed a path not yet trodden.
Well, being a student of Thomas Aquinas I was immediately impressed at finding dear William to be a Thomist. Wonderful! Well done Eco! Now, about the story... I loved it, I read while I ought to have slept, I read while I ate, I read while I walked on the treadmill... I read and I read and... then I finished it. And as I closed the book I heaved a sigh. I missed William, and Adso, and oh the glories of a library labyrinth!
The Name of the Rose was an extraordinarily crafted tale that was so intensely layered and richly related that I am compelled to quote Anthony Burgess "No man should know that much."
Eco has effortlessly transported us into a time that so few truly grasp. The blind faith of the people; the ease with which the simple strayed; the vanity of the knowledge that in those days meant power. Aside from a difficult mystery with a thoroughly satisfying conclusion, this story held fascinating philosophical debates that penetrated depths of history of which I have never even heard. This novel is not merely a mystery or an historical fiction, it is a philosophical and psychological study that occasionally leads you to sit and think and any book that leads to contemplation is a rare treasure.
This is the first of Eco's works that I have had the pleasure to enjoy but I intend to find and read all the rest. What a master! What a mind!

After seeing the movie, "The Name of the Rose", I started reading the book with some apprehension since I already knew how it ended. Wow! Was I in for a surprise! The movie is barely an outline of the story in comparison to the book. The descriptions, the language and most of all the mysteries (because there are mysteries within the main mystery of the novel)kept me reading every spare second. I would recommend this novel to anyone. I am not the type of person who reads a book more than once, but I believe I would read this one again. Enjoy!!

Though at times painfully tedious in its detail of 14th century Catholic theology and annoyingly esoteric in its numerous passages in Latin, I feel I must give this book a positive recommendation. Its grand scope of chronicling such an obscure period, its depth of research, and its feeling of authenticity give this book the right to be considered an epic of modern fiction. As far as mysteries go, this one certainly is not the most intriguing. It drags at times, and the final revelations are neither startling nor intricate in their conception. But as a period piece, this is a 500-pound gorilla. It's amazing to think of the amount of scholarly research that went into the making of this novel. How many hours did Eco have to spend studying the writings of Aristotle, Aquinas, and who knows how many Franciscan and Benedictine theologians?
I have to admit I came close to putting this book down after 100 pages. I'm glad I didn't, though it was a struggle the whole way through. There were a few too many characters, and at times I couldn't keep track of all the different monks, but fortunately they start to get killed off pretty quickly so there are fewer to remember.
The underlying theme is an important one to me. The book explores the medieval notion that religious faith and intellectual pursuits should be mutually exclusive. Imagine living your life as a monk, working in a library surrounded by thousands of scholarly works, and spending your days copying texts that you don't understand. The preservation of knowledge is a noble goal, but so is the advancement of our understanding of the universe.

"The early history of comedy is obscure," Aristotle wrote in his Poetics, "because it was not taken seriously." Whether or not the Greek sage meant to make a joke, this first novel written by Italy's premier intellectual expands on his theme. The Name of the Rose is a deep, brilliant, and remarkably engaging detective story set in fourteenth-century Italy. Brother William of Baskerville is a guest at an abbey where monks are being murdered in the most grotesque fashion. Moreover, behind the murders lurks the "true" story of the missing second volume of the Poetics, in which Aristotle delves into the divine nature of comedy. Employing the logic of Aristotle, the theology of Thomas Aquinas, and maybe the deductive reasoning of Sherlock Holmes (which I admit, I may have been leaning towards due to the combination of 'detective' with 'Baskerville'), he begins to uncover the abbey's darkest secrets. Truly enthralling! A second reading may be enough to push this book up to 5-star status for me.

This book is not an easy read that can be read in one weekend or a whole week for that matter. This novel compares to Conrads "Heart Of Darkness" a novel of equal density however while "Darkess" is only about 100 pages long "Rose" is five times that! IT is important to take the time to understand the story and characters because there is so many of them. If you lose track of one character for an instant it tends to throw the reader completely off track. I sometimes felt that the author while very well accomplished and learned in the subject of which he was writing was to overly detailed in the descriptions of the enless problems that needed deciphering. Unlike many authors which tend to "fill" in their novels with tedious text Eco seemed to know exactly why every piece of text needed to be there.The problem with this is that the reader is left out of the plot in many situations that only Eco seemed to know. I give great applause to Eco for his knowledge about his astoundlingly well written novel. Im sure he spent ages gathering information on this subject and he places most of his knowledge seemlessly from his mind into his novel. This novel deserves to be read if even at times it seems overly tedious believe me it pays off!

This novel was fabricated in painstaking detail by a master in semiology.In this novel Eco gives us exactly the Middle Age we could imagine:fraught whit apocalyptic terrors,secretive monks,rich and spoiled Abates,fiery and inhuman inquisitors,superstitions,heresies.He then puts an Occamist predecessor of Sherlock Holmes and a young Wastson to investigate a mystery whit the most intriguing features:a closed environment (the Abbey) and a killer who appears to follow a pattern.How could he fail to produce a bestseller?Still,I've loved it.How could I not?

I thought this book was excellent. When I first picked it up I was a little intimidated by it's length-502 pages! But when I had finished it, it didn't seem like it was that long. This is a fascinating tale of murder in a monastery in medievel Europe. It has a few boring parts but trust me, reading them is worth it. In fact one of the religious discussions the monks have turns into a fight and is actually pretty funny. But the best part of this book is the mystery. It is spooky at times and there are many omens and creepy goings-on. All in all a great read.

All in all a very enjoyable read. I especially liked the feeling of time and place that this novel develops. Less interesting to me were the overly long philosophical musings or rantings of various characters; you get the feeling Eco was hoping to convey deep insight in these passages but they are generally pretty shallow. And loud warning sirens should go off whenever you stumble upon an entire chapter devoted to a dream or hallucination. You'd better hope to be in the hands of a master; if not, you're going to have to wade through pages of pseudo-meaningful drivel like what Eco offers in chapter Terce on Day 6. Ouch! He's a good writer, but not nearly good enough to pull off this type of stunt, which thankfully is attempted not too often.

The English translation flows nicely except for the occasional rough spot; e.g., "But I am well aware you do not belong to the sect of the Poor of Lyons, you wicked fox, and you are trying to convince me you are not what you are not so I will not say you are what your are!" Huh? And I'm betting this is the first and last time I'll see male genitalia described as "pudenda" (and referred to as such very often - these monks really like talking about and gazing at pudenda!).

As mentioned in many of the other reviews, the frequent sprinkling of untranslated Latin passages, many of which are clearly at least somewhat important to the story, is extremely annoying, at least until you reach the point of just not caring any more.

The postscript is an overblown and unnecessary attempt by Eco (Ego?) to illumninate us poor readers on the art of his craft. Yawn.

I read this book for my AP Literature class as a high school senior. The book was really intimidating: super long and dense. Our teacher gave us some background, but didn't give us any "answers" because we were supposed to come up with our own interpretation. 1st Eco book and I loved it! I'll admit, it was a bit of a challenge at times to get through. There's so much historical background that becomes quite confusing, such as the stuff about Dolcino. Also, lots of references to Jorge Louis Borges. Recommend reading Mirrors of Enigma and Library of Babel first. It'll help out a lot, especially in the last section of the book. Don't get too bogged down about some of the allusions or events. You'll definitely get rewarded if you finish, but get ready for a headache when you try and piece it all together! It's a book that's definitely worth re-reading too!

Just an absolutely magnificent piece of work...so many layers and textures. I am in awe of the author's abilities. This is priceless art for the mind.

Books draw upon all other books, a kind of internal language that defies realities. The philosophies expounded in this book will stay with me forever.

Although this book contained a lot of church history that at times was hard to follow, I enjoyed reading it and trying to solve the mystery along with William and Adso. I was also happy to be able to practice my Latin. I was too lazy to look up unknown words in the dictionary, but I usually could figure out the basic meanings and sometimes I even had a complete translation. Very exciting! But the end of the book was hard to read, seeing all those manuscripts burning, mourning what was lost, even though it was a fictional fire.

I will merely post my thoughts on it.

First, the book was very well written. It was nice to have a thriller-esque book covering many of the heresiarchs with some honest information. However, it would have been far more compelling if these groups played a more significant role in the story (more like The Book of Q, by Jonathan Rabb). As it was, there was not enough information to truly learn anything, but far too much for it to simply be enjoyable. Somewhere in the realm of painful.

The interactions between William and Adso were interesting, if a bit forced at times. The trials of the people in the book were more interesting by far, but the fate of the beautiful, young woman left me a bit cold, because of the lack of resolution. At least we should have heard something of her fate, so that it was not left hanging. But, what may have been trite and pale was instead carried off with an aplomb that made me sit up and take it seriously.

Why the poor rating, then? Well, despite decent characterization on the parts of two of the characters, the rest of the cast was one-dimensional and I never really cared too much for them. In focusing so much on retaining the first-person perspective of Adso, he lost a great deal in the detailing of the merits and faults of the other characters, and very little development was seen on thier parts. The trial of the cellarer was a rare exception, but even that seemed a bit, lackluster. As a result, few of the characters were really that interesting. And, at the end, I felt bad only for two characters: Benno and the young woman. This, combined with a well-crafted and intricate, but maddeningly slow at times, plot, results in a par for the book, rather than the elusive heights of the 4 star rating.

The postscript was, by far, my least favorite part of the book. Whilst it was intriguing to see the author's thoughts on writing, this is neither the time nor the place. An essay, in a book of essays, would have been more appropriate. In the end, this essay felt disingenuous and ego-stroking, which falls far short of my opinion of Eco as a writer and as a person. It left a foul taste in my mouth, and it frustrated me.

Not a bad book. Not one I would refuse to read again. But, not one that I would read over and over, unlike some others. Good, but not great. Not reaching for that higher ideal. Enjoy it, share it, but leave it behind.

Harkius

Um bestseller na época da 1a edição e agora, um clássico, O nome da Rosa levou Umberto Eco, um filósofo e professor italiano de semiótica, a ser um escritor de fama internacional.
Um thriller de assassinato, num monastério do século XIV, é uma estória misteriosa e uma brilhante exploração de filosofia, história, teologia e lógica, medievais.
Em 1327, o irmão William of Baskerville é enviado para investigar uma rica abadia franciscana, na Itália, cujos monges são suspeitos de heresia.
Mas sua missão é adiada, por conta de várias mortes bizarras, com base no Livro das Revelações; e o irmão William é transformado em detetive, juntamente com o jovem narrador Adso of Elk, como Sherlock Holmes e Dr. Watson, tendo de seguir a trilha de conspiração que o leva face-a-face dos os secretos labirintos da biblioteca da abadia, os efeitos subversivos do riso, e a Santa Inquisição.
Em meio a uma luta poderosa entre o imperador e o papa, o irmão William começa a ver que a questão ultrapassa a disputa política - e que sua investigação está sendo impedida de ir em frente, por aqueles que temem a imaginção, a curiosidade, e o poder das idéias.
O nome da Rosa oferece ao leitor, um mistério engenhosamente construído - completo, com símbolos secretos e manuscritos codificados - e um retrato sem paralelos, do mundo medieval, no momento de uma profunda transformação e tensão entre o papado e o Império Católico Romano.
Também inclui debates sobre tópicos como a pobreza de Cristo, e a história da Igreja Católica, até o estabelecimento do papado em Avignon, na França.
Sobre o significado da famosa frase em latim: "Stat rosa pristina nomine, nomina nuda tenemus" - literalmente, ela pode ser traduzida como: "A rosa antiga sobrevive graças a seu nome, nós só temos nomes."
Esta é uma frase sempre escolhida pelos filósofos da Idade Média que pensavam que nossas mentes não eram capazes de descobrir a verdadeira essência das coisas e, portanto, não podíamos ter a mínima idéia de Deus.
De fato, na filosofia medieval, Deus era sempre comparado a uma rosa; dizendo com a tal frase, que até mesmo o ser supremo, persiste somente através de seu nome, persiste através de uma coisa extremamente frágil. Nomes eram vistos, na época, simplesmente como emissão de voz, sem valor nenhum. Esses filósofos foram condenados como hereges.
No livro, a frase possui, também, o significado do amor do jovem monge Adso. Ele conhece no monastério, uma jovem e se apaixona por ela. Na sua cabeça ela é a Rosa, a deusa da qual ele não sabe o nome (eles falam línguas diferentes).
Cada personagem no livro, representa um conceito metafórico: William, a razão; Adso, o misticismo - um contra o outro, como forças opostas. William diz a Adso que muitas hipóteses, apesar de parecerem falsas, podem levar à solução correta.
O nome da Rosa é um livro sobre a incerteza da verdade - a busca pela verdade é muito ambígua. E essa certeza da verdade permanece uma impossibilidade, quando William diz "A única verdade está e aprendermos a nos libertar da insana paixão da verdade."
Reza a lenda que se você ler algum livro de Umberto Eco, seu QI aumenta, instantaneamente.
Como já havia dito, antes, nesta resenha acima citada, a linguagem é muito densa, sim; mas com toques de saboroso prazer intelectual - uma jóia genuína. No começo você pode achar que não está entendendo nada - não importa - continue. Umberto Eco planejou exatamente isso! Aproveite o livro e passe por cima de pequenos detalhes e datas - absorva o conjunto da obra. Você terá bastante tempo para pensar sobre tudo isso depois de ter terminado. Não pare para pensar: "Eu não estou entendendo, vou parar de ler." - não! Termine o livro!
Umberto Eco escreve dessa maneira - os livros dele são apena para os fortes de espírito - pessoas com perseverança e que lutam para conseguir o que poucos conseguem. Seus livros são deliberadamente criptografados - são para os fortes que permanecem no campo de batalha, recebendo, ao fim, a recompensa, como pétalas de rosas.
O próprio Umberto Eco admitiu que incluiu as primeiras 100 páginas de pura história em O nome da Rosa, para desencorajar os leitores que não possuíssem a tenacidade necessária para continuar o livro.
Os livros de Umberto Eco são como uma coleção de caixas - cada uma abrindo para revelar outra e outra mais.
Este livro é a verdadeira literatura, um clássico atemporal a ser degustado por muitas gerações que vierem.

I am not going to include the plot and story of the novel, since it has already been done by many reviewers, quiet eloquently.

I finished this book in a grand total of 5 days which i unfortunately did not have. I say this not ostentatiously, nor do i mean that i skipped many parts. I read every thing. But to read this book, and to thoroughly enjoy it, one needs ample time. Again, as already stated before in other reviews, it is a difficult read especially if the reader is a "novice". 1. because i openly admit that i needed a dictionary( which i loved) and 2. because a reader has to distinguish between important passages that actually contribute to the story, and some passages that are merely there to dissuade the reader from attempting to brave this epic book.

The book is great, and is highly recommendable but i also had certain reservations. I did not understand why Mr. Umberto insisted on repeating many things in the novel. I can see why he would go over certain things to accentuate their importance,but certain times, i found it annoying as the same topic was expressed, only in different ways.

I dare say this is a pseudo mystery book. As Umberto himself says, the mystery in the book is only half , if even, as important to the actual story. The mystery, though, also plays an important part in giving this novel an actual shape.

Over all, excellent read. Read and revel in your intellectual glory.

The Name of the Rose has gained such a reputation for its detail and erudition that its finest attribute too often goes unmentioned: for the lover of books and ideas, philosophy and history, this book is fun. If you are intrigued by the idea of being immersed in a 14th century monastery, solving a murder mystery, and pondering questions about language, knowledge, and meaning along the way, then you will likely enjoy this book. If you aren't, you won't.
Yes, there are some obscure references (or, I should say, I noticed a few obscure references and have good reason to believe there are many more I did not notice) and, yes, there is some untranslated Latin. If the rest of the book interests you, these matters at the very least will not much hinder you; they will probably make the book that much better to reread. Mr. Eco approvingly quotes John Barth in the postscript: "My own analogy [in describing his "ideal postmodern author"] would be with good jazz or classical music: one finds much on successive listenings or close examination of the score that one didn't catch the first time through; but the first time through should be so ravishing--and not just to specialists--that one delights in the replay." With The Name of the Rose, Eco lives up to this criterion.
Intelligent books (or books perceived intelligent) tend to attract flatterers--people who fancy themselves clever for having read and praised a good book--and their inverse--people who fancy themselves clever for dispraising a book that flatterers praise. The Name of the Rose has attracted such chatter, and this is a shame--it is too good a book to simply be "gotten through." It is difficult in the sense that it is rich and worth thinking about; it is only as hard a read as the head that reads it.

My all-time favorite book that had everything for me: a fascinating and complex mystery, history, religious criticism and philosophy stitch together by great characters and down-to-earth dialogue. The only downside to this book is I have never found its equal and have been burned by more than a few books that reviewers claim is "like The Name of the Rose." Most of are close. Plus, it had a terrible movie adaption, which really should be a HBO miniseries.

I greatly enjoyed this story, and had wanted to read it since seeing the film several years ago. I felt that having seen the movie actually helped a great deal, or I believe I would have been confused in a great many places in this book. My only complaint with it is that there is a lot of Latin, and the copy of the book I read didn't provide translations. At some points, I had to stop reading and Google the Latin to figure out what was being said. Doing so sort of broke the rhythm and the enjoyment of the book, and for only this reason I give it 4 and not 5 stars. Other than that, it was wonderful, and I wish the reader knew more of what became of William of Baskerville after the fire (and before his death). Truly a wonderful story!

I began this book after I watched my mother hold it in her hands, dismissively handing me a copy of The Island of the Day Before.
That is when I began to love Umberto Eco.
I read this book, and it blew my mind. He is elegantly long winded, which sounds almost like an insult, but it isn't!
He weaves Latin and Italian phrases in and out of his books. The fact that he is fluent in many languages let's the reader know that he was not unaware of how his translation would read.
Granted at times, he can be a little overwhelming, but to read his works you have to slow down, grab a cup of coffee, and read.

It is by far one of my favorite books.

The Name of the Rose is indeed a wonderful book, a philosophical inquiry in the guise of a period mystery. The joke is that the book turns out to be something of an anti-mystery, in which Eco jokes with the systematizing impulse so common in detective fiction. As in Foucault's Pendulum, Eco spends a great deal of time here indulging his passion for medieval religious esoterica; the book's first hundred pages or so of descriptive material require a bit of slogging, as Eco himself has recognized, but the remainder of the novel certainly rewards the initial difficulty.
I must take issue, incidentally, with the strained readings that have been offered in some of the reviews below. The Name of the Rose is by no means a "roman a clef" as some have implied below. The allusions to Sherlock Holmes, Borges, etc. are there, yes, but one should not attribute to them undue significance. Eco is a semiotician by training and profession, and as such he is naturally inclined to insert clever intertextual bits of business into his novels. Postmodern literary theory deals with books as a deeply self-referential, almost closed set, and Eco's literary references are little more than a gesture in that direction. They are playful, not central, and should not be asked to bear the weight of arduous interpretation.

OK there isn't much I can add to the already large volume of reviews devoted to this book.

Personally I think its one of the best books I've read - I first read it because I had to read something for a school English dissertation and I chose this on a recommendation. It did a pretty good job in providing me with lots to say then and helping me get into university so I've always been grateful to Umberto Eco ever since and I've reread it several times over the last decade and a half since then each time getting a little more out of it which is surely one of the hallmarks of a great book.

Many people have said that this works on a number of levels - detective story, historical novel set in a lost world of great religious and political turmoil, on a more abstract level as a philosophical novel tackling problems relating to our knowledge of the world, of faith versus reason etc. This what to me is so great about it - if it was just a detective novel with a clever plot I've had read it once for my long forgotten English essay and not returned to it since. Instead every time I've read it I've come away with some new thoughts having noticed some new detail or made sense of something that was previously obscure.

I don't agree with some of the other points made - first of all my latin is pretty much non-existent but I didn't have a problem with the latin - there isn't THAT much in there and much of it is more or less guessable from the surrounding dialogue. Ditto the odd piece of French, Middle High German and the scraps of what I think might be Provencal. I don't understand every word but it gives a good impression of a multilingual abbey full of latin speaking monks and adds to the background. Also you don't need to be a philosophy expert or a historian - almost everything I know about religious debates in that period I got from this book. I'm sure an expert in these fields would get even more out of this erudite tome but as it is you get plenty out of it anyhow and it all adds to the realistic quality of the setting.

Some people find the religious debates unnecessary. I think they are very necessary indeed - the book tackles themes of religious faith versus intellectual enquiry, the problems of knowledge, of how a totalitarian state controls the knowledge and freedoms of its subjects etc. These are not just dry intellectual topics they are matters with consequences for the world we live in these "digressions" into religion and history show us these consequences - in William of Baskervilles' world we see how the poor and oppressed flock to the likes of Fra Dolcino and become terrorists and oppressors themselves, we see problems of what happens when religious leaders and ideologues seek too much temporal power, how totalitarian states control and distort reality through the control of information and how they crack down on freedom of thought. Who can honestly say given the last 100 years these aren't relevant today?

I could go on for pages more about this book but I've got to stop somewhere. Clearly from other reviews not everyone will like this but I'd certainly recommend as many folk as possible to give it a go. At times sure it takes an effort but ultimately its worth it.

Great. It's been said that the first hundred pages or so are a slog, but I didn't find them troublesome. As a whole, the pace is slow, but not boring. The book is both enjoyable to read and worthy of reflection. The postscript is Incredibly satisfying, and required reading for any burgeoning author

This is not a proper review, more a couple of comments about things which the first few reviewers missed (I didn't read all 157 reviews).
One of Umberto Eco's perennial themes, expressed elsewhere in essays, is what he sees as the the similarity between the society of the "dark ages" and that of today. For instance he draws explicit parallels between the heretics and utopian communities of the past and contemporary cults such as Jim Jones, the SLA, the Red Brigades and so forth. This book needs to be read in the light of that; it's not just a historical novel about monks.
There are also obvious references to the work of Borges in this novel, as well as to Sherlock Holmes (William of Baskerville?).
And of course the theme of rationalism versus superstition (not to mention religious war) has been brought into considerably sharper focus by world events since the book was written.
Overall, I can't see why people regard this as a hard book to read. Although there is a lot of historical background, (accurate rather than as some have suggested pseudo-philosophical or invented) it's presented in a vivid and entertaining way, the story keeps you turning the pages, and it's surely the only serious novel to include a recipe for fried cheese.

I first read this book decades ago, and I confess I skimmed it a lot. A lot of the politics, the descriptions... but I was fascinated by the mystery and had to finish it! I was not disappointed. Since then I've returned to this book many times, payed closer attention to it, and discovered that the politics were just as fascinating as the mystery. As others have said, it's wordy and at times difficult, but it's very rewarding for those who persevere!

Interesting murder mystery; boring and obscure book on philosophy. Clearly Eco is a brilliant guy, but not every brilliant guy makes a great novelist. None of the characters really comes off the page. William is nicely complex, and Bernard Gui is an interesting villian, but the convoluted plot is hard to follow and some of the incidents and characters eventually become dead ends. Not that interesting considering all the glowing media praise. I was ultimately disappointed. Now I want to watch the movie and see if the adaptation is more entertaining. I saw it years ago, but hardly remember it.

The Name of the Rose is quite complex in its initial appearance which according to the author is a work of non-fiction derived from an old manuscript written by a monk called Abo of Melk that Umberto Eco has translated for all the world to see and read. It is a 13th century tale of this monk's youth spent as an apprentice to an ex-inquisitor, Brother William of Baskerville who has been asked by an abbot to uncover the truth behind a rather disturbing murder at his beloved abbey. The story is quick to adopt an investigative posture which not only involves all the hallmarks of a "whodunit" type story but also has Abo, and many other characters, questioning their own faith and the faith of others. The story is much more than just another detective yarn as Umberto Eco continues to depict scenes of spiritual debates, holy disorder, political corruption, religious rebellion, crimes of heresy and sexual misconduct which are as a contradictory to the life of a monk as the murderous crimes themselves.
There is much in this book to dissuade many from reading it in its entirety. The Name of the Rose is often cited as the bestseller that has never been read. There is much truth to this as I myself have often found that certain passages and lengthy debates would make one nod off as if listening to a sermon that carries with it a haze of sleepiness. No doubt many of the monks in this story have felt the same way too. There are many versus in Latin and references to historical religious figures that have no direct impact on the story but are only dished up to help Abo, and the reader, derive conclusions to many of questions found in the mind of a novice that are philosophical and metaphysical in nature. The Name of the Rose expounds on the correlations between order and chaos, much of which is linked directly to William's own ethics when carrying out his investigation of the abbey.
It is a hard book to read or follow because of its many Latin references, pseudo-religious-philosophical debates, but is as equally a hard book to forget or stop reading. No doubt without the "whodunit" elements this book would more suitable as special treatise hidden among the abbey's own Aedificium. Very few books leave you feeling somewhat attached to the story but The Name of the Rose ushers with it a very subtle relationship between you and William who acts as a farther type figure to Abo who is your eyes and ears in the story. Needless to say the actual impact of the book does not hit home until the final three or four pages. Everything else beforehand has been of interest to you but you don't quite know why. The book actually ends up posing more questions than it attempts to answer and this in itself is what is at the heart of The Name of the Rose. The final vestibule of assertion is made only in saying that nothing can be confirmed at all and good men should not seek to hold fast to Earthly possessions which eventually return to that from which they came. . . . including the story.
Appreciate it.

Very like An Instance of the Fingerpost in regard to historical detail and atmosphere—not to mention compelling story-telling. It IS a mystery, but the story and characters are what kept me reading. Set in a monastery in the 1300s this novel is rife with intrigue and fascinating characters.

OK, I admit it! I saw the movie first and was enchanted by Sean Connery's excellent performance. After that I decided to read the book, and boy! This is what I would call an "intellectual thriller." It's not an easy read, but it is so emotionally gripping that you just can't put it down!
Eco is one of the better modern writers, and The Name of the Rose is his best work yet. It's highly recommended to all of you who like intelligent and entertaining books. If you're a Sidney Sheldon fan, don't expect to like this...

The learned & scholarly author, Umberto Eco has heaped mystery upon mystery in this epic tale. This book may be considered esoteric, as it does take more of an effort to read. However, the reader shall be rewarded! The reader will learn the depravities of 14th century. He will also become apprised of examples of how the Catholic church warped the message of Jesus Christ. The book is a venerable deposit of knowledge that gives the mind a justified work-out.

I was still in Year 12 when I first read "The Name of the Rose". A Greek friend of mine recommended it to me.
I found the book very interesting. It really did transport me to the medieval monastery: The adumbral lives of hooded monks, usually spent over classical manuscripts and the patient compilation of codices, are suddenly made sinister by factional schisms, demonic possessions, heresies, and insidious, underground sexual activism. Indeed, it was the novel's description of the seven deadly sins and of unorthodoxy that eventually hooked me.
With the benefit of hindsight, I can now say that the novel is still a good read, especially for those interested in Catholicism, medieval history and detective story (exactly in that order). But it's also got its weaknesses, or rather, its less appealing aspects.
Prof. Eco, for one, writes very floridly. His long sentences (which would have been more lucid in the Italian) are rendered obscure in their English translation, a language (and a cultural milieu) which values clarity of expression above long-windedness. This is often compounded by the dry monologues of William of Baskerville which can go on and on and on....Once, I felt as if I was reading the script of a badly written lecture on the names of plants and herbs, rather than "The Name of The Rose". It even appeared that, sometimes, only the occasional sparks of sacerdotal hedonism could maintain my interest in the novel.
We must, nonetheless, be fair. After all, Prof. Eco narrates his story through the persona of an elderly (and perhaps increasingly pedantic and slow-spoken) Adso. And he, in turn, is supposed to have written the narrative - his set of manuscripts - during the Middle Ages. The style, then, is probably called for, for historical realism's sake. (I have not read Prof. Eco's other works and cannot therefore say what his style may be like when writing a different genre.)
This style probably also reflects something else: the idea that it's an old man telling you a story about his experience of youth. It is this nostalgia, I think, that is the "Rose" referred to in the title. For the Rose is left unnamed by Prof. Eco - he leaves the task of nomenclature to the reader. It is us who decide what (or who) the rose may be. In the film adaptation of the novel, it is certainly hinted that the rose is the villager with whom Adso shares an immaculately sublime and gentle lovemaking. For me, though, more than a Hollywood love story, "The Name of The Rose" encompasses Adso's nostalgia for a past that has glown under the patina of a blurring memory. More than an instant of forbidden bodily union, Adso's is a nostalgic account of being a novice under a reknown mentor, of the adventures they've shared, the mysteries they've solved, of the immersing experience of having been a part, albeit for a brief period, of an ancient seat of learning, and of a youth already lived through. The sexual aspect, without a doubt, is an important part of the experience of youth; it is then that candour is finally lost. But as any men in their twilight years would attest, there is more to youth than that: it's a period of life you remember first and foremost for its rosiness, and for the difficulty many of you will face when the time comes to naming it. (Partly because your memory is already bad and partly because the experience is simply too good to be named.)
So, yeah, read it, and when you get bored, try to be fair to Prof. Eco and Adso, and to remember this: "I'd be like them when I'm old".

The book provokes much thought. It does not entertain, bur rather becomes part of the reader. One hears the sounds of the chant ,of the feet on their way to vespers, the sounds of the garden at dawn or dusk. The book is the "feel" of an era.... not a judgement, but a visit. Who are we to judge , but only to partake, to be part of . Does a catharsis take place upon reading this book? I believe it does, this has nothign to do with likeing or disliking the book. There have always been sinners and saints in the church and times are the same... then or now. The beauty and mystical tradtions are painted and sounded for the reader. i best liked the review that said""Stat rosa pristina nomine, nomina nuda tenemus". Literaly it can be translated as "The ancient rose subsists thanks to its name, we have only bare names". It is an ancient sentence often quoted by s.c. nominalist philosophers of Middle Ages who thought that our mind isn't able to discover the true essence of things and so it isn't able a fortiori to have the minimum idea of God. In fact in medieval philosophy God was often compared to the figure of a rose" This was fasintation to me. A book to read again!The Latin was a great work out for the brain.

Let's start with the basics: This is a mystery novel. It is also a history lesson,a meditation on the abuses of power, and an argument for logic's inevitable triumph over ignorance. Not so bad so far, eh? How 'bout this - it's an enjoyable read. Honest. You will not be bored, I promise.Hell, you might even pick up a little extra knowledge about...oh, let's say the Cathars, for example. That's more than you'll pick up from Oprah's book-o-rama, or the latest CyberPunk tome. In the end, you'll wish that this book had been a few hundred pages longer - no, I'm not joking.

The historical context within which this story takes place adds depth to the novel that would otherwise be missing. I agree with other reviewers, the ending sequence is obvious and a bit of a let down. But the journey up to the closing sequence, and the themes explored along the way, makes for an interesting read.

The idea that the conflict in this novel centers around the role of laughter in theology isn't accurate. Whether knowledge should be conserved, worshipped, restricted, and elitist, or whether knowledge should be open, accessible, shared, and inclusive represents a more accurate focus for the book. Though obvious, the ending answers the question for us. Restricted knowledge is ultimately wasted.

I often use these customer reviews to get an idea if a book might be worth reading but...... having read this book and then having read some of the poor reviews it receives below, I have come to the conclusion that no book will please everyone. But,,, if you don't find yourself reaching for a dictionary once a page when you read a "grown-up" novel, then you may enjoy this one as much as I. Over the years I have had people tell me they hated Moby Dick, One Hundred Years of Solitude, The Sot-Weed Factor and even The Yearling so why should I be surprised when people can't enjoy Eco's classic work? I'm not.

I gave up about 100 pgs in - way too much religious asides. I found the premise wanting and the character development hindered by the excessive 'inside Catholicism'... ultimately I decided that I didn't care what happened next.

Eco had a masterpiece... he HAD it. Unfortunately he let his postmodern relativistic philosophies come out to have it's day in this work. A book that ends in a slight bit of nihilistic farce, this book is still written in very good stylistic prose, and an intriguing mystery plot. This book was on the verge of going down as my favorite novel. William Baskerville is a perfect pseudo-Holmes. It is interesting to note that William's beliefs about nature, reason, and science are not at odds with the Catholic Church today. At times, I get that Eco is contrasting the figure of William to the Church of his day, yet as a modern-day Catholic- I deeply sympathize with a lot of William's beliefs. It isn't until William abandons all hope in universals (and then subsequently the hope that there is reason at all) that I begin to walk away from the figure of Baskerville. I also found the unveiling of the murderer and the plot ensued to be a bit of a letdown, considering so much goes in to get to that point. Also, Adso's abandonment to simply base pleasure is very odd for the figure that he was being depicted as. I hope one day Eco changes his ideas about the universe so he can use his gift of writing to write something with more compelling philosophies within it.

A lot of reviews of this book mislead potential readers by calling it "a thinking-person's mystery" (an overly-broad term that puts it under the same umbrella as everyone from Perez-Reverte to Colin Dexter to Dan Brown) or "a literary thriller" (a term that promises lavish prose and lots of cute references that will make well-read readers feel smart). In actuality, "The Name of the Rose" is a fictionalized history textbook that happens to have a neat little mystery plot stuck into it. So if you don't really care what diplomatic relations between 14th century France and Italy had to do with official church doctrine on poverty, or how a Medievel scriptorium worked, or which country made all the best illuminated Apocalypses, you're probably better off spending your time elsewhere. If, however, you're a fanatical devotee of history and trivia and good, old-fashioned philosophical debate, you're in for some enjoyable hours mental of heavy lifting.

Though arguably the "least difficult" of Eco's works, this is no easy read. Following the traditions of Quixote and Panza, Holmes and Watson, Eco creates a timeless literary duo in Brother William of Baskerville and his young sidekick Adso of Melk, as they attempt to solve the murders occuring in a 14th century monastery. Despite its difficulty, it is a fantasitcally compellling read which established Eco as one of this centuries literary masterminds. Be sure to bring along your Websters English Dictionary, and perhaps a Latin one as well.

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AN Excellent read! Although not the smoothest. For someone of Medium intelligence, like myself, this is a great book. It has all the stuff that a great mystery has, the kind of stimulating suspense that keeps the pages turning. But it also contains more than enough new information, the kind that makes you wish you lived next store to a library. I couldn't put it down, even when I was lost in the Latin that appears frequently or in the midst of a reccolection of the history of the Roman Catholic Church. Challenge yourself. You'll be happy you did.

This seems to be a wohdunit story taken place in the Middle age. But the thought will vanish after finishing the first chapter. And you would get overwhelmed by the plot, knowledge, arguments about the theology, hypocracy, etc. Finally, reading through the book will put you to a position of impresssion of either "an impressive literature" or just "a frustrating detective novel."

William the Bakerville, an apprentice of Roger Bacon, took a visit to a monastery in Italy. From the beginning, murder, mystery, hypocracy, etc. turend around him. He tried to solve the mystery with a very logical way in a setting full of irrational people.

Actually, this book aims to show that how ideology affects human life, that powerful people are always afraid of something which would undermine their ideology or power source, and that they would do anything to preseve their ideal. In the entire human history, we always saw same events such as Roman Catholic, Facsism, Nazi, Stalin, etc.

The narration is very vivid, and lifelike. The arguments about theology are thought provoking even in these days. You can find struggle between logic and religion, rationality and belief, which still prevailes in modern society.

As far as literary theory and Umberto Eco's ideas on what makes a good novel and what is simply trash for the masses, I'd have to say that I've never subscribed to the idea that what brings one pleasure is worth a whole field of philosophy... Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

'The Name of the Rose' is perhaps the forerunner (or perhaps it is simply of a long line of such works dating back to 'War and Peace' and beyond) of the great novel that tells not only a story, but also serves not as a bully-pulpit for the author, but as a tool for educating the reader. An example from the 90s of this type of book would be the cyberpunk classic 'Cryptonomicon' and the other works of Neal Stephenson. Both Stephenson and Eco immerse their readers in not only their stories, but tangents into the far reaches of their worlds that have little to do with the actual action but serve to add detail and richness that is incomparable.

J.R.R. Tolkien once wrote that he was loathe to publish anything after 'The Lord of the Rings' because the reader lusts for more information, more lore due to the lure of the 'unexplored vistas'. 'The Name of the Rose' takes us to those vistas and explores them fully, but this only brings more vistas into view. From papal/Holy Roman power struggles to the dawning of the scientific method to an enclosed society that is as steamy as '12 Angry Men', this book is a novel that works in each part with such success that one doesn't even realize that the work is made up of such disparate parts.

Aside from being a fun read (it's a medieval murder mystery), I liked "The Name Of The Rose" because it showed clearly the distinction between the medieval mindset and the modern mindset, at a time when the modern mindset was struggling to come into existence. None of the characters are truly modern men, but the two protagonists are the closest. Their antagonists embody the medieval mindset quite thoroughly and unappealingly.

This book ruined the romantic fantasy of the middle ages for me, and gave me an appreciation for modernity in its widest sense.

You need the Key to the Name of the Rose. the store sometimes sells it, sometimes not. I wasn't smart/literate/motivated enough to read the novel without the Key. Note that Postscript to the Name of the Rose is not the same as the Key; if you really like Rose you may like the Postscript, but you probably won't read Rose without the Key. Key translates all the non-English, illuminates the history, and explains the dynamics.

You can sort of skip the first 50 pages or so...they're all about a bunch of religious conflict that you may or may not care about. I did so, then after I fell in love with the novel, I went back and, Key in hand, slowly read the beginning. I've heard it said, but cannot prove, that Eco was not interested in a blockbuster and wanted to have a slow slog at the beginning as the "price of admission." Remember, you heard it on the internet so salt etc...but it worked for me. I actually re-read the novel twice after my first very slow reading and plan on revisiting it soon.

I came across this book when i visited Nepal a few years ago. Bought it cheap, soft cover. I always like detective story books and was thrilled when i found out that The Name...has a very profound message almost in all areas, be it in literature, philosophy, theology or history. While travelling, i actually felt transported to the scene of the story in the book. I hope more books similar to this can be published...

I should really say, it's a great read. I have both doubts and confidences in it. It is definitely good to read, once for the first time. I won't ever read it a second time.

The Excellent: The realism. This really could be labeled non-fiction, and I wouldn't bat an eye at the contents. In fact, it is best to be treated as non-fiction, and to think of the entire work as written by a real monk in the 14th or whenever century. It's that detailed, that real, that accurate. As a modern author, there are several faults. But the work of an old monk, that I can readily see, agree with, and commend.

The Good: The flow of the story itself. I say the book has too many words, but the book didn't actually feel like it was too long. Yes, it could be shorter. But it was rich with content. It deserves 2 or 3 weeks of reading, whether or not it's 80k or 190k words. It's around 190k words, by the way, and felt like half a million. That isn't a purposeful exaggeration: my favorite books are this group of 4 or 5 books by a certain author that each clock in around 600k a piece, and each felt only slightly longer. That's still a good thing. It flows well, even with excessive description. Not many books and purposely be annoying to laymen, and still manage to hold the reader. Not many can be both exciting and entertaining. And though it takes the first 400 pages to get there, the last 100 are certainly a road of ups and downs far more brilliant than all their predecessors. I mentioned that the book has a hard-to-follow plot, but becomes simple once over. I won't detail it, but it is very realistic for those that know the history of religion and the Catholic church. And utterly intriguing.

The Bad: The relationship with the narrator is strange. At times you wonder if the narrator is Adso the Elder, Adso the Younger, or Umberto Eco himself. And it is granted that Adso talks about his present viewpoint at key areas, but it is still somewhat strange. I tried referencing other reviews when reading the book: I highly recommend against this. There is a good thing I should mention, in hindsight: it is impossible to consider reviewing this work before completing it. I thought I had in mind what I wanted to say at 300 pages. And then at 400 I discovered more I wanted to say. And then at 470 I thought of something different, and finally, at page 502, I realized that things were different, even from page 470. And ending there, I arrived here. In this wonder of bittersweetness. The book was sweet to read. But the last 10 or 20 pages of the book give me mixed feelings. They are adequate, but certain passages were confusing, and required clarification for the meaning, what Eco wanted to imply.

And that's where I want to take an aside to point something out: This is about Catholic monks. Now, I am very, very educated on religion. I know most other religion's beliefs, and have a thorough knowledge of the Bible. I didn't have to consult it or some other reference when Eco/Adso talked about some theological subject, or talked about biblical characters. I saw the symbolism and understood it - although my knowledge is basic, my knowledge of the Bible is still far more thorough than the layman. Yet, even so, I had to wonder exactly what the author meant. Contrary to reviews I read while reading the book, to me it didn't seem to be overbearing. Much of the theology was just presented, in its pure form. Most likely, and from the point of view of the Catholic church, unfortunately, no mockery was needed: the truth of the arguments themselves were self-mocking. Contrary to what someone may thing when first reading, the theological discussions are important to the few plots (two major ones) of the story, though the major one doesn't see its connection until the end. And thus, if you read it, and make it past the first 50 or 100 pages, finish the book. You must continue, if you can make it past the first 100. You are chosen, at that point.

I also want to say, before continuing, that you have to remember the theology is from a Catholic point of view. When I encountered the narrator's revelation near the very end, it left a very bitter taste in my mouth. That alone made me feel unsatisfied at the end. I didn't want the story to continue; I wanted to know what the author meant, exactly. Fortunately, I have a friend who knew and was able to explain, which I actually then agreed with. So, please, if you read this book, before passing judgment on the end bittersweetness, learn the true meaning of the argument. It is written in a convoluted way, but it is not an atheistic viewpoint. At least, not from an interpretation of this book. I cannot speak to the author himself, but knowing this deals more with Catholicism than anything is more of a relief. Don't apply it to your belief, and don't conclude that the author is claiming anything until asking him. That leads into the following.

The Ugly: This is horribly over-worded. Even if you don't remove a single word from all the theological discussions and arguments, there is still thousands of words of excessive description that are unnecessary. This hefty book is weighed down by an excess. Granted, the author did do most of this on purpose, but I feel he could have left it to the content to alienate people, not the word count. Contrary to what I sound like, I am not saying the book was too long. No, actually for a work of this power, I say the length was correct! It was worth being a long, nearly 200k word book! But the problem is that there is so much extraneous, unrelated, unneeded, irrelevant description! I did notice that Eco tried referring to earlier descriptions later in the work, but it was a hard sell. It was done on purpose, and instead of making the work seem more real, it felt contrived. The world was rich and colorful, with or without all the extra. And it detracted from the overall work. Some long passages made sense later. Some helped the theology. Some were wonderful. But I stick by my belief that this book could have been abridged, and nothing would be missed by the reader. Half is probably a bit too much of a chop, but cutting out 25,000 words wouldn't be much of an issue. This was not a translation issue; the translation was very, very good. But to be needlessly strung along by excessive words was annoying. It's the books greatest detraction, in my opinion.

And yet, it was the right length. This really was written by a 14th century monk, who had lived a life that he must write, who has read great works all his life and was waiting for years to pour out every moment of the seven days that had tortured his soul to the extent that it did. If you read Eco, then there are some issues you must face with his famous first work, but you will read, love, and enjoy this work. If you read historical fiction, know a good amount of religion and history, and enjoy literature in general, you will enjoy this. And if you want to know the amazing story of a 14th century monk who really lived, this is for you (just pretend it's non-fiction, and it will definitely have the appropriate impression.) But if you want a modern mystery, avoid it. If you cannot stand lengthy, somewhat arrogant, literature, stay away. There are plenty who should avoid this. I cannot recommend this book to other people, because I would have to know a person well enough to know their taste in books to read this.

That's why I read this: I have read several different genre's and come from a colorful background. A trusted friend recommended it. I wouldn't have read this work otherwise. And I pass on that thought: this has to come from a recommendation from someone who knows you, who wants to, at the least, know your thoughts on it. A friend can tell you if you are suitable to read this work. It really does choose it's readers. And that, that is the brilliance of Mr. Eco. You don't have to agree with him, certainly I don't. But read the book, once. I cannot read it again. But I am thankful for the chance to read it once.

Monastic murder mystery.

An atmospheric story of a monk investigator and his naive but affable sidekick as they try and discover the truth behind a series of murders in what is basically an academic setting for the time.

The pair have to walk a fine line between getting in trouble with the inquisition, doing the right thing, and working out what is going on with the various strange secret organisations in and around the place.

Very entertaining.

It's a fabulous WHODUNIT!!

The characters come alive with the author's fascinating description of physical characteristics, his telling from whence each person came to this abbey, and through personality traits. The reader feels like he is meeting each of them in real life.
The book starts out with one unsolved murder and the plot gets more and more involved as more people meet their demise.

Also, the observations of a seasoned veteran of the church are constantly compared to the thoughts of the novice, which provides different perspectives on the events that occur.

It is a hard book to put down, once you start. One of the most valued places described in this book continuously is the libary of major historic books. It is a shocking part of the book's ending when meetings in the library cause an event that the reader could never expect.

Clearly, I recommend it highly.

The name of the rose is one of those books that when you start reading them appear to be somewhat boring. But it was definitely not. Life in monasteries during the middle ages is incredibly depicted, and Umberto Eco builds a story of increasing mistery page after page.
Murders, passion, religion, philosophy and love are mixed to give birth to an astonishing book. Of course, you have to cope with many latin citations to fully understand the plot.

Everyone seems to love this book, giving it 5 stars, but has to preface or postscript their statements with something like, "HOWEVER, I was annoyed at the untranslated latin phrases..." or "I just shook my head and knew I'd never fully understand this novel..." With all due respect, if you can't understand it, then why give it 5 stars? I'll give you, the consumer, the straight dope. This is a compelling, intriguing story with a fairly addictive plot. However (even I'm guilty), it gets 3 stars simply because of the fact I believe Mr. Eco likes to insert an obscure, untranslated phrase, whether it be French, Latin, Italian, or any other language, just to have something in italics and make the characters in the book (and consequently, himself) appear above and beyond mere mortal design. I can't really be down with that, and I'll probably never read another Eco novel, unless I go off and learn three or four languages in my spare time. I read to expand my horizons; not to be constantly reminded my limitations.

The Name of the Rose is clearly more than just a mystery tale. It reflects not only Eco's analysis of the Avignon papal period but also his thoughts on contemporary Italian culture. Readers of a French virtual bookstore recently voted the book the third greatest of the century. That is where the legend surrounding eco supercedes reality- at moments in the book, Eco's amazing intelligence and lengthy details get the better of him and hinder the powerful momentum that the book offers. This is not a quality of the book, and forces me to give it four instead of five stars. All in all, everyone should read this book.

Umberto Eco is undoubtedly a master storyteller but my salute goes to William Weaver the translator.Having read the poor English translations of the great Russian masters,I was a little hesitant to pick up Eco's The Name of the Rose,but by the time I turned the first page I knew I was reading a masterpiece of translation.
If only Weaver could speak,read and write Russian as well as he does English and Italian,then reading Tolstoy,Dostoyevsky,
Radzinsky,et al,wouldn't be as painful for other readers as it has been for me.The
Latin passages left untranslated added a surprisingly exotic feel on the reading and I would certainly recommend readers to
have some Italian wine for enhanced theological contemplation.

This book is a thesis on semiotics. It is a detective story set in the middle ages. It is a roadmap to a manuscript the author wishes you to find. Read the dedication... it is your first clue.

Do not underestimate the meanings of Eco's symbols. This book has a very close binding to the "real" world. It is a map.

Great. It's been said that the first hundred pages or so are a slog, but I didn't find them troublesome. As a whole, the pace is slow, but not boring. There is suspense from the first chapter onward. A little too much reliance on Sherlock Holmes is easily balanced by the bizarre setting. The book is both enjoyable to read and worthy of reflection.
The postscript is Incredibly satisfying, and required reading for any burgeoning author.

In addition to all the superlatives mentioned by other reviewers, sociologists and criminologists will find this a fascinating read. Ecclesiastic crises, close knit communities, and the way the combination of both creates an atmosphere in which deviance is almost never tolerated. Fans of Durkheim and Foucault will find this book especially intriguing.

If I had to make a list of my top 25 novels this would definitely be on that list. It is a wonderful and intriguing mystery set in a fourteenth century monestary. It is my all-time favourite murder mystery. The writing is incredible and the characterization wonderful. Yes, it's long, but boy what fun! Read it and enjoy!

Decide how you want to read this book: As a detective story, a theological work, a philosophical work or as an historical work. Once you've read it in your chosen way, read it again and new nuances will open up to you.
This is Eco's most symbolically rich work, studying the contrasts of rationalism and religious fanaticism. The author explores the religious sub-concious and does it engrossingly. Also made into a film with Sean Connery, Christian Slater and F. Murray Abrahams.
It is perhaps excelled by Foucault's Pendulum, but at all costs avoid The Island of the Day Before. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

So, Catholic monks set somewhere in the 13th-14th century middle ages era, with a fantastically (boringly) detailed opening routine. Great description of monastic daily life, especially the in-period misogyny. What made the book not work (for me) was the abundance of obscure (plot relevant) Latin. Plus the narrator tends to be non-specific, meaning the reader is invited to deduce for themselves. The Name of the Rose was more philosopher with symbolism than murder mystery, and I would have enjoyed it more with footnotes or translator's notes. William Weaver's translations (book originally written in Italian) could have used these.

Alas, I did not have a reader's guide, so rather than appreciating the author's use of obscurity, I was left out of the story and put the book down. If my background tended more towards Latin, the priesthood, or historic literature, my opinion would be positive. This is a niche work, not for the general public, who should consider watching the movie. My softcover copy states on the cover it is a major motion picture from Twentieth Century Fox starring Sean Connery and Murray Abraham.

“The Name of the Rose” is a horribly pretentious, pedantic, verbose “novel”. And it stinks too!
Under the guise of a medieval mystery Umberto Eco has written a diatribe on philosophical ideas (and not presented all of them accurately) in order to impress upon the reader how very smart he is indeed. Characterization, moments of human reality & truth, and most importantly accessibility to the reader are clearly repulsive ideas to Mr. Eco.
I can sum up the book, which takes place at a monastery in northern Italy in 1327 thus:
-Monks have crazy visions, lots of them and their visions don’t advance the plot one iota.
-Umberto Eco knew Latin, and he wants you to be damn sure to know it.
-The narrator has a vison in which Eco shows off that he knows Bible stories, lots of them, and can throw them into a blender to create some post-apocalyptic nonsense, again to no point in the story. My mommy read Bible stories to me too. I get the references Eco was making. I imagine that would disappoint him. He clearly hates novels that actually involve the reader.
-Eco is actually a very bad version of Dan Brown. Read the sentence again. Yep I said it. The text’s great dénouement is straight out of one of Brown’s novels with the same obvious villain/ religious fanatic that the reader can see coming a mile away. Mr. Brown can’t write, but he is a good storyteller. Eco can’t write (and editing is out of his frame of reference) AND he is a horrid storyteller.
-The arrogant and meandering “Postscript” written by the author (he takes 40 pages to explain to you how great he and his book are) is truly terrible. It will make you detest the writer. As if you will need help after finishing this torture. Did no one ever tell this guy to shut up? Throughout these 40 pages he contradicts himself, and talks down to the reader too many times to count.
Really my biggest frustration with “The Name of the Rose” is that it infrequently presents an interesting idea which if followed up would have made for intriguing reading. Among them, the idea of “books speaking among themselves” and some thoughts on the nature of learning that had much potential. There are nuggets throughout the text that if taken out of context are quite insightful and worthy of thought. But then Eco’s ego gets the better of him and he pontificates and belabors each point he makes. Every time he presents an idea (philosophical, educational, religious or other) he makes the point in 2-3 pages and then goes on to lecture the reader for another 10-20 pages on the same point redundantly. If those redundancies alone had been cut the text would have been 300 pages and significantly less bad.
A member of my book club picked this text, and the way the meeting for this book went clearly demonstrates its flaws. It was not a discussion and an exchange of ideas, but a lecture. When you have a group of educated people and 1 or 2 has to tell the rest of them how valuable a text is…well…I think that says it all right there. Ironically Eco writes in the book “Without an eye to read them, a book contains signs that produce no concepts, therefore it is dumb.” Unless you are a book by Mr. Eco of course, then if people don’t read your work because it does not speak to them they ae the fools. There are quite a few fans of this text who may believe that whopper. I for one am not biting.

This comes from a long-time Eco/The Name of The Rose fan.. You come to realize that this book is not the easiest to read, you find stories and descriptions in it that sometimes are extremely long and exhausting, sometimes you might struggle with the fact that the whole story is fictious though claimed to be partly a true story.

But then, what you get is a great novel filled with mysteries and lessons of our history. Great characters that I find so easy to relate to. You learn about semiotics too (science that I always found fascinating), and most of all 'The Rose' will guide your way to become an investigator and more observant reader - if that is something you desire! Read it!

I greatly preferred Eco's novel Foucault's Pendulum, maybe because it doesnt worry about being obscure and highbrow. However, with The Name of the Rose, it seems like Eco tries to present a long-past world to uneducated readers. The portrayal of the inner politics of late Medieval Christendom is illuminating but the overabundance of characters with similar names and religious sects leaves the reader confused and without direction.

The murder-mystery plot of The Name of the Rose comes to introduce the larger theme of the power of faith versus knowledge. As each character maintains a different stand on the importance of each ideology, these personality variations allow the audience to make other distinctions such as the beliefs of two monastic orders, the power of reasoning, and the varying views between the church of the medieval times and the educated select on topics concerning wisdom and learning. There is an evident hero of the movie/novel, and that hero becomes real, fitting in with today's society through his modern attributes in the field of philosophy. The quest for knowledge and one's love for God are portrayed as a combination of oil and vinegar-they are two separate solutions.

I guarantee you my IQ jumped a point or two just from reading this monolithic work. I cannot fathom how a work with this complex structure in utterly simple who-dunnit fashion came from a human hand. I had to work hard to complete this book, but the way my mind raced forwards and backwards through what I know of history, language, and human behavior was like a mental amusement park. This ranks as my FAVORITE book of all time--unfortunately none of Eco's other novels do it for me...

This is mostly a long-winded philosophical ramble using a mystery in a medieval monastery as an excuse for long digressions on theology, history and philosophy. I don't know if it is because of its translation or its desire to be historical (or both) but it is extremely long-winded. No point or detail escapes without a wordy digression, often for pages and pages. By the time it returns to the narrative, you often forget you're in the middle of some narrative scene with two or more characters.

What's disappointing is that I think that the history, theology and philosophy could have been woven into a narrative that managed to be enlightening and entertaining. Unfortunately it isn't.

The Name of the Rose is one of my absolute favorite books. The mystery is first-class, and the story is engrossing. William and his apprentice journey through the abbot's domain in an attempt to figure out what's going on.
I don't want to give too much away, so I won't say too much else, other than a word of advice: Keep a Latin dictionary handy. Eco has a tendency to use long Latin passages, which most people simply won't be able to understand. Eco's usage of Latin does lend something to the book--but only if it's comprehensible by the reader.

Eco is number 1 on my top ten authors list.
I loved him after this book, and I love him more after reading more of his books. "The Name of the Rose" is "Three Musketeers" of our century. It has that kind of flavor and adventure and at the same time it is involved and complicated like best works of Hesse.

eco is a great and captivating author who wrote this wonderful dan brown style book much earlier than dan brown and included also important elements of high literature. this is why he won the nobel prize for literature

Hello! I read the reviews about this book and I noticed that many people are complaining with the fact that this book is full of Latin sentences.
I am native Italian and I read this book in its original Italian version. I must say that Italian version of this book is not so full packed of Latin sentences as many of you say.
Even taking into account the fact that Latin is obviously easier to me than to an English-speaking person due to Neolatin origin of my mother tongue and the fact that I studied little Latin at university, I did not notice that large amount of paragraphs in Latin.
Anyway... absolutely one of the best books I've ever read (and I read a lot!) :-)

History is dull, that's a given. Yet when it's presented in such a lively and entertaining manner as this, you simply sit back and enjoy the ride. It's so much fun to learn, when it's presented as a game. It's a great mystery in the tradition of Sherlock Holmes, but it contains so much more than a simple mystery. It also is a philosophical discourse, and it contains scads of historic information. This book has everything, buy it, read it, love it. Only problem I had with it, is the ending. Like alot of mysteries, it's usually somewhat of a letdown; it seemed almost tacked on as an afterthought. So, enjoy the journey to the end, because that's the important part anyways.

Interspersed among the action of crime detection by the narrator and his monastic boss there are reams of boring Catholic theological debates painfully recounted and that have minimal bearing on the plot, but serve splendidly to keep everything moving at a glacial pace. How was this pompous glob of nonsense ever granted masterpiece status? It may appeal to those who find the Middle Ages alluring and monastic pinheads entertaining. I quit at page 342 and felt foolish for not tossing this aside long before doubt turned to disgust.

Not the easiest read, but worth the effort. Brilliant story that takes place during the Inquisition of the 14th century. The power of the church (Catholic) is evidenced by the great lengths it takes to withhold knowledge that is reserved for only a few. Very believable story. The author does a wonderful job of placing you in this time period.

Wow. Just finished it. A philosphical medieval murder mystery about monks and books,sprinkled for flavor with untranslated Latin phrases. The ending will have you staring at the page, smiling, quietly saying out loud, "Bravo."
I never considered the importance of whether or not Jesus laughed.

This book has it all. I was impressed with my first Umberto Eco reading. I would not be so intimidated by the foreign text passages - do not alter context that much and actually create genuine literary value. I read version without post transcripts. Work was more than just the classic "who dunnit." I highly recommend and look forward to reading other works by this acclaimed international author.

I read this book in highschool and have nothing but the fondest memories of the writing of umberto eco. i recomend this book with the greatest amount of confidance in it's literary value and as in most works of fiction which resulted in a movie it far outshines its theatrical followup which if you can think back that far was an outstanding film with capable preformances by sean connery and the like i belive that there was an oscer given for that preformance..... but i digress. the name of the rose is a truly remarkable offering by mr. eco and deffinately worth the 10.50.

This book is full of suspense and intrigue. After I got through the first 100 pages which were somewhat slow, the book began to pick up and then it was great. If you are interested in mystery books than this is one of the best out there.

Truly extraordinary. This book is a superb depiction of the philosophy, Church history, and monastic abuses of the 14th century. (Read carefully - or you may miss some of the richest humour of any century.) I've never seen better

William of Baskerville represents Sherlock Holmes. Why? 1st. The name is a clear indicator.( Hound of the Baskervilles ) 2nd. he is english. 3rd. He finds answers throuh logic. 4th. He is described very similarly to how Arthur Conan Doyle describes his sleuth. Adso represents Watson. 1st. His name: Adso sounds a lot like Watson. 2nd. He narrates the story ( like Watson ) 3rd. He is Baskervilles faithfull companion. Jorge of Burgos represents Argentinian fabulist and poet Jorge Luis Borges. Why? 1st. They are both blind 2nd. They have similar names 3rd. Borges was made Argentinas Chief librarian 4th. Borges poetry contains many references to libraries being like labrynths.
Where does this leave me, I dont know, I just wanted to point it out. I know for a fact that Eco loves Borges, but why he used him in this book is beyond me. Nevertheless, excellent book.

Although I found "The Name of the Rose" rather difficult to get into initially, Eco's beautifully composed prose, carefully crafted plot, and deep knowledge of the period make getting through the initial doldrums of the Latin-laced yarn well worth the effort.

I have to agree with those who have described this book as "tedious". I started and stopped several times before plowing though to the end. The book starts off with promise with a bit of deduction a la Sherlock Holmes. But then the reader must wade through lengthy discussions on heresy and the like. The library maze is somewhat interesting, but the ending was not satisfying after so much effort to finish. In the end too much uninteresting information for me.

One reviewer here on the store was right on the money when he said that reading a novel by Umberto Eco instantly raises your IQ by a couple of points. The Name of the Rose has been my first encounter with Eco's work, and I was for the most part very impressed with his skillful murder mystery set in a 14th century Italian monastery.
The novel works on many levels. It is a compelling murder mystery, as young narrator Adso of Elk accompanies the wise William of Baskerville as he uses logic and semiotics to not only solve a murder mystery, but to decipher labrynths and hidden secrets of the vast monastery library. Interwoven with the murder mystery is a virtual course on philosophy and late Middle Ages religion, as Eco provides detailed accounts of the histories of various sects, includes scholarly debate on topics such as the poverty of Christ, and a history of the Catholic Church leading to the establishment of a papacy in Avignon, France.
One is reminded of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson as William and Adso use logic and determination to piece together numerous bizarre deaths and occurences at the Abbey, while encountering obstacles and outright hostility by the Abbot and his librarian, to name a couple. The setting of the novel, and the glimpse into a culture that few of us can even imagine, is reason enough to read The Name of the Rose.
The book is not without its faults however. I think the book should stand alone, (ie you should not have to buy a separate "reader's guide") and I was very frustrated at the numerous Latin phrases that are included throughout the novel with no translation. Perhaps this is more the fault of the translator than Eco himself, but it makes for a difficult reading experience. One does not need to know the meaning of every word in the book to follow the plot, but it is aggravating to stumble across paragraph-long passages or insciptions that are completely foreign to most readers, without so much as a footnote. There are also fairly long digressions involving topics of religious debate or history of minor sects that, in my opinion, were extraneous and contributed little overall to the success of the novel. However, overall, I thought the novel was rewarding, both informative and suspenseful.

This book has it all. I was impressed with my first Umberto Eco reading. I would not be so intimidated by the foreign text passages - do not alter context that much and actually create genuine literary value. I read version without post transcripts. Work was more than just the classic "who dunnit." I highly recommend and look forward to reading other works by this acclaimed international author.

I read this book in highschool and have nothing but the fondest memories of the writing of umberto eco. i recomend this book with the greatest amount of confidance in it's literary value and as in most works of fiction which resulted in a movie it far outshines its theatrical followup which if you can think back that far was an outstanding film with capable preformances by sean connery and the like i belive that there was an oscer given for that preformance..... but i digress. the name of the rose is a truly remarkable offering by mr. eco and deffinately worth the 10.50.

This book is full of suspense and intrigue. After I got through the first 100 pages which were somewhat slow, the book began to pick up and then it was great. If you are interested in mystery books than this is one of the best out there.

Truly extraordinary. This book is a superb depiction of the philosophy, Church history, and monastic abuses of the 14th century. (Read carefully - or you may miss some of the richest humour of any century.) I've never seen better

William of Baskerville represents Sherlock Holmes. Why? 1st. The name is a clear indicator.( Hound of the Baskervilles ) 2nd. he is english. 3rd. He finds answers throuh logic. 4th. He is described very similarly to how Arthur Conan Doyle describes his sleuth. Adso represents Watson. 1st. His name: Adso sounds a lot like Watson. 2nd. He narrates the story ( like Watson ) 3rd. He is Baskervilles faithfull companion. Jorge of Burgos represents Argentinian fabulist and poet Jorge Luis Borges. Why? 1st. They are both blind 2nd. They have similar names 3rd. Borges was made Argentinas Chief librarian 4th. Borges poetry contains many references to libraries being like labrynths.
Where does this leave me, I dont know, I just wanted to point it out. I know for a fact that Eco loves Borges, but why he used him in this book is beyond me. Nevertheless, excellent book.

I think I couldn't call this a review. Better an opinion of a sincere reader. I read this book last night. I couldn't go to sleep before I come to the eend, and when I did, I wanted more. I was sorry I didn't read it before, and I was sorry I didn't know it was so good, so I can leave it for later, I don't know when, just later. I was thinking about all the books I ever read, and I realised that here they were, all in one great book. I wanted to be there, I wanted to be the writer of this book, but, with this english, I could be only the lousy reader, with a lousy comment on one great book. So that's it.

Although I found "The Name of the Rose" rather difficult to get into initially, Eco's beautifully composed prose, carefully crafted plot, and deep knowledge of the period make getting through the initial doldrums of the Latin-laced yarn well worth the effort.

I have to agree with those who have described this book as "tedious". I started and stopped several times before plowing though to the end. The book starts off with promise with a bit of deduction a la Sherlock Holmes. But then the reader must wade through lengthy discussions on heresy and the like. The library maze is somewhat interesting, but the ending was not satisfying after so much effort to finish. In the end too much uninteresting information for me.

One reviewer here on the store was right on the money when he said that reading a novel by Umberto Eco instantly raises your IQ by a couple of points. The Name of the Rose has been my first encounter with Eco's work, and I was for the most part very impressed with his skillful murder mystery set in a 14th century Italian monastery.
The novel works on many levels. It is a compelling murder mystery, as young narrator Adso of Elk accompanies the wise William of Baskerville as he uses logic and semiotics to not only solve a murder mystery, but to decipher labrynths and hidden secrets of the vast monastery library. Interwoven with the murder mystery is a virtual course on philosophy and late Middle Ages religion, as Eco provides detailed accounts of the histories of various sects, includes scholarly debate on topics such as the poverty of Christ, and a history of the Catholic Church leading to the establishment of a papacy in Avignon, France.
One is reminded of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson as William and Adso use logic and determination to piece together numerous bizarre deaths and occurences at the Abbey, while encountering obstacles and outright hostility by the Abbot and his librarian, to name a couple. The setting of the novel, and the glimpse into a culture that few of us can even imagine, is reason enough to read The Name of the Rose.
The book is not without its faults however. I think the book should stand alone, (ie you should not have to buy a separate "reader's guide") and I was very frustrated at the numerous Latin phrases that are included throughout the novel with no translation. Perhaps this is more the fault of the translator than Eco himself, but it makes for a difficult reading experience. One does not need to know the meaning of every word in the book to follow the plot, but it is aggravating to stumble across paragraph-long passages or insciptions that are completely foreign to most readers, without so much as a footnote. There are also fairly long digressions involving topics of religious debate or history of minor sects that, in my opinion, were extraneous and contributed little overall to the success of the novel. However, overall, I thought the novel was rewarding, both informative and suspenseful.

I thought this book was excellent. When I first picked it up I was a little intimidated by it's length-502 pages! But when I had finished it, it didn't seem like it was that long. This is a fascinating tale of murder in a monastery in medievel Europe. It has a few boring parts but trust me, reading them is worth it. In fact one of the religious discussions the monks have turns into a fight and is actually pretty funny. But the best part of this book is the mystery. It is spooky at times and there are many omens and creepy goings-on. All in all a great read.

Eventhough movies don't reflect a books's imaginary action, the movie about this book is quiet good. Though, the most importan thing about this novel is,, Christ capacity of laughing and enjoying life.Laugh is always a gift, and to be able to discover its magnigency in a middle ages book is simply astonishing.. besides descriptions are not boring... enjoy....

i loved this book as a young man and kept referring to it as i grew through my college experience. the master and student relationship shown here with tenderness and craft was part of the real joy of learning i experienced and hope other's find as well.

Eco's first attempt at a work of fiction is as rich and complex as one would expect from an experienced novelist. Not only does Eco tell a fascinating mystery, he also tells it with the accuracy and realism of a historical work. The subtle agenda of present-day philosophy creeps into the book as well. No where else have I seen a fusing together of Pre-Modern, Modern, and Post-Modern views and ideals.

A long read but worth the time. Umberto Eco is the master of the art of decribing environments with words. I loved reading pages long descriptions of the middle ages environments and characters. If you like the book check the movie out too - a Sean Connery classic introducing Christian Slater.

This book amazes me. It amazed me when I first read it, it amazes me ten years later. What also amazes me is that someone could use "The Alienist" as any thing other than the most base comparison to this book (although I'm sure Caleb Carr would be flattered)! This book is to "The Alienist" as the Pope is to a tax collector (to stay in the "rose" frame of reference, sort of).

Umberto Eco's "The Name of the Rose" can be really named the best novel of the 80's. The fascinating intrigue: the murders of the monks in a medieval Benedictian abbey, with the background of fight for the Pope's domination over the different monk orders. The detective plot is rather uneven, so the distinguished reader understands that it isn't true a detective story.
The composition is brilliant. Eco's description skills are at their best in the book.

I am Italian so I read the Italian version of his book. It's more difficult than the English one, you know, and I'm only 14 years old. I really enjoyed Eco, he's such a good writer. The book is interesting but maybe there are too many parts written in Latin (I study Latin at school so i could translate them, but if you don't know that, hmm, it's hard)

The only reason I finished this book was its abundance of words, and I really wanted to practice my Italian. If you don't have this goal in mind - don't bother.
The book is really wordy, boring, slightly amusing, and quite pointless. Murder mystery very much like those by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, although completely lacking any hint of brilliance, set in a 14th century monastery, injected with some doctrine, some history, some Latin. (And when I say "some", I mean a lot). It leaves you with a lingering aftertaste of wasted time and trees.
The author has an obsession with written word and should stick to semiotics.

The book is undeniably massive, but once I started reading, I couldn't stop. When I came to the last few pages and found out what the cause of the mayhem was, I almost burst into tears. This book has changed my life in more than one way; I cannot look at everyday life anymore without seeing philosophical and theological aspects of everything around me.

this is the richest, funnest and most complex fiction book I've read set in the middle ages, and wonderful depiction of the first inklings of the paradigm shift from from medieval ideology into the spirit of inquiry that resulted in the renaissance.

The book was recommended by a professor on one
of the Great Courses production. I took the plunge.

Plot was agonizingly slow with too many Latin
sentences and paragraphs with no translation.
Too many references to obscure individuals who
might have tickled the mind of a medieval scholar.
All in all it appeared to be the work of an individual
who was paid by the word .

I gave up after 170 pages.

Eco es un maravilloso narrador de historias, crea y recrea con exquisito detalle toda una epoca con el conocimiento de un erudito historiador; y dentro de ella una apasionante y compleja historia donde se juega la busqueda de la verdad sobre el oscurantismo de la edad media encarnado por monjes que creen poder decidir que deben saber los demas.

When I was at the University, a professor give us an excerpt from The name of the rose to translate (by the way I was studying Italian) and I got hooked! I've read it in three languages and every time it was great, loosing nothing in the translation. I just loved it ... and I hope you'll love it too.
P.S. Incredible to say, but the film was great also!

A mystery about Mystery, the absence/presence of God. Word-games. Signs of signs: up to God, down to Man, Good and Evil in the scriptorium and Borges as a blind librarian.I remember seeing this book in 1985 and felt I wouldn't understand it until I graduated from college. I did find another book that helped with the obscure stuff. I don't claim to understand it, but it is one of the more challenging reads in my life. What you learn here in this novel is that in the Middle Ages the entire culture revolved around religion and theology was considered the paramount of philosophical thought (think of Thomism). You see this in the scene in which the old abbott opens the council by saying that no real progress exists in human thought after the Redemption, and that all culture is but an immense and wonderful recapitulation. I would also recommend reading C.S. Lewis's Discarded Image.

I'm usually pretty good at picking out books I know I will enjoy. I don't recall why I thought that this would be among them. It wasn't. No matter how hard I tried to get into it, the story and writing style just did not do it for me. I have a physical library of books I've enjoyed, and keep to read again. This one didn't make it.

i am 15 years old and i just finished this book and am in awe. when i first started it i almost gave up because of the confusing philosophical refrences. To tell you the truth i am sure i missed a great part of the book because i simply skipped over most of these confusing parts however the main plot is amazing and i believe eco is a genius.