Everyman's Library The Name of the Rose: Introduction by David Lodge

Brilliant, just as remembered, and very different and BETTER than the film. Among them are expected differences, like more time to explain, and more time to develop character, but also there are things that never happen in the film, and even complete 180 degree turns to key events. The book is a better more holistic and satisfying event than the film, but the film, seen as a film, stands well as a great piece of cinematography. just not a great version of the book. See the film, but read the book first, if you can. Umberto Eco is a master of deep and meaningful plots and story lines, and casually throws around languages like Latin, Greek, German, Italian and others, sometimes untranslated, which can be disorientating at times, but does definitely enhance the time difference and cultural gap between us and the period of the book in history. Brilliant all round.

This is a very difficult book to read and a difficult book to review. We got off to a bad start (the book and I, that is). For me, there is an overweening arrogance in deliberately making the first 150 pages difficult to get through. I wouldn't have minded as much if this was the end of the difficulties but it was not. For me personally, there are three main areas of difficulty in terms of both understanding and in the desire to keep reading:1. Frequent use of untranslated passages. Mostly Latin, but also Medieval Spanish, French, German and Italian. As a reader, there is a dilemma. Do you refrain from interrupting reading and hope to infer the meaning, or do you attempt to get a translation, thus constantly interrupting the flow? I tried both options, neither were completely satisfactory, but on the whole, the second was preferable. I did think of writing the translations in pencil in the margins so that a re-read would be easier, but I'm not sure I have it in me, to be honest.2. Keeping track of the various factions, many of whom I had not previously been aware of: the Fransicans, Benedictines, Dontatists, Albegensians, Bogomils, Minorites etc etc, and all their various followers; the theological arguments about poverty or whether or not Christ laughed would have been OK on their own, but I struggled to keep track of it all. I think you would need to be a 14th Century scholar or at least a Medieval expert to follow it all. Oh, just like the author!3. The pacing. Just when you thought the story was picking up, the story goes off at an interminable tangent and it takes far too long to get back to the point of interest. For the sake of spoilers, I won't give any examples.I am not convinced that the ending was a decent enough pay-off for the above and reading the author's Postscript did nothing to change my mind that the author is too clever by half and very pleased with himself. My thanks to DailyKos.com (who clearly loves the book) for help in understanding anything at all.N.B Amazon won't publish my review with the link to the above website, but hopefully credit still goes where it is due, and it is still helpful enough for others to find if needed.

First of all, this is a fantastic book that I highly recommend anyone and everyone to read. At its heart, it is a gripping detective mystery with a great story and cast of highly developed and believable characters. However, Agatha Christie it is not...It's become somewhat cliche to say that Umberto Eco does not pander to his readers, but this is an important characteristic of his to be aware of. In fact, in the essay that accompanies The Name of the Rose, Eco openly admits that he rejected calls from editors to shorten the first hundred pages, which are described as difficult and demanding, as he wanted to challenge the reader. He states openly that if a reader is unable to pay the 'penitence' of the first 100 pages, then they will never make it through the whole novel. Personally, I've known a few people balk at reading any of Eco's novels, but I believe that The Name of the Rose should be seen as challenging as opposed to difficult.Arguably the most remarkable aspect of the novel is the many different levels that it works on, which was of course intentional. Despite escapism being something of a dirty word in the world of literature, Eco made no secret of the fact that he wanted The Name of the Rose to be entertaining - and it is. It can simply be read as an engaging - albeit challenging - murder mystery, nothing more nothing less. On this level, it ticks every box: a hermetically sealed environment, a defined list of suspects, a trail of clues, and plenty of red herrings.On a second level, The Name of the Rose serves as a very credible chronicle of the Middle Ages, with enough research and information to make your head spin. Eco relied heavily on manuscripts to inform the dialogue of his medieval monastery and there are pages and pages devoted to historical background. Personally, I felt that I was more in line with this level on my second read through. But be warned, the various Franciscan factions and the relationship between them, the Holy Roman Emperor and the Avignon Papacy is not the easiest thing to keep track of so expect to do some background reading.The other level that the novel works on, inevitably, is in the study of signs. Of course, this is only natural, as signs are an essential part of the detective fiction paradigm, but Eco, as a leading thinker on the subject of semiotics, goes well beyond the usual metonymic clues. He introduces us to the subject early on, in what is effectively a medieval version of semiotics 101. The theme of signs occurs again and again, from religious symbology to linguistics. I can't pretend to have picked up on much of it, but for an advanced reader, The Name of the Rose is a genuine work of literature to be dissected over numerous readings.It's tempting to view the Aedificium, with its three floors, as representative of the three levels of the novel and, having read the accompanying essay, I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case. On that note, I'd also highly recommend reading the essay at the end of the Vintage edition - it serves as a real eye-opener to Eco's creative process.I'd definitely recommend The Name of the Rose. It's not the easiest read, but the prose is clear and uncluttered and regardless of its complexity, it is very entertaining. If nothing else, reading the novel and Googling Umberto Eco will at least furnish you with the basic skills for writing overly long, pretentious reviews on Amazon.P.S No part of this review was intended to be anyway disrespectful to the Queen of Crime.

I approached The Name of the Rose with some trepidation. It was a thick paperback, and it came with a reputation of being a challenging read… and a few pages in it became clear that the author had liberally scattered his text with what I am told is medieval Latin (I don’t know any kind of Latin except for phrases which have passed into common use like Veni, vidi, vici).However, I decided I would tackle the challenge as I also knew it was a mystery novel and, in general, I enjoy mystery novels (unless they are too graphic).The Name of the Rose is a mystery novel, but it is a medieval mystery novel, set in a monastery against a background of a theological debate, and I found that I was as caught up in trying to follow the religious arguments (and form my own opinion of them) as I was by solving ‘whodunit’? In fact, by about half way through the novel I was so caught up in the story that I forgot to look out for clues as to the murderer’s identity… which meant I had a big surprise at the end.At the heart of the monastery, and at the centre of the novel, is the mysterious library – a labyrinth which can only be accessed by the librarian and his assistant. Like all forbidden or restricted things, curiosity drives others to long to penetrate the library’s secrets – unfolding a devastating chain of events.The Name of the Rose is a novel about sincere monks grappling with what seem to them to be vital questions: Did Christ practice (and preach) a rule of poverty for Himself and His followers? What should the relationship be between the (Catholic) church, the Emperor, and the common people? And, perhaps most important of all, Did Christ ever laugh? While these may not be questions which are asked in modern religious circles, what struck me was how the monks holding differing views used their religious beliefs in order to support political arguments – a trend as old as the monasteries of the Middle Ages and as modern as the American Presidential elections.The other theme in The Name of the Rose is about the importance of knowledge, and particularly the information stored in books, and about whether access to that learning should be free for all or restricted. Is all knowledge good, because it is knowledge, and should therefore be shared, or are there some things which it is better to keep a secret?You don’t have to be religious to enjoy this book – although I think it adds an interesting dimension if you are – neither do you have to be an expert on medieval times. If you have the patience to grapple with complex events (while remembering that the precise details are perhaps, not vital to the story), and the desire to read a novel that elevates the basic ‘whodunit’ to an art form, then add The Name of the Rose to your reading list, and persevere until the end. You will not be disappointed (but you may wish to read it again, to see if there were clues you missed the first time around).

I purchased this book in the Everyman's Library Classics Edition. The Everyman's Library Classics Edition books are, in my opinion, the best quality books available in the price-range.They are quality bound; with acid-free paper, dust jacket, and ribbon page marker.There are also a great range of authors available in this collection; and they are very reasonably priced.