Author: Umberto Eco
Genre:Mystery
Rating: 5 on 5
Source: Personal
Reading date:90's
Buy Name of the Rose from Flipkart.com
Buy Name of the Rose from amazon.com
I am not going to give away the gist of the story of "The name of rose"., as it is a well known and well read novel ..For me ,no matter how many books on mysteries I read, I keep returning to this one., I could call it my first love..I know it is not a favorite of all , but for me I loved it the very first time I read years ago...Brian of babbling books had recommended another book of Umberto Eco and I was reminded of this one...
Enter William of Baskerville to Italian abbey rich with its great collection of manuscripts and relics...But there is one pressing problem mysterious murder that takes a pattern.. Story unravels through the eyes of brother Adso who comes to assists William of Baskerville...I was wondering about the age when knowledge were restricted to a group of people, the people who had the access in turn controlled others...For lucky mortals like us., have answers at our finger tip , thanks to the virtual world... It would not definitely been easy to live in dark like in those gone by era....Murder one after another only deepens the mystery of the story, when I first read it the unpredictability was the best part that I enjoyed till the mid of the novel..The attitude of Brother William is something that would stay forever....He observes every bit of the murder looking minutely to the limited details..The details of the people's beliefs , that becomes the basis of their existence are brought in William's various observation...And the Library., oh my, how much I wish it to be real., the librarian Jorge of Burgos with his passion for books and reading is another enduring character of the novel....
Rose hides loads of secret in it isn't ., I don't know if it is the mysterious fragrance or the bloom ..Many authors have used it in their works time and again...
This is a kind of book you may not identify with yet you'll be imbibed into completely... Christian theological debates, its roots and beliefs are taken into a new horizon forcing us to see everything in new light...
Since the book was written quite a long time ago and people and places quite different from our time, reading was got a bit slow in spite of otherwise brilliant plot...It took a long time for the Roman Catholics to be established as a majority of the Christianity, through this fictional work Eco explores the power games played by the Catholics to stay ahead in the game authorizing their supremacy over those...At the end of course the winners write the history and others are erased into non-existence...The political stand upon religion, the crony world every bit of the contemporary ethics have been given a dash of classic aura... Through the murder mystery Eco brings out the difference between the heroic game and that of treachery...You may not feel good about certain ethics highlighted yet as a whole package you would definitely give a thumps up for it...I would recommend this one to anybody who love to read historic fiction and mystery....Above all this book would instill in you to read further on many metatexual references that William makes..
Book 1 for Book Blogger Recommendation 2012(BBRC12)
Book 2 for TBR challenge
Thanks for the mention VB!
ReplyDeleteI also loved this book. Eco is such a brilliant writer.
Coincidentally I am currently reading "A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century" by Barbara W. Tuchman. This is a non fiction book that covers the same time period and place that Eco's novel is set in. I find myself thinking about Eco's novel as I am reading this. There are many references in the Tuchman's book to monasteries, the medieval thinkers admiration for Aristotle, as well as other topics that Eco also covers. I think if I had read this history book first, that some aspects regarding "The Name of the Rose" would have been clearer. I guess that it will soon be time for a reread!