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The Name of the Rose

By Umberto Eco

(170)

| Hardcover | 9780151446476

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Book Description

It is the year 1327. Franciscans in an Italian abbey are suspected of heresy, but Brother William of Baskerville’s investigation is suddenly overshadowed by seven bizarre deaths. Translated by William Weaver. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book

Critics

Frank Kermode on the horse of the Baskervilles

Semiotics is a fashionable subject, but semioticians do not normally become international best-sellers, which is the fate that, in apparent violation of this familiar cultural assumption, has befallen the Professor of Semiotics at Bologna, Umberto Ec ... (read full critics)

lrb published on Tue, 7 Sep 2010

Murder in the Monastery?

Signs on a white field by Umberto Eco, the Italian semiotician and now novelist as well, bring us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to the year 1327. The preface would have us believe that in 1968 Eco was handed a translation, made in 1842 b ... (read full critics)

nybooks published on Fri, 20 Aug 2010

9 Reviews

4 people find this helpful

I met the author once. All I could say to him was "I love your book" repeatedly. He was so charming and gentlemanly. sadly, I forgot to ask his autograph.

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CarolC said on Oct 9, 2008 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

2 people find this helpful

Labyrinthine Plot

Eco is very obviously intelligent and knowledgeable. The research for this book must have taken months, let alone writing it.
A simple premise to start with, as there is a murder in an abbey just as a new monk arrives, who is known for his great detective skills. As he attempts to solve the mu ... (continue)

Eco is very obviously intelligent and knowledgeable. The research for this book must have taken months, let alone writing it.
A simple premise to start with, as there is a murder in an abbey just as a new monk arrives, who is known for his great detective skills. As he attempts to solve the murder, there are more deaths, a massive amount of theological discussion, a background setting of religious turmoil across Europe, and even the abbey itself is a complex mystery laden with secrets.
Even though you may find yourself at various points trying to understand the copious amounts of information regarding the scenario, or the scattered foreign (and untranslated) phrases, the story keeps moving at a nice pace, allowing you the time to think and follow the story as it is re-enacted by Adso many years in the future. It does however, suffer very slightly from the slow pace. William, the detective monk doesn't seem to spend much time detecting, and the murders can seem like sidenotes in the story of the religious background. It's almost as if Eco wanted to explore the theological aspects of the time rather than tell a story, but a story was the best way of going about getting people to read it.
Nevertheless, this is only a small point, as the story (and thankfully) the religious discussions are interesting and well worth reading. It could be that the book suffered in my eyes as my reading pace slowed to a crawl during this book. It should be noted that this was my fault, and not the novel's.
Overall, the novel is fascinating, well-written, well thought out, and ultimately very satisfying. The library in the Aedificium is probably one the best rooms ever created in literature, and the conclusion of the mystery is satisfying, even if the overall ending seems a tad over-dramatic, which is out of keeping with the rest of the book.

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Daniel Peachey said on Sep 13, 2008 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

1 person find this helpful

"Yesterday's rose endures in its name, we hold empty names".

Words fail me...Bewitched, you've got me in your spell. To you I belong.

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Turpentine said on May 19, 2011 about the Audio Cassette edition | Add your feedback

" and because of excess virtue the forces of hell prevail " ...

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Littleferryboats said on Mar 9, 2011 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

This is a must! A classic! Remember the movie with Sean Connery. There's a murderer in the Abbey. It's 1327.

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jelabino said on Jun 28, 2010 about the Mass Market Paperback edition | Add your feedback

Not wanting to sound like a smarty-pants, but I guessed as much what was going on re: deaths before the end. :p

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shazzpezzazz said on Aug 17, 2009 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback