Review: The Name of the Rose

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I first read this book in 2014. David, a friend of my husband, lent this to me, and I fell in love.

At first, I couldn't believe this would be an entertaining book. It had a lot of strikes against it: it takes place in the 14th century, the main characters are monks, and there are lots of descriptions of the political and religious climate of the time. But I never give up on books, and only a short way in, I discovered that I found this book a very exciting read.

It reminded me a little of the Nero Wolfe mysteries, with Adso being the narrator Archie Goodwin, and William being the insightful Nero Wolfe. I haven't really read much Sherlock Holmes, but I imagine there is a similar setup there. There must be something about it that makes it work, to be a witness to the good detective rather than a third person narrative or first person from the detective's perspective.

There are plenty of rather boring passages, and a lot of Latin which I mostly skimmed, but I definitely enjoyed the story.

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