Adriana's Reviews > The Name of the Rose

I had wanted to read The Name of the Rose for a long time, mostly because I enjoy both fiction and non-fiction about the Middle Ages, and also because of its importance as a piece of modern Italian literature. Although I liked it for the most part, I have to admit that it disappointed me in many ways. As a mystery novel, I was expecting it to be a fast-paced page-turner, whereas in reality The Name of the Rose is very slow and ponderous. I appreciate the attention to detail and the minute and accurate descriptions of real historical events, but I feel that the narrators voice often became mired in these details, to the detriment of the plot. When the narrator, Adso, slipped into these trains of thought that were only tangential to the story, I frequently forgot what was going on by the time he emerged. In addition, much of the historical background read like a text-book, and not a novel. There were too many dates and names to keep track of, and while these elements may have been central to the story, who/what they were was never fully explained.
On the positive side, the translation is done beautifully, and I can only imagine that the original Italian is even more agile and lyrical. For those who want to stick with a 500 page novel, The Name of the Rose can be quite rewarding. I feel that I learned a lot about life in a medieval Italian monastery, and about the most important philosophical and religious concerns of the time. I just would have preferred it if Eco had focused more on writing a cohesive, engaging novel, rather than a history lesson surrounded by the vague framework of a plot.