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A review by wretchedtheo
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I enjoyed The Name of the Rose because I love stories about monks, religion, heretics, saints and so on so forth. However, I wasn't a fan of the style. It is so impersonal and academic as to almost be more encyclopedia than novel. The characters are mainly vehicles to inform the reader of this or that historical context, or else they have intellectual debates with each other. And this can go on for as long as 20 pages in some chapters, pages and pages of research, history, philosophy, theology and logics that the reader is forced to wade through if she wishes to glean bits of actual plot, dialogue and characterization. This novel must be completely exhausting for anyone who doesn't have a passion for religious themes and a degree in the Humanities. Hell, I have both of those things and it exhausted me.