The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
July 25, 2008
William of Baskervilles is an English monk visiting a rich Italian abbey on a political mission. Adso, the narrator, plays his Dr. Watson as William is asked to investigate a murder in the abbey. The monastery’s pious veneer is peeled back to reveal the dishonest and greedy motives beneath.
Eco’s slogan: “God is in the details.” He uses long lists to describe. Instead of writing “Adelmo’s illustrations portrayed imaginary creatures such as men with tooth-filled mouths in their bellies,” he tells us exactly what was on the page, in a sentence 207 words long.
Themes: loss of ideals, hypocrisy, possessions, poverty, temporality.
Christopher John Francis Boone is a 15-year-old with high-functioning autism.
Christopher likes: dogs, detecting, the colour red, math, murder mystery novels, prime numbers, the police, the fact that the universe is constantly expanding, things in a logical order, orange squash, his pet rat Toby and The Hound of Baskervilles.
Christopher doesn’t like: people touching him, real novels, metaphors, the colours brown and yellow, France, people moving the furniture around, strangers, information overload and holidays.
I liked: Getting to know Christopher, who seemed real. Mark Haddon gave me plenty of details. There were no simple sugar-coated solutions. But it wasn’t depressing either.
