The Name of the Rose

[LongTermLurker]

Just started it and I'm finding it pretty heavy going so far. Been on a massive binge of relatively lightweight novels and fancied something a bit meatier, but might have overreached. Is it worth persevering?

I don't think I ever got past the first 50 or so pages on several attempts of reading it... some day I'll attempt it again!!

I managed to finish it, but it is heavy going. I think I just eventually got used to it being like that and so noticed it less as time went on, but in retrospect it never did get any less heavy. I found it clever and fascinating and grim in equal measure, but in no way cheerful or even uplifting. I am glad i read it but I wouldn't read it again.

I'm currently reading this now - there alot in it, as well as the murders themselves there is alot of church politics and philosophical discussion (some of which is losing me)- so quite a dialogue heavy book. As @WeegieWan has already said - I'll be glad I read it but wont read it again

Best book ever. But read around all the symbolism, it’s a really important aspect.

Loved it when I read it in the 80s (or was it the 90s)?

I loved this book. Keep going. ( Though there is a movie:) It's not lightweight though.

What is unreadable is Foucault's Pendulum by the same author.

Hmmm, I think I'll shelve it for now. Need to limber up with something a bit less challenging. Thanks all!

Agree very heavy going. My dd did this for her advanced higher english dissertation. Had wanted to support her by reading it myself but never managed to get through it. Just read her dissertation instead!

I read this for fun on holiday when I was 14 and loved it - tried to re-read it again in my 40s and fuck me it was a challenge!

I recommend reading the Brother Cadfael books as a massively easier introduction to monastery life coupled with a huge Christian Slater obsession to develop the mindset of my 14 yr old self to make it possible to gobble it up.

Oooh I loved this (and the mentioned Foucault‘s Pendulum) back in the 90s.

in fact I’m tempted now to pick it up again. My DH often mocks my love of impenetrable Umberto Eco novels.

Snap to all of this.

So true, and one of the great literary disappointments. (See also: Finnegans Wake, for people who liked Dubliners.)

Oh, I read this years ago, very heavy going, I finished it around Bonfire Night. The woman who'd loaned it to me didn't want it back, so I burned it!

In my defence....I'm not sorry 😁

That seems a very excessive reaction!:)

I also left it overnight on a damp windowsill, so it got wet and swelled up massively. And, as I said, it was bonfire night and Guy needed something to bulk out his stomach.

I'm smiling now, thinking about it 😃 and I generally don't hold with book burning. Good times.

Just as an update, I abandoned it in favour of The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova, and it's ticking all the boxes of been longing for so far!

I'd not of

You might like The Secret History by Donna Tartt. One of my fave books ever. Similar themes, but easier to read.