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Author list The Name of the Rose FEATURES Umberto Eco New reviews This year's titles Author interviews Seasonal picks REVIEW Rating: 5 (Superb) Summary information Name that author! Requests The Name of the Rose is a most unusual Main character name: Reader Ratings publishing success, a first novel by an Italian William of Baskerville Forum semiotician that became a worldwide bestseller. Year published: 1980 Ironically, the theme of the story seems to be that Time period: 1300's Subgenres: Historical GENRES the hunger for knowledge and truth is dangerous, Setting: Italy Caper divisive, and ultimately illusory. The horrible events Classic whodunit that take place in an isolated Benedictine Cozy over the course of seven days serve as Top 5 most similar a microcosm of the conflicts rocking the late Espionage books medieval world. Forensic 1. The Strange Death of Hard-boiled It is the year 1327 when William of Baskerville and Mistress Coffin by Historical his young scribe Adso of Melk (who narrates the Robert J. Begiebing Legal story many years later) arrive at the unnamed 2. A Stolen Tongue by Military northern Italian monastery, which contains the Sheri Holman Police procedural 3. Absolution by Murder greatest library in Christendom. The and his by Peter Tremayne Political henchmen carefully control access to the collection; 4. The Death of a King Private eye only the librarian and his assistant are allowed into by P.C. Doherty Serial killer the labyrinthine stacks. The ostensible reason is 5. The Nightingale SF mystery that there are thousands of books by pagan, Gallery by Paul Harding Special subject Jewish, and Arab authors, as well as the records of many heresies. While true Christians must Suspense understand error in order to combat it, only the By the same author Thriller strongest and most mature minds should be exposed to it. Naturally the scribes and scholars, No other books by this SISTER SITES who have come from all across Europe to use the author in guide ScienceBookGuide.com library, long to view its hidden treasures. Strange Troutworks Games intrigues develop among the monks, and suddenly turn to murder. A gifted young illuminator is killed; What did YOU think? ABOUT US the next morning a second monk is found dead, FAQ plunged head-first into a barrel of pigs' blood. Team Trout Privacy William is an English Franciscan and a student of Advertising . The first faint beginnings of E-mail us experimental science took place among English ; William himself demonstrates a deductive ability reminiscent of . Sometimes characters in medieval novels who promote modern ideas are annoying and unrealistic, but William comes from the right background to do such things.

The world around the monastery is not stable; Barbara Tuchman justly called this age "The Calamitous 14th Century". Increasing wealth in the cities is changing the social structure; Dante has written works of high seriousness in the vernacular, threatening the Latin learning of the . Two other great conflicts appear in the story: first,

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the and the Holy Roman Emperor are fighting Have you read this for preeminence; and second, the Pope and the book? If so, let us know Franciscans are battling over the question of what you thought of it. poverty. Should the Church possess earthly riches Just click one of the five rating buttons below and and play a role in temporal politics; or should it work your vote will be among the poor and outcast, emulating (as the recorded. Franciscans argue) the poverty of Christ? Besides these two intertwined struggles, there are 5 - Superb numerous heretical groups attacking the established order of church and society. Some are puritanical and scorn the wealth and pomp of the 4 - Very good papacy; others stir up rebellion against the rich and are rumored to be grossly immoral. Members of 3 - Good these sects become bandits and outlaws when they are persecuted. The monastery shelters many men who have been on the losing side of these 2 - Mediocre disputes with the Pope; some are Franciscans, but others have murkier backgrounds. 1 - Poor Obviously, Rose is not an easy or straightforward read; besides the historical background integral to the tale, there are considerable passages in Something on your mind untranslated Latin. However, the persistent reader that doesn't fit into a 1 can learn a lot from this exciting and shocking through 5? Let us all in story, which perfectly blends erudition with on it, and post a entertainment. The medieval historian Norman comment to the Cantor put the film version on his list of the ten best MysteryGuide forum movies for visualizing and understanding life in the Middle Ages. Reader Ratings

Reviewer: AKB Ratings so far for this book:

Rating Number 5 - Superb 1520 4 - Very good 233 3 - Good 80 2 - Mediocre 66 1 - Poor 86

See how other books have done at the Reader Ratings page.

Movies

20th Century Fox 1987 Director: Jean-Jacques Arnaud Players: Sean Connery, F. Murray Abraham, Christian Slater Screenwriters: Andrew Birkin et al (Edgar nomination)

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Awards

2 of 3 1/21/07 11:46 AM Mystery Guide - The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco http://www.mysteryguide.com/bkEcoRose.html

Edgar nominee, Best Novel 1984 MWA 100 Best (#23)

© 1999 Troutworks, Inc. All rights reserved. Revised July 6, 1999

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