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Summary: Occultists and Academics
Review: Reading the end of this book was a definite epiphany for me. I had just finished a postgraduate degree in English and found myself drawn into the story at a rapid rate. Three academics become convinced that they have discovered a once-every-120-years meeting of seemingly every secret society, occult sect, and cabal. As they combine a thousand threads of evidence, their efforts begin to mimic the goal of the occultists they are following: to become aware of the unknown, to be a member of the inner circle, to know the great secret. As I was about to enter a life in academia myself, I found this idea more than a little disturbing. While this is not a book for those who like straightforward mysteries with clear solutions, the book is stronger because it does not placate its readers with easy answers. Although it toys with the idea.
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Summary: Want Some Immersion?
Review: Read this, cover to cover. This was my first Eco read and it completely hooked me into his other works. I loved it. It takes some focus to stay with his many historical references but you get used to it and it becomes very enjoyable and entertaining. It is a completely different form of fiction than anything else I've ever read and will immerse you in its complex and weird story. History/Occult/Sci Fi fan? Give this a try.
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Summary: Let's be Honest!
Review: Just because a book is interlaced with a vast bank of intellectual data does NOT necessarily qualify it as a great read. To compare this book with Ulysses and War & Peace is a crime; those books were exceptionally well written. I personally believe that many readers praise this book simply to qualify themselves as 'advanced' intellectuals. Big deal! I have read the book and found it endowed with much knowledge but that did not make it a good read. Look at the other reviews and you'll find one reoccurring theme, "Patchy", "Choppy" etc..; I could not agree more. Let's face it people the Oxford English Dictionary is a complex, intellectually challenging publication, that does not mean I want to read it from cover to cover. If it's bragging rights you're looking for then read "Foucault's Pendulum." If its fine, eloquent writing you seek, save yourself the money!
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Summary: A pompous and inflated masturbatory exercise
Review: After reading and enjoying the Name of the Rose, I figured Eco's follow-up would be comparable. However, I found this book a big waste of my time. It is easily the most self-indulging book I've read. To those who would insinuate you need a vast education to appreciate the work, I would beg to differ. I am myself not exactly a stranger to issues of epistemology and pseudoscientific diatribes, and still I found this book PAINFUL to read! And I did read it all, BTW.It's egregiously abysmal!
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Summary: THEY made me write this review!
Review: Utterly paranoid, and brilliantly done. I'd at least heard of the Knights Templar, and the Ismaili [assassins] cult, but I've learned a great deal more about Medieval paranoia than one could imagine Eco could place into a single book. As another reader suggested, read it in Paris, but DO NOT read it on LSD, lest you panic at the sight of the Eiffel Tower. This has to be [fair warning] amongst the most convoluted books I've read. I wish I could write this perfectly
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Summary: read it in PARIS
Review: I read this book while in PARIS, where most of the plot takes place. It gives the book an eerie perspective, but one that should be experienced. If you want to fully appreciate it read it there, even for the second time. or third. eco is so complex there is no chance of ever getting all his stuff anyway.
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Summary: Complexity and patterns within the chaos, or is there ?
Review: Not for everyone, but for those with a taste for "wheels within wheels" there is nothing else quite like it though "The Illuminatus Trilogy" by Robert Anton Wilson is just as well done.
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Summary: Read it after reading Holy Blood, Holy Grail
Review: Yes, read this book after reading Holy Blood, Holy Grail by Baigent, et al. and it will make much more sense. I think what Eco did here was a parody on how the authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail went about writing their book. Eco also bombards the reader with many confusing and irrelevant information, just as Baigent did.
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Summary: Excellent fiction, suspense, cultural knowledge, conspiracy
Review: Just an ordianry whodunnit, just involving one of the gratest conspiracies ever thought up, with incredible semiotic knowledge and understanding of popular myths.
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Summary: Hilarious set pieces but pretty tacky sometimes
Review: I think Eco wants it both ways -- he wants to be a trickster and make you the reader feel like a sucker for falling for the plot -- but he also seems to have a childish need to be a "real" storyteller. I think his trickster side undermines his story instincts. Some of the set pieces are wonderful, but some are so tacky that I wished I hadn't read them (like the big occult bash at the end -- yecch). I think some of the fascination with this book is how the reader is forced to supply subtext for Eco's tantalizing hints at meaning -- and maybe this is the point, that occult philosophy does the same thing, suggesting meaning but hollow at the core and always tricking the believer out of the true mysteries. Still, I just didn't quite get what Eco was up to here -- not satisfying enough to say that he wants you to question everything, the self-important philosophies, etc. -- he seems to be trying very hard to be a satirist and yet he conceals rather than reveals his true targets. I also didn't understand his hatred towards Paris and the suggestions of dark currents under the city -- left me with a very sour feeling. There's a strong pull to keep reading and arrive at some meaning of it all (I don't get why this is considered such a difficult read, I think it really sucks you in) -- but at the end I felt that true meaning and revelation were still buried deep in Eco's mind.
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