The Name of the Rose

The narrative is deep and wordy and plods along in many places, and that sort of left me impatient to get to the crux of what was about to happen. A great companion to the visual spectacle of the television drama of the same name starring John Turturro.

This novel is best enjoyed in tandem with watching the movie (Sean Connery as Baskevill and Christian Slater as Adso) or the 2019 8-part series with John Turturo as Baskevill. Mesmerizing glimpse into divisions in Christian catholism in medieval 13th century into papal supporters, Franciscans, Beneditines, Dominicans, Heretics and the frightening inquisitors. For the uninitiated, the microcosm of lives of monks and the hierachy in an Abbey. The fixed daily routines of work, prayers, singing, copying work in the library. These, as mentioned, are the mesmerizing backdrop to the murder mystery that stretched over seven days. We see lust manifested as a sin, not just for the flesh, but anything, including forbidden books driving the person to obtain his prize at all cost. We see hideous Salvatore resorting to black magic to trap a young beautiful peasant, we see 6 monks murdered over a book and one sacrificing himself to prevent William of Baskeville from obtaining the book .

Not an easy read and a bit boring and too detailed in places but couldn't have been too bad or I wouldn't have got to the end