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    The Name of the Rose
    The Name of the Rose
    The Name of the Rose
    Audiobook21 hours

    The Name of the Rose

    Written by Umberto Eco

    Narrated by Sean Barrett, Nicholas Rowe and Neville Jason

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    This hugely engaging story of murder, superstition, religious politics and drama in a medieval monastery was one of the most striking novels to appear in the 1980s. The Name of the Rose is a thrilling story enriched with period detail and laced with tongue-in-cheek allusions to fictional characters, the most striking of which is the Franciscan friar William of Baskerville, who displays many characteristics of Sherlock Holmes. Although he looks at the past through a postmodern lens, Eco catapults his readers into the dark medieval world as Brother William tries to discover why people are dying inexplicably and nastily in the monastery. There is something not altogether right within the library that is the pride of the establishment... The old man Adso, who was an impressionable novice at the time, tells the story.

    Editor's Note

    Beloved author’s debut…

    A medieval monk-turned-sleuth must employ classical philosophy and theology to decode ancient manuscripts to solve a series of murders in Umberto Eco’s mesmerizing debut.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherNaxos Audiobooks
    Release dateSep 13, 2013
    ISBN9781843797630
    The Name of the Rose
    Author

    Umberto Eco

    Umberto Eco (1932–2016) was the author of numerous essay collections and seven novels, including The Name of the Rose, The Prague Cemetery, and Inventing the Enemy. He received Italy’s highest literary award, the Premio Strega; was named a Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur by the French government; and was an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

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    Reviews for The Name of the Rose

    4/5

    4,677 ratings142 reviews

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    • 5/5
      9/10

      Just really delightful.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      Wow! That was a real slog of a book. I listened to the audiobook which is 21 hours long, although that's probably quicker than I could have read it myself (I'm a slow reader, and I'd have given more thought to the latin if it were printed in front of me). The story is entertaining enough, but it is very long winded in the telling. One reads it more for the rich symbolism and religious language from 14th Century Catholicism. At the same time the philosophy behind the book is very clearly postmodernist, which places it firmly in the latter part of the 20th Century; this makes a curious mix. I am glad I persevered however it is not something I intend to reread and I will probably steer clear of the authors other works too.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Stellar reading that does this precious tale justice. A definite relisten where I will be keeping an eye on the reader's other works.
    • 5/5
      A masterpiece.
    • 5/5
      Excellent vocalizing of a classic. I keep picturing Sean Connery from the movie adaptation.
    • 5/5
      A masterpiece.
    • 5/5
      Impressively well done book. Umberto Eco really deserves his reputation.
    • 4/5
      A rather dazzlingly promising and intelligent book, at least for the majority of it.

      With a minimum of muss and fuss, the author adeptly sets up a sketch of the world of a medieval monastery.

      The story itself is driven by the logic of an argumentative process that might have been used to answer the question of how many angels could be found dancing on the head of a pin. An admirable plot device.

      The plot itself competently builds the mystery that drives it to its pinnacle and resolved in an anticlimactic let down in the final explication.

      Reasonable characterisation, clearly written descriptive scenes, intricately and cleverly woven tapestries of dialogue, good representation of religious and philosophical verisimilitudes of the day. I found myself pinning for a more gritty and visceral vehicle that would allow me to escape into that world with a tactility matching its intellectual fecundity.

      But, as I mentioned, let down a little at the end by an unfulfilled promise and familiar histrionics of a contrived solution and a predictable conclusion of this otherwise fatalistically pessimistic but thoughtful philosopho-historical mystery.

      Not withstanding this slight shortfall, I liked the book and thought it very good, but not great.
    • 5/5
      Well written, enjoyable novel, that takes places in the confined, dualistic, restrictive thought patterns of religion.

      The audio of this audiobook is painfully bass heavy and needs to be remastered removing the unnecessary booming bass. Finding a volume that was simultaneously audible, without causing harm to my hearing with headphones on was nearly impossible.
    • 4/5
      This book is filled with interesting church history and doctrine, to such an extent that you should have a strong, perhaps consuming interest in those matter. The introspection of the narrator got tedious at times, but overall the story is very consuming as well as erudite.
    • 5/5
      Excellent. Far more complex and quite different than the film or series.
    • 4/5
      It's a good book, I'm not gonna lie, but I'm not sure if it's a good idea to "read" it for the first time as an audiobook because those parts with long monologues (mostly Jorge's) make you feel like you are stuck on a train on your way to work with a religious nut that just won't leave you alone.
    • 5/5
      Impressive writing from Eco and likewise its reading by Bennett.
    • 5/5
      Incredible! Simply INCREDIBLE!!! I love this book! The author is a genius!
    • 5/5
      Amazing book, feels like walking back to the 14th century!
    • 5/5
      Ну такое как на меня. Сложный текст какой-то. Но прочитать стоит
    • 5/5
      Way better than expected. Thoughtful. Funny. Helps if you know a bit about the medieval Christian church schisms, the Holy Roman Empire, the crusades, etc. Recommend googling I guess if you aren’t cuz I think you’d miss a lot otherwise.
    • 5/5
      I forgot how good this book is. The reader is wonderful and overall it is a very impressive production
    • 5/5
      Great tale of Middle Ages murder, definitely would recommend. Movie is good the book is excellent.
    • 5/5

      The voice of the reader is powerful entrancing. The amazing part is all the things that are based on history, which I really was not aware of.
    • 3/5
      A good read. Good description of that period of time.
    • 4/5
      The voice acting on this blows my mind. A story about a monk and his novice and how to think. Yee olde Sherlock Holmes for the religious set.
    • 3/5
      Knap postmodernistisch meesterwerk. De leerling-monnik Adso van Melk verzeilt in een moorddetective. Knappe mengeling van genres. Erudiet. En nog spannend bovendien.
    • 1/5
      The book might be interesting, wanted to listen to it after I’ve seen the movie but it was impossible.
      Nobody is saying anything about the narrator.
      Very weird Indian accent “Italian” wanna be and it sounds as a kid is practicing reading not to mention anymore the unpleasant sounds of tongue as he’s enjoying eating a chewing gum.
      Big NO!
    • 4/5
      ‘The library is a great labyrinth, sign of the labyrinth of the world. You enter and you do not know whether you will come out.’The Name of the Rose is a mystery story set in an Italian abbey in 1327. It follows a young novice monk, Adso, and his master, William, who have been sent to the abbey on a mission concerning suspected heresy. When they arrive at the abbey, however, seven of the monks die, one after the other, in mysterious circumstances, and Adso and William become detectives in the murder investigation. That is as far as I will summarise the plot, because if there is one word with which I can describe this book, it’s ‘complex’! The reader is plunged into the medieval world of scholarly philosophy, apocalyptic prophesies, political drama and heretical sects, and I found it all quite difficult to understand, but I think it’s like arriving in a foreign country without a guide; no one explains everything to you and you need to absorb the local culture for yourself as time goes on. Sometimes while reading I felt that I’d only taken in half the book and I’d need to re-read it to try to understand the rest, and even then there would probably still be a lot that I had completely missed! I think this is due to the density of the book; it’s completely loaded with detail, and I think the author must have an incredible obsession with the medieval period. He certainly succeeded in creating a complete and unique world (and I think it must be significant that the book takes place over seven days), and entering a new world has to include some effort and just plain old confusion. It’s not completely true that the reader has no guide through this strange world, because the tale is all told quite engagingly by Adso, the young novice, who now in his old age is recalling the events of his youth. Adso is a loveable and innocent character, although intelligent and able to assist his master in his detective work, and I liked the way that the narrative enabled the reader to see beyond Adso’s thoughts and interpret the plot with a modern eye. In fact, it is quite a witty and amusing book for that reason. Adso is therefore something of an ‘unreliable narrator’ because clearly the modern reader won’t agree with all his medieval ideas, but the book doesn’t allow us to look back on the Middle Ages from a position of superiority; I think it shows what a rich and complicated world it was, if very alien to us now. I also felt drawn to William, because he is quite a modern character, and tends to be more sceptical and less devout than the other characters, opposing the bloodthirsty inquisitions and torture of heretics. I think the book is showing how secular ideas began to break through into medieval times, and these ideas are embodied in the character of William.The characters are nearly all male, as you might expect from a novel set in a monastery, and a female reader can only really imagine herself into this world as an outsider, since women are described by the monks in various florid passages as being sinful and the cause of vice in men. There is the curious sense that women have a great amount of power over men through their sexuality, although it’s described as being something evil. The one female character who actually appears in the story (as opposed to simply being mentioned by others) is a girl hanging around one night in the abbey kitchen with whom Adso breaks his monastic vows of chastity. It is quite sad (for us in modern times) that Adso is completely lovelorn but feels he has done something sinful which he can never repeat (even though he can’t help feeling that there was something good in the whole affair as well). The way the girl is unnamed is also somehow quite moving. ‘That was the only earthly love of my life, and I could not, then or ever after, call that love by name.’ Various characters in the novel tell stories of their involvement in extreme religious sects, and women seem to have played a prominent role, even becoming leaders, in some of these groups. I found it interesting to learn about how radical as well as violent these sects were, and how many of them encouraged polygamy and denied the existence of hell and promoted other ideas that were not at all welcome to the church.In general, intellectual pride is seen by characters in the novel as a sin; in fact many traits that we see now as just human, maybe even positive, were (it seems at least in this book) viewed as sinful in the Middle Ages. The novel is about curiosity and the love of knowledge, which is obviously punished in the Bible, and also leads to all kinds of intrigue and drama in the abbey, in that the monks’ curiosity is denied and must be pursued in secret. One of my favourite passages in the book is when William and Adso dare to enter and explore the library, a wonderful and very mysterious place that is forbidden to nearly all the monks. The Name of the Rose is a novel in which ideas and learning are highly important, and more emotion is felt over books and libraries than over almost anything else; the only time (I think) in the novel that William sheds a tear is over a book.The Name of the Rose was quite different from what I usually read. Although it’s not a conscious decision, I realise that I usually choose books that are based more around atmosphere, place and (most of all) character, and although all those things are important in this novel, it’s mainly a very intellectual and plot-driven book, which lures the reader into attempting to understand both the murder mystery and the elaborate and unfamiliar world that the author has created.
    • 3/5
      This book is a SLOG. It doesn't help that I know little to nothing about the different orders within the Catholic church circa 1327. So much for 12 years of Catholic education.
    • 5/5
      This is a fantastic reading of a brilliant novel. So rich in thought and imagery, multilayered with cosmic irony arising out of multiple plot turning points. Unforgettable!
    • 1/5
      I gave it 30 chapters to develop but I couldn't continue. This is possibly the most self indulgent twaddle I've attempted to read in a long time. The gymnastics performed in order to work in questionable historical name dropping, the interminable listing of things that do nothing for the plot, the esoteric writing for the sake of masquerading as literature... All that and more is off putting at best. I cannot for the life of me understand how other reviewers loved it. Seems questionable to me. I'd rather poke hot sticks in my eyes than try even one more chapter.
    • 5/5
      This Is superb reading of Eco's towering masterpiece. Excellent characterizations.
    • 3/5
      Well, it took 3 1/2 weeks, but I finally finished Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose, and I've got to admit, it was pretty heavy going. Set in 1327, the tale is narrated by Adso of Melk, a young German monk who accompanies his master, William of Baskerville to a prosperous and wondrous abbey in Italy. Upon arrival, William is asked by the Abbot to put his powers of observation to work and investigate the death of a monk in the abbey. Meanwhile, the abbey is home to one of the richest libraries in the land, which is off limits to everyone in the abbey except for the librarian and assistant librarian. Adso and William are keen to unlock the secrets of the labyrinth library, as more monks turn up dead in what appears to be the work of the devil. What made The Name of the Rose so heavy going for me were the religious discussions and scholarly debates in between the narrative outlined above. The monks discussed whether or not Jesus lived in poverty, whether laughter is a sin and the histories of various sects were discussed in such detail that I found it difficult to follow at times. There were also frequent latin words and phrases without translation or footnotes, scattered throughout the book; almost one on every page. This was incredibly frustrating and I often felt I was missing out on key information at important junctures. Having said all of that, I enjoyed the main plot, especially the adventures in the library (now there's a surprise). The Name of the Rose frequently appears on Top 100 and Must Read book lists and I'm glad I've finally read it, however Umberto Eco made me work as a reader, and I could certainly tell that this was an Italian to English translation. Those of you who have seen the 80s movie The Name of The Rose with Sean Connery playing the role of William and Christian Slater playing Adso, will know how the movie ends, however even knowing the ending didn't ruin the reading experience for me. I was so glad to get to the end though, I can't honestly give it more than three stars.