“The Name of the Rose” is a Sweet, Sweet Book
If you haven’t read it by now, you’d better go and do it!
Note: I am posting this article one year late because it got stuck in my drafts.
The best work of fiction I read in 2023 was The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco.
I won’t write a long article about the book; this won’t be a thorough book review whatsoever. Instead, I’d like to just put my thoughts out onto the internet as a recommendation for anyone who might find it.
Yes, The Name of the Rose and Umberto Eco himself are already pretty well known. I had heard of the book and the author for years before I finally got ahold of the novel and committed to reading it. Still, you never know who on the internet might stumble across an article, so if you haven’t read the book yet, you should!
I hesitate to say this, but The Name of the Rose may even challenge Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing as my favorite work of historical fiction. I would say I still value Homegoing more, for a variety of reasons, but Eco’s abilities with the written word are just about unchallenged by any other author I’ve ever read.
The Name of the Rose is the kind of fiction that made me want to try to write fiction again, like I did when I was younger — even though I know full well I could never, ever replicate Eco’s masterful writing. It’s such magnificent historical fiction, I just wish I could magically transport people back in time through the power of words!
I know the book was turned into a film with Sean Connery, and I watched a few clips on YouTube after I had finished reading the story. But really, there’s little reason I would ever want to watch the movie in full. The Name of the Rose is so vividly written, it enlivened my imagination to the fullest and painted pictures in my mind I’ll remember for years to come.
I strongly recommend that after you finish the novel, you read Eco’s “Postscript” right afterward. Eco’s story, followed by his thoughts about why and how he wrote it, makes for incredibly inspiring reading.
Please leave a comment below if you’ve read The Name of the Rose, or if you have any other thoughts to share!