Books by author: Umberto Eco

I enjoyed The Name of the Rose tremendously, so I began Eco's latest novel, which takes place in the 12th century, with great anticipation. And it is with tremendous disappointment that I report how little I enjoyed the novel. Eco is erudite to a fault; he knows more about everything than you do, and he loves to steep his writing in inconsequential details. When this detail is hung on a murder-mystery (as in Name of the Rose) or in worldwide conspiracy (as in Foucault's Pendulum), the result is entertaining. Here, where the only plot is the far-fetched tale of a pathological liar, the result is just boring. If the story had centered on Baudolino's studies in Paris, or on the seige of Alessandria, or on the Fourth Crusade's pillaging of Constantinople, Eco might have maintained my interest. But unfortunately he moves from set-piece to set-piece with little logic and not enough sense of place and time.

It is increasingly apparent that Eco's essays are very much in the spirt of Dave Barry's, with a substantially greater intellectual bent and much less of a need to resort to non-sequitor as a humor form. These essays are all worth reading, though the one about the 3 owls left me confused. I think that you need to understand where the poem came from to "get it".

Eco's essays are sometimes very funny. I loved the Lolita parody, as well as the collection of publisher rejection letters and the "newscast" of Columbus' landing, but most of these essays were written before I was conceived, and Eco is much more widely read than I, so I didn't always appreciate his wit. This collection falls flat for me in comparison with How To Travel With a Salmon.

I really enjoyed this book. Eco weaves a very convincing story around a 14th century abbey and the monks who live (and die) there. The many detours into religious debate were interesting and generally worthwhile, but occasionally hindered the flow of the tale.

Interesting in terms of the relationship between the author and the reader. I enjoyed the explanation of the historical "facts" behind Foucault's Pendulum. I should re-read that one...probably after I read The Island of the Day Before.

I must admit that I only skimmed through the last third of this collection. I greatly enjoyed a small handful of these essays, including the title one, as well as "Lumbar Thought" (the jeans make the man), and the one about soccer (I tend to share Eco's sentiments about professional sports). Other than those, however, I found that I did not have the background to appreciate Eco's writing; without training in the classics and a knowledge of Italy's post WWII history, the essays are dull. I feel bad giving this collection a low rating, because Eco is clearly brilliant, but this collection did not "work" for me. I recommend How To Travel With a Salmon much more strongly.