thereadingmum's reviews
810 reviews

Even though I skipped all the songs, I loved it and want to read it again and again.

There are perhaps less than 5 books that I would say are worse than the screen/dramatic adaptations.

This was the first I encountered. I watched the movie when I was 10. Yes, our parents' idea of child-appropriate entertainment was a bit loose when I was growing up. Anyway, I LOVED the movie. As odd as it was to hear an American accent from an italian novitiate monk, it was a good, if gruesome, movie.

The book, by contrast, was boring. All I remember was a lot of expsition and historical detail and far less story or character development. Definitely no monk-village girl trysts. 

I read one other book by Eco and that was even more boring. He seems to like putting all his research into his novels. Some may enjoy reading a history book disguised as a novel. I don't. 

When I first read it, I was enthralled and gave it 5stars. Then I reread it again years later and was disappointed. The writing was not as good as I remembered. The characters were less likeable than I thought and so I rooted for them less. I was disturbed by the romance between such a young girl and a much older man. I was also disturbed the the relationships that were seen as "normal", that in the end, "getting the man" for a geisha meant being his mistress for the rest of her life. 

A bit silly. Not his best work. Not really blasphemous IMO.

Epic, sweeping, but not a good ending.