Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose, translated by William Weaver

I read this about 6 months ago. It had been on my list forever, partly because his nonfiction work "The Search for the Perfect Language" was on my list first.

I must say I was disappointed. I was not disappointed by the author's skill: he writes well, his characterization is wonderful, the plot is reasonably complex yet grabs one's attention and won't let go, and the book builds toward teaching a message. But I don't like the message: fear piety, fear those who are convinced of the truth, but don't fear God (see the last few pages before the epilogue). Perhaps it was especially frustrating to build anticipation for the conclusion for 600 pages only to get that conclusion.

Plus, after Angels and Demons and the Da Vinci Code I am tired of reading books by authors who must really hate the Roman Catholic church. I know there was misconduct in the monasteries, but this reads as if there was nothing more.

Like many modern works, I lay this in the pile of "great work was done here ... great but misdirected."