The Prague Cemetery

By: Umberto Eco

Narrated by: Sean Barrett

Length: 14 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

Nineteenth-century Europe, from Turin to Prague to Paris, abounds with the ghastly and the mysterious. Conspiracies rule history. Jesuits plot against Freemasons. Italian priests are strangled with their own intestines. French criminals plan bombings by day and celebrate black masses by night. Every nation has its own secret service, perpetrating forgeries, plots, and massacres. From the unification of Italy to the Paris Commune to the Dreyfus Affair to the notorious forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, Europe is in tumult and everyone needs a scapegoat. But what if, behind all of these conspiracies both real and imagined, lay just one man? What if that evil genius created the most infamous document of all?

©2011 Umberto Eco (P)2012 Isis Publishing Ltd, published in the UK by Random House Audiobooks

Classic Umberto Eco

Where does The Prague Cemetery rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This ranks up there with The Name of Rose

Any additional comments?

A very good book from Umberto Eco the master, I read it in paperback once it came out and enjoyed it so much I got the Audible version. The narrator is excellent, reading with emotion and prose. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

a protagonist of sheer, unrelenting awfulness...

I see this as a return to form - this is, for me, Eco's best work since Foucault's Pendulum; after having more-or-less sworn off him after wading through 'The Island of the Day Before', I'm glad I decided to give the genius responsible for The Name of the Rose 'one more go' via this novel.

Admirers of Pendulum would recognise much in this account: the erudite history; the arcane knowledge of matters both bizarre and mundane; the disturbing, queasy paranoia.

But what really marks this book is the sheer bloody awfulness of the protagonist!

The audible sample's risible, poisonous rant is a great introduction to him - be warned, this man is absolutely appalling, and his repulsiveness is unrelenting, and little relieved in the course of the narrative. If you find the sample blackly comic and strangely compelling you may enjoy the book; if, on the other hand, you find yourself grossly offended this is unlikely to be the story for you.

After all [mild spoiler alert], just how repulsive would you expect the author of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion be? Well, at least this awful, surely?

Just don't expect much in the way of justice or redemption at the resolution. This is a novel about humanity at its absolute basest. This unprincipled, antisemitic, xenophobic, ultra-reactionary psychopath holds an unforgiving mirror to the darkest side of the European psyche. And we all know what followed...

In short, a truly dreadful story, beautifully read by Sean Barrett.

Difficult to rate

The issues of conspiracy are explored in this novel as in other of Eco's novels, and that makes for interesting reading/listening. Many actual historical personalities weave through the dialogues and recollections of a rather nasty protagonist.

As Freud is a new bloke on the block at the time this is located, it is a delight to learn the recollections are coming from two 'alters' of the same man. A master of disguise and writer of fraudulant wills, and a priest are each writing their memories and experiences, and begin to communicate with each other through their journal.
It is Eco remember.

At times it is hard to follow. I suspect this is also a reflection of 'jounal writing', especially when one personality knows he has murdered the other and the body is still where it should be.
This is going to a 2 and 3 times listen for me. And my ratings may change upwards.

I suppose this is not a story a lot of people will like, so unless you are familiar with his work, and, have an interst in late 19th early 20th century Europe you may not like it at all.

A Psycho-History of Antisemitism

Emblematic of Eco's style and approach to narrative development, the book is a repository of historical and scholarly references as to construct a glance into the origins of modern antisemitism. The central figure, a schizophrenic villain by all measures, regales the reader with an account of his treacherous adventures, acts of sabotage, and above all, his mindset towards the Jews. The book in effect is partially an illustration of how a most venomous form of antisemitism is transmitted like a virus from one generation to another, and each generation magnifies its potency by adding new conspiracy stories and new libels. At the end, Eco succeeds in demonstrating to the reader the very true sense of constant fear and dread a member of Jewish community had to endure in a Europe of the 19th century. Systematic plots planned and executed by European governments against their Jewish population, further enhanced by individual prejudices, all come to give direction to this book. A fearful read, and an essential one for all those who wish to understand the plight of European and Russian Jews in modern times.

Arduous

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

The plot was an arduous listen, failed to deliver either a learning or uplifting experience.

What was most disappointing about Umberto Eco’s story?

The anti-semetic nature

What about Sean Barrett’s performance did you like?

Lovely voice

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

All of the above, but also a distrust of review recommendations