The Name of the Rose

By: Umberto Eco, William Weaver - translator

Narrated by: Sean Barrett, Neville Jason, Nicholas Rowe

Length: 21 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

The international best seller! A masterful gothic thriller set against the turbulence of medieval Italy.

The year is 1327. Franciscans in a wealthy Italian abbey are suspected of heresy, and Brother William of Baskerville arrives to investigate. But his delicate mission is suddenly overshadowed by seven bizarre deaths that take place in seven days and nights of apocalyptic terror.

Brother William turns detective, and a uniquely deft one at that. His tools are the logic of Aristotle, the theology of Aquinas, the empirical insights of Roger Bacon - all sharpened to a glistening edge by his wry humor and ferocious curiosity. He collects evidence, deciphers secret symbols and coded manuscripts, and digs into the eerie labyrinth of the abbey where "the most interesting things happen at night".

As Brother William goes about unraveling the mystery of what happens at the abbey by day and by night, listeners step into a brilliant re-creation of the 14th century, with its dark superstitions and wild prejudices, its hidden passions and sordid intrigues. Virtuoso storyteller Umberto Eco conjures up a gloriously rich portrait of this world with such grace, ease, wit, and love that you will become utterly intoxicated with the place and time.

©1980 Gruppo Editoriale Fabbri-Bompiani, Snzogno, Etas S.p.A.; English Translation ©1983 by Harcourt Brace & Company and Martin Secker & Warburg Limited (P)2013 Naxos AudioBooks

Spectacular novel and exceptional audio book

A professor of medieval philosophy suggested this book to me 20 years ago and I finally got around to listening to the audiobook. The story itself is very compelling, part of reflection of the medieval world, part, a discussion of the Catholic theology of the time, part philosophical musing, oh, and there is an intriguing murder mystery to boot! However, perhaps the best part of this audiobook is the performance. The narration is absolutely top notch and made for a very entertaining and edifying experience. highly recommended.

Incredible

It was all perfect. Great narration, fascinating plot, perfect dialogue, tone, theme, and incorporation of historical and philosophical elements. Eco is a genius

Long book. Worth it!

I can imagine Sean Connery as the master as the story progresses, loved it twice.

Our turn now

It’s painful and awful how closely sections of this book so aptly describe what Americans are experiencing right now. Look out 14th century, here we come!

One of the Great Novels Expertly Read

This is the rare combination of an amazingly good book with nearly perfect readers. This book is not for everyone however, as it is quite deep and there are digressions that may distract some people. However, these distractions make the book richer and serve to enhance the action when it occurs.

Excellent reading for exceptional story!

This was one of the best books I've listened to! The readers completely brought the story to life!!

Monk solves mystery

This book is kind of different than the Monk on TV but it's really good.

what a thrilled story

long? hard? well it's Umberto Eco at it's finest! but for who loves history, and the complicate middle age time it's the best.

A Big Hit in the ‘80s

At first I was engrossed by the rich language, the 14th century history of the Church under Pope John of Avignon, but as the plot unwound, the 7 days of its telling felt like 7 weeks, at least, and I said goodbye without learning if there was even a murderer afoot. Eco must have used every word in every dictionary in this work.

Good historical murder mystery. Get the book?

Well written, but probably not very well suited for audio. I probably should have read it instead. There's a lot of Latin/other languages throughout the book which will likely be lost on most listeners.

The narration fit the tone of the book, but wasn't necessarily the most engaging.

Overall, a good historical murder mystery.

Slightly disappointed by the ending.