Baudolino by Umberto Eco, William Weaver Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Baudolino
Book Review: Italo Calvino meets Jack Vance(whit a bit of Elley Queen)
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a book about a picaro,a wayfarer,who contrives to deceive all his world whit his elaborations of some of the most popular legends in his time:The Holy Grail and Priester John ,a fabulous christian king of the East.I've loved the description of the scholarly years in Paris,the bizarre collection of legendary monsters and fabulous beings,encountered in a voyage whose description recalled to me the bizarrenes of some Vancean adventures and the zany absurdity of Italo Calvino.But most intriguing of all is the mystery of Federico Barbarossa's untimely end:here Eco surpasses Ellery Queen in an aenigma that allows too many solutions.And over all this,Eco superb erudition.Book Review: FLUID PROSE AND PROVOCATIVE THOUGHTS
Summary: 5 Stars
Renaissance man Umberto Eco continues to enthrall with a return to the era he so masterfully painted in "The Name Of The Rose." An intrepid, nonparallel story teller he again visits the Middle Ages with Baudolino, a marvelous blend of history and imagination.It is April 1204 and a northern Italian peasant, Baudolino, is in Constantinople, the resplendent capital of the Byzantine Empire. The city staggers under the relentless onslaught of the knights of the Fourth Crusade who pillage and burn. Oblivious to his own safety Baudolino rescues an important personage, a historian from sure death at the hands of the marauding warriors. This is the person to whom Baudolino recounts his life story - a colorful narrative laced with fantasy and adventure.
Although of humble birth, we learn that Baudolino is rich in two areas: the art of inspired prevarication and an aptitude for learning languages. When still a youngster he was adopted by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa who later sent the boy to the university in Paris. Affable and quick, Baudolino soon made friends in France with those who shared his somewhat reckless taste for adventure.
Together a group of them journey to the east and embark upon a search for a mythical priest-king, Prester John. It is believed that Prester John's domain is a fabled land inhabited by eunuchs, unicorns, beautiful maidens, and bizarre beings with misplaced orifices.
As is his wont the unsurpassed Eco weaves his story with ruminations of weighty matters such as theology, politics, government, and history. He does this with fluid prose and provocative thoughts that inevitably draw readers into the author's unique land of enchantment, a magical place that one is reluctant to leave.
Book Review: The Lie, the Fantasy, and Recorded History as Fact?
Summary: 4 Stars
Expect the unexpected from Eco. Playful with words, concepts, and history, Eco will twist your conception of Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa, his court, the third and fourth Crusades, paradise on Earth, religious dogma, relics and their sources, till it becomes difficult to tell the real from the unreal. So much so that when two thirds into the book Eco changes from his variant of history to an out and out Cabellian fantasy, complete with unicorns and other less savory creatures, it comes across as merely another short step in the journey of his accomplished liar and linguist protagonist Baudolino.And what a main character Baudolino is! For every major historical event, from Barbarossa's sieges and compromises with various Italian cities and popes to the discovery and placement of the Three Magi of Cologne, Baudolino is not only there, he is the major instigator. From the opening of the book, when we meet him as a young boy worming his way into Friedrich's graces with his quick wit and tongue, Baudolino is an engaging rascal, full of himself and his own (justified) ability to turn the course of history with a well crafted falsified parchment here, a poem (as presented as by someone else) there, or a quiet word with the Emperor carefully couched in just the language the Emperor wishes to hear.
But this also brings up one of Eco's major themes of this book, on just what is real and true. If people believe in it, does it matter that the relic worshiped as the Holy Grail is actually a common wooden bowl? If the lie will serve a greater good, is it really a lie? If someone, somewhere, declares that something exists, then does it really have an existence? Where is the line between fantasy and reality? Of course, at the same time that Eco is investigating these points, he is also rather savagely satirizing various religious beliefs and demonstrating the hilarity of the life and death dissension of various religious sects over incredibly tiny differences of interpretation of some element of dogma.
As usual, Eco is not an easy read. Besides his liberal sprinkling of Latin, German, and other languages throughout the text, the ideas and history he is presenting are not for the faint of heart or one totally ignorant of this period. Without at least some knowledge of this historical period and Catholic religious dogma, a good portion of what he is saying will be overlooked. A good dictionary should also be a constant companion while reading this, as he often uses some very uncommon words, and sometimes intends some of the lesser known meanings of other more common words.
There are some elements that don't totally work here. I felt his inclusion of a locked room murder mystery within the main body of the work was not really necessary from either a plot or character development standpoint, and plot elements that are linked to this could have easily been handled differently. This element almost seemed like it was tacked on as an expected thing for an Eco novel. The long fantasy section seemed to go on much too long, with rather tiresome long lists of the various creatures and their characteristics. Most of the characters other than Baudolino seem rather two-dimensional, and if they had been given some further rounding, I think Eco's satirical side could have been sharpened. None of these faults are really major, but they do detract somewhat from what is otherwise an outstanding novel.
Different, difficult, discerning, and ultimately deserving of an attentive read.
--- Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)
Book Review: A Wonderful, intelligent book.
Summary: 5 Stars
My experience of Umberto Eco has been mixed - loved 'Name of the Rose', hated ' Island of the Day Before'. However, I consider Baudolino to be a cracking return to form for a talented and inspirational writer. It is the early C13, and young italian peasant is adopted by the Holy Roman Emperor, setting into motion a chain of events that will have profound consequences on the entirety of Christian Europe.
Eco uses an enteraining narrative to dwell at length upon ideas he also covers in his 'Serendipities'; language, Prester john, lies, and errors that create history. Like George MacDonalnd Fraser, Eco looks at history through the skewed eye of a born cheat, liar and charlatan with a gift for languages and an eye for the ladies. In Baudolino, Eco has created a worthy literary rival to Frasers' 'Flashman' and, like Flashman, Baudolino inadvertently becomes embroiled in great events of his own accidental making.
this is a book for the intellect (Eco doesn't spare you from thinking), the reader (it's trendously well written), and the funny bone (Baudolinos escapades are as funny as anything in Flashman).
Overall, heatily recommended.
Book Review: Another Work of Less than Staggering Genius
Summary: 3 Stars
I finally staggered to the end of this one after about 200 rounds spread out over four months. I couldn't take more pronlonged sparring. Eco has developed the old "rope a dope" technique into too fine a science. He just stands there in the corner, letting you wail away on him until you've utterly exhausted yourself. By the time the bout was finally over, I realized that all my efforts had been in vain. He was still standing and I was defeated, having expended all that energy for nothing. There was a time when I came away from an engagement with Eco feeling refreshed and fortified, grateful for the time I had invested in reading works such as NAME OF THE ROSE and FOUCAULT'S PENDULUM. Then came the journey down the literary vortex of torpor, THE ISLAND OF THE DAY BEFORE and now BAUDOLINO, and all I can say is "Oh how the mighty have fallen!"
I guess, in all fairness, Eco just raised his personal bar a bit too high with FOUCAULT'S PENDULUM. It is that rare commodity in literature, a hybrid combining pace and great story with enough philosophical digression thrown in to lend it heft.
The problem with Eco's last two books can be traced to one serious defect. The narrators in both books are tiresome; but particularly Baudolino, a pompous, unfunny, self-centered bore. I'm sure that as Eco was modelling him, he had in mind some clever, roguish, humorous figure who just happened to be present at some of the more important historical events in late Byzantine history. The problem is, no literary creation this self-inflated can come across as anything other than someone one would prefer not to be around. He's a lousy reconteur. The stories he tells are generally of the shaggy dog variety. The characters he introduces are uninterseting. His little attempts at moralizing are tedious.
At least you readers who decide to buy this book are luckier than I in one respect. You have the opportunity to buy the paperback version, whereas I shelled out the hardcover bucks, as I was so excited by the notion that this was going to be a return to form for former champion Eco. Unfortunately, it's about like watching Tyson fight these days. He "used to be" a contenda. 3 stars only because reading thrird rate Eco is still better than reading first rate John Grisham.
BEK