Baudolino by Umberto Eco, William Weaver Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Baudolino
Book Review: Really is two books
Summary: 4 Stars
As a fan of historical fiction I really like the first 25 chapters, especialy the alternative history of Emperor Ferdericks demise and the sacking of Constantinople. However after Baudolino leaves Armenia and enters the unknown land it turns in a fantasy book ala The Lord of The Rings. In the end the book returns to historical fiction for a great ending. However my struggle to get through the fantasy sections was as hard as Baudolino's search for the Kingdom of Prester John. Book Review: Bring me the (seven) heads of John the Baptist!
Summary: 5 Stars
Umberto Eco returns with great success to the Middle Ages with a tale of a talented Italian peasant who becomes a favorite at the court of Frederick Barbarossa. Baudolino becomes the adopted son of the Emperor after helping him when lost and impressing him with his skill for languages, story telling, and prophecies. Baudolino attends school in Paris, participates in many military campaigns especially in his native Italy, and ultimately sets out on his own to discover the lost Christian empires of the Far East. Fortunately for us, he ends up in Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade sacking, and relates his life story to an emminent historian. Unfortunately for Baudolino and history, his story is so infused with outrageous lies that the historian decides to disbelieve it all.
There are two very good stories here. The first is Baudolino's life long friendship and relationship with a group from his school days. They are a diverse group by nationality, religion, and occupation, and ultimately set out on a homeric journey to the East to link up with the fabled Prester John. Along the way and after, they become merchants and manufacturers of religious artifacts, unsurpassed counterfeiters, reluctant crusaders, diplomats, and persons of great influence in the court.
The second story, probably less interesting, is the mystery surrounding the death of the emperor. There were many with motives and means to kill Frederick, and somehow the quest for the Holy Grail and other antiquities gets tied up with the murder.
Eco has returned to the successful style and formula he employed in The Name of the Rose. By design, many of the characters are flat and one-dimensional, including one whose real name can not be rememebered, to focus more on the relationship between Baudolino, his women, and Frederick, and the historical context. A very clever literary device is employed, whereby Baudolino tells his story to a respected historian, who is familiar with some of the later events, while the two are engaged in hunkering down during the sack and then ultimately fleeing their common enemies.
Book Review: Charming, Difficult, and Wonderful
Summary: 5 Stars
This is very much a novel about language and meaning -- for those who don't know, it comes as no surprise to learn that Eco is a semiotician. If questions of truth, or faith, or history are impossibly boring to you, then there are other novels of medieval times that you will enjoy far more than this one. If you find such questions even slightly appealing, the novel will most likely have entrance you and get you thinking about things you never thought of before. Baudolino, the protagonist and narrator, is a marvelously complicated character: he has little regard for what we would call objective truth, and sometimes fails to do the right thing, but he is brave, and charming, and clever, and his motives are (mostly) noble.
The first part of the book takes place in Barbarossa's Europe, which Eco paints as a colorful, dynamic, dangerous world in which Baudolino maneuvers his way through the hypocrisies and good intentions of court and church. In the second part the action moves more into the world of myth, which at first seems a marvelous adventure but turns out, like the court Baudolino left behind, to have a darker side. There is a good deal mentioned about the development of Christian doctrine and the identification of various heresies, but most concepts are explained well enough that anyone vaguely familiar with Christianity will be able to follow along (and while it goes deeper into ideas than, say, the Da Vinci Code, it doesn't get completely bogged down -- there's still quite a lot of action.) Because Baudolino tells his audience (and us) at the beginning that he is a great liar, we don't know how much of his story to believe. This matters quite a bit to Master Niketas, who is listening to Baudolino's tale in the book, so it's obvious to ask ourselves whether it matters to us. I don't think so -- at least, you can enjoy Baudolino's story whether you believe him or not. Some people who have read Eco's non-fiction works may find the ideas Baudolino grapples with to be more of the same, but for people like me who have only read his novels, this is probably his best since The Name of the Rose. Both Baudolino and the other characters are well developed and multifaceted, and the plot is a good balance between the intellectual drama of searching for (and creating) truth and the physical-world drama of war, romance, court intrigue, and adventure. It's a beautiful story, and I am glad Eco has written it down.
Book Review: good try, but a goofed literary experiment
Summary: 3 Stars
The book is an interesting "playful romp" through the Middle Ages.
It is an unconventional but, on balance, engaging palette of historical fiction, whodunit and fantasy. Good stuff. The author has dreamt up a wondrous story. However, from a technical standpoint, the writing does the tale insufficient justice: poor character and scenery development are the main flaws here. The writer does not have anywhere near the literary power of, say, a Marquez or a Rushdie to compel the reader toward the action, the place, and the minds of the characters.
I found an interesting feature which makes the book worth talking about. It is a clever, but unfortunately bungled literary experiment. Here's the deal...
Baudolino is a fanciful story told by a confessed liar, right? OK, this means that the reader is not supposed to be sure which parts of Baudolino's story are true and which he fabricated. If you like, the book we hold in our hands is a work of fiction (Baudolino's tale) contained inside a larger work of fiction (Eco's account of Baudolino's storytelling). That is pretty cool. But there's more to it...
The key to making this literary form work lies with Niketas (spelling?), the Byzantine character who listened to Baudolino's ripping yarns. If you think about it, Niketas is the fictional counterpart of you (or me), the flesh-and-blood reader of the book by Eco. Niketas listens to Baudolino in first person just as we listen to Baudolino in third person. That's also pretty cool. But, therein lies the problem...
We, the readers, ought to come away with the same impression about Baudolino as Niketas does. But, if you remember from the book, Niketas was never totally blown away by Baudolino and his tall tales. He was moderately interested, but largely skeptical, bemused, and ambivalent. Sadly, by analogy, that is the same way most readers are going to feel about the book by Eco.
Eco should have worked harder to make Niketas totally enraptured and engaged by his compatriot Baudolino. Eco seems not to have realized that we, the readers, will ultimately feel the same emotions toward Baudolino as does our embedded counterpart, Niketas.
So, ooops...but a good try! Maybe the next person who attempts this literary technique will correct Eco's fatal flaw and knock us out...
Book Review: Journey to the land of Prestor John
Summary: 5 Stars
Baudolino is the medieval equivalent of Baron Munchausen and Don Quixote. Teller of tall tales. Prof. Eco weaves an amazing yarn that imbues medieval history (the 12th century crusade, the sacking of Byzantine, Frederick the Great's death) and the fantastic (the numerous flora and fauna of the land of Prestor John).
Absolutely mesmerizing. As with Eco's previous novels, be armed with a history encyclopaedia, it helps in understanding some of the backdrops and narratives. Relax, kick back your slippers and enjoy one of most thrilling medieval fantasy novel you will ever read.