Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Foucault's Pendulum
Book Review: 3 months later...
Summary: 3 Stars
It took me a while to get through this. The book is densely written and goes in more directions than a spider's web. The breadth of topics is impressive even though most of the depth is manufactured. The last 150 pages I just wanted it to end...for there to be some resolution to the seemingly endless diversions on almost every subject. Instead there is only something about truth or beauty or something else that really doesn't bring the book to a close. But most of the book is entertaining. I'd give it 3.5 stars if I could.Book Review: A "renaissance" book in the full meaning
Summary: 5 Stars
When I say "renaissance" I mean an all-encompassing exploration of knowledge from many fields. This is an intriguing work, and the reader catches on about 2/3 of the way through. Once again, Eco has combined real history with maybe history and certainly false history to create a stunning work.History, science, literature, music, architecture - all are woven into his scheme. This is one of those rare works where getting there is half the fun. Suspend your imagination and enjoy
Book Review: A Book That Collapses Under Its Own Weight
Summary: 3 Stars
Imagine an academic who becomes so absorbed in his study of medieval history that his conception of reality is contorted into a bizarre world of coincidences, historical trends, and supernatural experiences. He becomes convinced that all of this is connected and scuplted by a massive conspiracy which has manipulated history and belief for ages. This is the premise of Foucault's Pendelum, a story that works itself (and the reader) to death weaving the arcane with the ho-hum. If only this bold work had been successful.
Eco is a competent writer, as seen in The Name of the Rose and the more recent Baudolino. He dabbles in every imaginable discipline, giving the reader humor, history, drama, tragedy, and the truly bizarre to ponder. Foucault's Pendelum is written with two stories in tandem: a group of writers in Milan struggle to piece together a jigsaw puzzle of historical curiosities and coincidences, and Eco weaves into this tale a lengthy discussion of medieval history, replete with every occult organization one can imagine. For other writers - such as Salman Rushdie, whose Satanic Verses was a flawless weaving of modern lives with the life of Mohammed - this is an effective device. But Eco can't pull it off. He is too absorbed with names and places, determined to reach out and include every oddity of history into a sort of grand mosaic. Consequently, the characters are stilted and obtuse, moving through the motions of daily life like cogs in Eco's intellectual dystopia.
In places the book moves smoothly, and is enjoyable. Eco can't keep it all together, however, and towards the end the plot collapses under its own weight. I certainly won't give away the ending, but suffice it to say that it is quite unsatisfactory after enduring such a tremendous buildup. The reader's frustration comes not as he is reading it (although there are certainly some dry parts) but when he finishes the book and puts it back on the shelf. Whatever Eco was trying to accomplish, it didn't work. And that is unfortunate given the talent and erudition he normally demonstrates.
Book Review: A Dazzling Work of Conspiracy
Summary: 5 Stars
Umberto Eco's books are not for the faint of heart. Eco is a master of history and literature, and his books are like a quick tour through a doctorate program in Renaissance literature and history. This is no accident; he is, after all, a professor of semiotics at the University of Bologna when he is not writing his unusual fiction. This book, Foucault's Pendulum, is a tour through the conspiracies involving the Knights Templar. Three rather eccentric employees of a Milan publishing firm become intrigued with the story of the Knights Templar and all matter of esoterica, including the Kabalah, the Eleusinian Mysteries, the Rosicrucians and Freemasons, Brazilian religions including the umbanda and candomble, and the Templars. Assisted by a knowledgeable and mysterious Count, who may or may not be one of the incarnations of the Comte de Saint-Germain, the three have fun in building an overarching theory of conspiracy, which they call The Plan, assisted by a primitive computer named Abulafia.
But then they discover that the Plan is actually true -- and then they are on the run for their lives.
The book is on many levels silly, but the tremendous skill and knowledge of Eco make it all fun, exciting, mysterious, and educational. Eco has skills worthy of a time travelelr in that he not only has a trmeendous body of knowledge, but he has a remarkable grasp for the history of ideas -- how ideas were regarded in their own place and time.
A marvelous work, well worth reading.
Book Review: A Difficult but Excellent Read
Summary: 4 Stars
I consider myself to be fairly well-read and intelligent, but this book was a definite challenge. In a world of pre-packaged bestsellers (think Mary Higgins Clark, Danielle Steel), I found Foucault's Pendulum to be extremely refreshing. Having a BA in English Lit with a concentration in Medieval & Renaissance literature, I was suprised to find that I knew so little! I also kept a dictionary close at hand, learning new words with every page. However, I would be interested to know how much of the "historical" fact presented in the book is real, and how much of it is a creation by the author. Did all these sects exist, and if so, did they hold these theories? Also, I would have preferred an ending where the Plan was actually validated... I found Eco's ending to be morally viable but it left me feeling disappointed and flat. The editors had such a good Plan! All in all, if you're up for some serious intellectual reading, and don't mind a challenge, I strongly recommend this book. It's great for a rainy weekend.