Foucault's Pendulum

A monster book of 641 pages. Proof that Eco's editor was already dead, or the book killed him. It is filled with lots of esoteric knowledge and history.

Be advised that the translator, William Weaver, does not translate the chapter headings, nor the majority of foreign dialogue. Is he assuming that we read French, or would want to?

The inclusion of 8 drawings does not advance the story and you wonder why they were included. They are there possibly solely to annoy the reader.

Eco makes the reader feel uneducated by using words and terms no one ever heard before, let alone want to use.

And the story suddenly becomes the Italian version of John Knowles' "A Separate Peace." And with this transformation: The hunt for "The Plan" or the Templars' Secret," is just a red herring, the story is not about these long dead French knights. As Eco uses 1960-70's LSD induced stream of consciousness writing style for the last 60 pages, he leads his main character to the Zen-Tao-I Ching conclusion that watching his friend be murdered is all for the best.

Perhaps Eco should take his own character's advice and "Ma gavte la nata," and take the cork out.

I was asked if Umberto Eco was as much a pompous windbag in Foucault's Pendulum as he was in his other novels and responded:

I would say his novels are aimed squarely at the purveyors of pretension. When I was reading Foucault's Pendulum I got the same "pompous windbag" impression and concluded that I could have photocopied vast sections of the the Necronomican of Abdul Al-Hazred and the Yog-Sothoth just as easily and pasted together my own book by following the Dungeons and Dragons Rule Book. But don't listen to me -- I have never been that impressed with Eco, especially as a novelist -- Hamlet said it best: "Words, Words, Words" or was it "very like a whale"? I suspect Eco was just trying to sound as erudite as Joyce (or at least Professor Irwin Corey). However, Foucault's Pendulum might well be his greatest work since no novel he has written since has been as well received.

I did peek at the sales figures for this novel but they have been suspiciously hidden away in a monastery in the Apennines and the only hint I got was the mention of the bump Eco's sales received with the popularity of The Da Vinci Code. Interestingly, someone asked why Eco didn't sue Brown for plagiarism; a better question might be why the authors of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail didn't sue Eco ... And the answer of course is, follow the money.

But rest assured, despite having attempted to read this pile and given up in disgust, I will give it a generous rating -- 2 stars. Suffice it to say, however, that Foucault's Pendulum had more in common with The Da Vinci Code than just the arcane historical mystery.

I'll be traveling back to New Jersey next week and will be able to visit the large dent in the wall of my office where the parabolic arc of this novel met with the obstinacy of lath and plaster.

But let's be a little fair about this and realize the Foucault's Pendulum, when compared to the other airport gift-shop thrillers, is certainly adequate to cover the time taken for a trans-oceanic flight, whether it keeps you awake or not. Although if they are showing Raiders of the Lost Ark ...

If you want to read the kind of book Dan Brown SHOULD have written (that is, if he weren't an illiterate hack), please check out this book and Eco's The Name of the Rose. Both are tremendous in terms of style and substance. Pendulum gives a much more detailed, interesting background on the Knights Templar and various other themes that Brown simply lifts from more capable writers and stains with his greasy pop-fiction potboiler.

Foucault's Pendulum: It's not The Da Vinci Code, it's Da Real Deal.

Be warned -- this is not a Thinking Man's Da Vinci Code, as some might have said. I found the back cover blurb and even the first few chapters particularly misleading. This is not a thriller by any means. It is a long, complicated read that will frustrate just about anyone who knows less than Umberto Eco.

It is much more a history of the occult - a surprisingly well written Eco brain dump - in a novel shell. Yes, the characters are particularly good and the humor is great if you get the jokes; just don't be fooled into thinking that you're reading a story with conflict and resolution. It's far more complicated.

What is the book about then? To me, it shared the "Faith Makes Things Become True" theme of the sub-par Baudalino, but with much more flair and less tedium. But more than just that, Foucault is about the desire to justify human behavior using just about any belief system (or conspiracy theory) that's out there. Once you've got your parameters in place, you can go to town and make connections between seemingly unrelated events/people/places. Eco parodies this by having our heros pursue theories based on random permutations from a computer.

There are sections of the book that make the entire 640 pages worthwhile. Most notably, anything written by Belbo on his computer. Also, one chapter that details the narrator's discussion with his wife about "The Plan" and her response is particularly good.

Well, in Econian fashion, I've rambled on a bit too much about this book. Give it a read if you're not afraid to skim over some details and focus on the bigger picture. You really won't end up missing the point. If you're a detail nut who has to understand everything, don't bother.

When I finally completed this seemingly massive tome, I felt that it was a rather Pyrrhic victory.

I waded through this dense piece of work, and the only chapters that felt meaningful to me were the last three or four, in the last two of the Sefirot.

I knew about the history of the Templars, and the Freemasons, and the Gnostics, and so on. What I would like to know is who bet our dear Mssr. Eco that he could not take every secretive society in Western history and bind them up into a single plot. Further, I would like to ask the editor why such an inane book got published.

There were numerous problems that I had with this book, not the least of which was the pacing. The interludes in Abufila would have been a lot more interesting (and the pacing would have been better) if we were told that these were events that really occurred. Plus, there would have been something more to justify the omnipresent fear of The Plan and Them. Instead, we are left to use our imagination.

The ambiguous foreshadowing aside, the narrator spends nearly the entire book in the Conservatiore, remembering the events of the entire story. This is a boring narrative technique.

Overall, the book was slow, the pacing was bad, and the payoff was not worth it. It was totally a Pyrrhic victory, and reading this was not worth my time.

I don't recommend this as a "more intellectual" version of The Da Vinci Code. I don't really recommend it at all, unless you are really, really bored.

Harkius

Before I start, let me say make a few points. What confusion you do have about what is actually happening in the book is supposed to be there. I recall one part towards the end of the book where I flipped back about 20 pages just to see if I was missing something (I wasn't) because I completely lost all gauge of reality in the book. Only when I pushed on did I realize that I fell into a fairly simple trap (a trap that I still don't believe I fell into). The book is huge, complex, intricate, and disconcerting. Any simple types of comprehension have to be sacrificed to truly understand the book.
Life needs a plan. As the characters in the book fell into madness caused by the Plan that they constructed, I felt myself believing the Plan they devised. I could see the connection between the Rosicrucians and how my car works. Mendhirs appeared everywhere. I don't want to reveal the plot in its whole, but let me say that the first 100-150 pages are the *perfect* setup to the pages where they first devise the Plan. The Plan, so simple and complex, so seductive, acts like a parasite (a perfect meme) in your head. Of course the Plan is not real, that was precisely the point.
Buy this book, kick back, relax, and appreciate one of the most unconventional and daring books I have ever read. Simply perfect.

Intrinsically woven into the fabric of time, is a hidden school of thought. Principles of heretical, hidden knowledge, coded into the Philosopher's library of secret works. Gematria, Temura, Notariquon. Veiled allusions, deciphered by man. Intricate conspiracy of Rosicrucian branches of the Tree of Illumination. Infatuation with symbolic overtures of hidden music. Initiation into a world of spiritual exclusiveness and egotistical adherence to a scientific, structural revelation of the mind of Deity. Illusive logic. Can the mind of man know the mind of God? Can a computer break the code and reveal all the secrets of the secret schools? Are The Templars trying to stop the Revelation? What is The Password? I cannot reveal the structure of the story, because They are coming for m alfk;lhag'[`ppjjjjjjj

It is amazing to me how many reviews of this book focus on the author's "pomposity." Yes, Eco demonstrates his erudition at every possible moment, but wouldn't an author be equally criticized for talking down to his readers? Of course I wanted to rip out my hair at times for not being able to completely comprehend the endless minutiae that this novel contains, but I see it as my duty -- if interested -- to do the research which would help me better understand certain passages. Furthermore, I think it is the central theme of this book to demonstrate the tediousness of becoming an initiate and the subsequent inability to ever answer all the questions. Don't be offended by Eco's scholarship; be challenged by it.

This is one of the best books I've read. It is a non stop thriller taking you through the recesses of history in an atrtempt to track down and witness the occult and secret lives that have existed for centuries. The book takes you down the paths of many of these cults in an attempt to discover glory.
Eco uses extremely descriptive, complex language (a dictionary is always handy), while using colourful, paranoid and witty characters throughout. The book rollercoasters to the end as you are left frantically grappling for the next page.
A fantastic read and it is highly recommended.

I kept finding myself in the library looking up everything from the Knights of the Templar, to stories about the Holy Grail, cults and anything else having to do with Umbertos crazy novel. Probably one of the most interesting books I have read- and the most fun too! Superb!