Baudolino

by Umberto Eco | Literature & Fiction | This book has not been rated.
ISBN: 0099422395 Global Overview for this book
Registered by wingNu-Kneeswing of Knaresborough, North Yorkshire United Kingdom on 8/16/2006
Buy from one of these Booksellers:
Amazon.com | Amazon UK | Amazon CA | Amazon DE | Amazon FR | Amazon IT | Bol.com
This book is in the wild! This Book is Currently in the Wild!
1 journaler for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by wingNu-Kneeswing from Knaresborough, North Yorkshire United Kingdom on Wednesday, August 16, 2006
I don't often register books I haven't read as I prefer to know what I'm writing about in this first review! This is an exception because I plan to read it on holiday and not bring it home again.

The back cover quotes the Financial Times as saying: "A whirlwind of an adventure ... has everything - myths, marvels, monsters, murders, mysteries ..." so it sounds like my kind of thing! I found The Name of the Rose fascinating and hope to be equally gripped by this one.

Amazon Editorial Review: "It is April 1204, and Constantinople, the splendid capital of the Byzantine Empire, is being sacked and burned by the knights of the Fourth Crusade. Amid the carnage and confusion, one Baudolino saves a Byzantine historian and high court official from certain death at the hands of the crusading warriors, and proceeds to tell his own fantastical story. Born a simple peasant in northern Italy, Baudolino has two major gifts; a talent for learning foreign languages and a skill in telling lies. One day, when still a boy, he met a foreign commander in the woods, charming him with his quick wit and lively mind. The commander - who proves to be the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa - adopts Baudolino and sends him to the university in Paris, where he makes a number of fearless, adventurous friends. Spurred on by myths and their own reveries, this merry band sets out in search of Prester John, a legendary priest-king who was said to rule over a vast kingdom in the East - a phantasmagorical land of strange creatures with eyes on their shoulders and mouths on their stomachs, of eunuchs, unicorns, and lovely maidens."

Journal Entry 2 by wingNu-Kneeswing from Knaresborough, North Yorkshire United Kingdom on Thursday, August 31, 2006
Well, it took me quite a while to get into this rather surreal story but it proved worth the effort before the end. It's a strange and confusing tale which transports the reader back into a past which never existed, except in the wildest flights of fancy.

Memorable quote, while forging a letter (page 141): " 'It only has to be true and we'll include it,' Baudolino said, 'so long as we're not telling fairy tales.' " This fascinating piece of self-delusion more or less sums up the whole book, which is one long, mythical, magical, over-the-top figment of the imagination!

Another favourite quote (page 219): "It was truly a triumph, even if it was not clear for which of the two. In any case it ended a war that had lasted eighteen years."

Journal Entry 3 by wingNu-Kneeswing at BBC Radio York Studios, Bootham in York, North Yorkshire United Kingdom on Thursday, September 7, 2006

Released 17 yrs ago (9/7/2006 UTC) at BBC Radio York Studios, Bootham in York, North Yorkshire United Kingdom

WILD RELEASE NOTES:


Are you sure you want to delete this item? It cannot be undone.