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A review by thekatzpajamas
Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I really appreciated the two main themes:
Man's search for meaning and ability to find connection and derive meaning wherever it focuses
The existential fear of missing your great moment of opportunity, the time to act.
The strongest parts of the book are a 4 or higher, but the overlong and unnecessarily granular nature of the book drag it down a little.
The quiet cowardice of passivity. Of those smart enough to dream that they might deserve greatness, but too smart, to the point of anxiousness over the risks, infinitely calculating to the point of inaction.
Impotence. The inability to get what you want, to make a mark to seize the moment. There must have been a meaning behind our suffering, otherwise it didn't make sense, wasn't logical.
The flashbacks and substories bear the strongest verve. Uncle Carlo and Mongo, the Trumpet, Seven Seas Jim, Brazil- these moments will live with me forever. Thank you Lia for grounding us in the real, the human, the beauty in simplicity.
The overwrought lectures on secret societies and the occult serve no purpose for me, and come across as simply a knowledge flex. This did not need to be a textbook, and is overlong, and weaker, as a result. The narrative is strongest in the back 250 or so, but still bogs itself down with way too much information as they explain their Plan. It rushes the parts that would have made a stronger story. But the story was never the point.
Some of the strongest and weakest content is found in the Abulafia chapters. The Weak is self indulgent, underdeveloped, juvenile. Sure, Belbo is self indulgent, But at its worst it's the sort of thing people are writing in High School.
Man's search for meaning and ability to find connection and derive meaning wherever it focuses
The existential fear of missing your great moment of opportunity, the time to act.
The strongest parts of the book are a 4 or higher, but the overlong and unnecessarily granular nature of the book drag it down a little.
The quiet cowardice of passivity. Of those smart enough to dream that they might deserve greatness, but too smart, to the point of anxiousness over the risks, infinitely calculating to the point of inaction.
Impotence. The inability to get what you want, to make a mark to seize the moment. There must have been a meaning behind our suffering, otherwise it didn't make sense, wasn't logical.
The flashbacks and substories bear the strongest verve. Uncle Carlo and Mongo, the Trumpet, Seven Seas Jim, Brazil- these moments will live with me forever. Thank you Lia for grounding us in the real, the human, the beauty in simplicity.
The overwrought lectures on secret societies and the occult serve no purpose for me, and come across as simply a knowledge flex. This did not need to be a textbook, and is overlong, and weaker, as a result. The narrative is strongest in the back 250 or so, but still bogs itself down with way too much information as they explain their Plan. It rushes the parts that would have made a stronger story. But the story was never the point.
Some of the strongest and weakest content is found in the Abulafia chapters. The Weak is self indulgent, underdeveloped, juvenile. Sure, Belbo is self indulgent, But at its worst it's the sort of thing people are writing in High School.