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The Name of the Rose

Written by Umberto Eco

(Abridged by Michael Fry)


Reed Audio ISBN 1-86021-947-2 (1995)


(I found the following review on the web site devoted to Umberto Eco.)


The story is quite heavily abridged, as was to be expected, and is made to fit into approximately six hours. But, fortunately, those six hours will be very enjoyable for everyone who wants to sit down and listen. Michael Pennington is a charming reader and has admirable versatility: he gives each character a different, idiosyncratic voice. I especially liked his presentation of Jorge; the voice is full of devious piety and humble cruelty that is Jorge. Any abridgement of a book is necessarily a compromise, and although it seems to me that this version is more politically correct than the original (many of the parts that were omitted were of ‘racy’ nature – although Adso’s carnivalistic vision is presented in most of its detail), I think the producers have done a very good job. But I wonder: six hours is a long time, and wouldn’t anyone willing to listen through that be also willing to listen through the whole of the story?





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