2. Eco has diarrhea of the mouth. I found myself skimming entire chapters because they were boring, long-winded and uninteresting in general. This is another feature of an Eco book. He needs a good editor who will just tell him, "Umberto, this is SO boring and needless" or "Umberto, why does the reader want to read five pages about your associations of what motors look like?" This is another thing I found in other books of his I've read. He just DOESN'T KNOW WHEN TO STOP. He writes too much. The books are about 1/3 too long because of maudlin commentary that could and should have been cut.

This...this especially. Read Name of the Rose which was good. Got halfway through The Island of the Day Before.....left it. I never leave books. It's just.....too difficult for someone with my attention span to dilute the storyline from the flowery......garbage for want of a better word. Glad another intelligent individual is like-minded on this.

{QUOTE}As a result, I'm not really sure what I think of Eco. He comes up with fantastic lines that make you really think, but at heart he is nothing more than a Robert Jordan. His works trivialize the commentary that they might provide on society, end up becoming nothing more than intricate mystery novels and leave the reader wondering whether the read was really worth his time or not.{/QUOTE

Hmmmmmm...somewhat melodramatic I think but I like the sentiment.




Gena:
Good friends must not always be together; It is the feeling of oneness when distant that proves a lasting friendship