Il pendolo di Foucault

Tough book to read. This was my third attempt to read it. I love a good historical novel, and I enjoyed 'The Name of the Rose' so much, that I read it either twice or thrice. So for some reason, I decided to give this book a last try.

In the year 2024, the premise of the book is as relevant as ever and the idea of the story is fun. I even have the feeling that the story was meant with a bit of satire.

However, the author overly used esoteric jargon, almost palpably for the sake of letting the world know how much esoteric jargon he knew. Not only did it make the satire fall flat, it also made the story extremely slow to develop.

I feel that the book could have had the exact same story with 200 fewer pages. Then, it would have been a banger.

I feel like this book has had some bad luck by becoming increasingly true and relevant. Since conspiracy theories have proliferated this decade, we're all thoroughly familiar. Although this book was there first, if you've already had a read through everything on wikipedia and countless thinkpieces on the issue, this feels like more of the basics. What might have been obscure and exciting conspiracy theories, a mindblowing social milieu, and novel analysis when presented for the first time is just not so exciting anymore.
This is solidly a good book - its just that the other Eco novels are better. The ones set in the middle ages are more immersive, more imaginative, more vibrant. It also seems like Eco is taking this seriously instead of "just" having fun. There's an analytical and didactic feel at the heart of this novel, which I didn't like.