Imprimatur [Paperback]

I am a little reluctant to write a review, as I have never done one before and am worried about making a fool of myself. However I loved this book so much that I feel that I must say something to encourage others to read it. I came across it by chance and knew nothing about the authors or its background. I was intrigued enough to buy it, as I enjoy historical thrillers and within reading the first few pages I was hooked. Initially I did struggle to get to grips with all the different characters in the inn and in the end I wrote myself a list of them with a short description of each one. This helped immensely and I was even able to dispense with it after a few more chapters. I was happy to invest a little effort in reading this book, as I was well rewarded. In fact I found by doing this, I became more involved in the story - I even got out my tourist map of Rome to follow where the events were happening - (N.B. I do feel a bit silly confessing this.) Some may criticise this book, but for me, its slight imperfections make it even more endearing and I count it as one of my favourite books of all time.

Many critics/reviews have compared Imprimatur favourably to the work of Umberto Eco. Here's one from the back cover, courtesy of The Herald: `A literary page-turner which delivers what Eco could not: a genuinely new discovery which was guaranteed to set the cat among the Vatican pigeons'. Whilst I agree that Imprimatur is Monaldi and Sorti's attempt to ape Eco's first novel, there's really no comparison. The Name Of The Rose is ingenious and erudite. Imprimatur is boring and derivative.
Why? Read on (warning - spoilers).
TNOTR is told from the 1st person perspective of Adso, an older man looking back to a time he was a young novice assisting Brother William of Baskerville, an experienced investigator on a secret mission for the Holy Roman Emperor. As is the case in Imprimatur - only here the narrator is an unnamed apprentice barkeep assisting Abbot Atto Melani, a spy in the service of Louis XIV of France.
Much of the action of TNOTR is set in a labyrinth (a library) within the walls of a monastery. Much of Imprimatur is set in an underground labyrinth (the catacombs and tunnels beneath the city of Rome) or in a quarantined inn.
TNOTR features a character by the name of Salvatore - a hunched, misshapen, crude individual who talks in a twisted pidgin dialect. In Imprimatur we have a couple of corpisantaro (tomb robbers) who share these same chacteristics, but without the interesting heretical conversation - indeed all one of them says is `Gfrrrlubh', which gets a bit tiresome after the twentieth time.
TNOTR features an ossarium. Imprimatur features the corpisantaro and their mouldy collection of bones. In TNOTR there's a story about an unscrupulous vendor of relics who sells the skull of John the Baptist twice - the smaller skull being that of the Baptist when he was a boy! Imprimatur has the same thing - only this time it is the skull of Cromwell being sold (bizarre example).
Adso the novice has a sexual encounter with a village girl - he receives absolution from a wistful Brother William. Our barboy has various euphemistically described encounters with the courtesan Cloridia - Atto Melani is a castrato. Note in TNOTR there is no improbable Hollywood ending where the dwarf gets the girl - instead she is reduced to just so much `burnt flesh' at the stake.
TNOTR involves codes and ciphers, and the hunt for a rare book. Imprimatur is the hunt for a cure for the plague encoded in a musical score.
The backdrop to TNOTR is the struggle between the Holy Roman Emperor and the Pope, while in Imprimatur it is the machinations of Louis XIV and Innocent XI.
By the end of both stories both Brother William and Atto Melani have discredited themselves.
Similar enough for you? My advice? Read the book that was written first - The Name Of The Rose - the plot, characterisation, mystery and action are all so much more rewarding. And the ending is genuinely apocalyptic.
I have some general points to make, too: there's quite a bit of vomit and sewage in Imprimatur. Odd that the narrator gets dunked in the main sewer and nobody seems to notice the smell. Also, he's rather too well educated for a waif taken in as an apprentice barkeep, he apparently has no need of sleep, and despite a lack of formal training or assistance from anyone else he's a mean cook.
Finally, the book is marketed as an attack on the propriety of Pope Innocent XI - accusing him of lending money to William of Orange, a protestant and heretic (and the rotter who ousted James II from the English throne). Whether that is true or not is open to debate but it is not revelatory - indeed historians and others have chewed that bit of gristle for centuries. Also, it's hardly surprising, is it? Popes in those days were statesmen, and if they chose to treat with the enemy, well, might as well be surprised Churchill negotiated with Stalin. I mean how naïve is one supposed to be? And to claim that the Vatican had a hand in 'banning' the book - like they did with The Da Vinci Code, eh?

One of the best book I have ever read. Totally accurate and fascinating in the same time. There are very few books like this from recent writers. You get to know many details from this period of Europe's history but also many new secrets how things were really going back then. If you interested Europe's history of the 17th century...you cant miss this book!