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The Prague Cemetery
 
 
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The Prague Cemetery [Kindle Edition]

Umberto Eco (Author), Richard Dixon (Translator)
3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews) |
Digital List Price: £17.91 What's this?
Print List Price: £20.00
Kindle Price: £10.79 includes VAT* & free wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet
You Save: £9.21 (46%)
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Review

"[Eco's] latest takes that longtime thriller darling, the conspiracy theory, and turns it into something grander...Sold to 40 countries and said to be controversial; a speed-read with smarts." --"Library Journal, ""My Picks" "A whirlwind tour of conspiracy and political intrigue...this dark tale is delightfully embellished with sophisticated and playful commentary on, among other things, Freud, metafiction, and the challenges of historiography." --"Booklist" "Intriguing, hilarious....a tale by a master." --"Publishers Weekly "boxed review "He's got a humdinger in this new high-level whodunit...a perplexing, multilayered, attention-holding mystery." --"Kirkus", starred

Review

"[Eco's] latest takes that longtime thriller darling, the conspiracy theory, and turns it into something grander...Sold to 40 countries and said to be controversial; a speed-read with smarts." --"Library Journal, ""My Picks" "A whirlwind tour of conspiracy and political intrigue...this dark tale is delightfully embellished with sophisticated and playful commentary on, among other things, Freud, metafiction, and the challenges of historiography." --"Booklist" "Intriguing, hilarious....a tale by a master." --"Publishers Weekly "boxed review "He's got a humdinger in this new high-level whodunit...a perplexing, multilayered, attention-holding mystery." --"Kirkus", starred
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Product details

  • Format: Kindle Edition
  • File Size: 3421 KB
  • Print Length: 448 pages
  • Publisher: Vintage Digital (3 Nov 2011)
  • Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
  • Language English
  • ASIN: B005LPE4QU
  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled
  • Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #13,587 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

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More About the Author

Umberto Eco
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Black humour 7 Dec 2011
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Simonini, Eco's anti-hero, is the most remarkable invention of the creative mind. This misanthrope, this misogynist, this anti-semite, anti-Jesuit, anti-masonic, anti-everybody but himself, is the most despicable person to "grace" the pages of the novel.
He is a forger, lier, cheat and betrayer of friends. He is so awful that at times he can't live with himself and adopts an alta-ego as a priest, at least that's my reading of this complex and intriguing story. He is so awful, that like the animated cartoon "Despicable me", you end up laughing at his cunning and his psychopathy. This is Eco at his best, weaving his fictional ant-hero into the weft of true historical events that include the genesis of the infamous forgery "The protocols of the elders of Zion", that is still on sale in a bookstore not far from you. Jews might find the constant anti-semitic rant put into Simonini's mouth, uncomfortable to stomach but do not despair, filth comes out of sewers and Simonini's mouth is a sewer.
His one saving grace is his gastronomic tastes and the book is scattered with details of mouth watering recipes and menus. Somehow Eco makes these Epicurean punctuations extremely funny as a counter-point to the sheer nastiness of the mouth that gorges on the food described.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Not an easy read at all, but rather incredible and well worth the effort. I've already read 'The Plot' by Will Eisner (about the Protocols and with an introduction by Umberto Eco as it happens) and so some of the plot and characters were familiar to me. It seems that an interest in the Protocols has been with Eco for some time, but it's a bit of a leap to suggest he's an anti-semite (surely?). Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed myself reading this, and pretty much gobbled it down over three Christmas-holiday days.
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44 of 51 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
(As extracted from my Amazon review of the Italian original text Il Cimitero Di Praga)

The story tells of a crook with obscure intentions who, according to the author himself, is going to become the "most cynical and nasty character of all Literature".
In order to serve statesmen, secret services, ministers and police, this enigmatic figure travels around Europe among conspiracies, political intrigues and revolutions.

So, there's no lack of ingredients on Eco's part when narrating this enticing story, built like a 19th century feuilleton, mixing the depths of a classic novel with the elaborate plots of a chilling thriller, the lot enriched with disquieting illustrations (we shouldn't forget that Eco is an emeritus professor of Semiotics - cf. inter alia, his A Theory of Semiotics).

One important point: bar the main character, all other interpreters of this novel are real and have done what they have done. Moreover, even the main character does things that have actually occurred, except that he does them in excess and that they probably have been done by diverse people.

Eco's magic, however, makes it so that, between secret agents, corrupt police, traitors, felon officers and sinful clerics, the only invented character of his book ultimately appears to be the most real of them all.

Eco brilliantly succeeds in painting a suggestive picture d'époque, emotionally involving us in a rich narrative full of surprises and in an exhilarating language that only a semiologist like him could produce. Precisely because of this, be warned: as for all of Eco's books, this too is not an easy read, and has a few psychological complexities... Not all you see on the page is actually there!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A disappointment
Rather disappointing. I loved Name of the Rose, but this one did not live up to the same standard. The use of language, even after translation from Italian into English, was... Read more
Published 12 days ago by Ivan Cotter
The Prague Cemetery
This was a tough read; full of references
to a part of 19th century European history
I have not studied, so I found it difficult.
Published 13 days ago by Mrs. H. N. Robinson
Trust no one
I read this book without having read any reviews of it. I'm glad I did, because I might have been put off. Read more
Published 25 days ago by aleagle
A Brilliant Satirical Invention in which Prejudice and Manipulation...
"If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you." -- John 15:18 (NKJV)

At first, I thought I must be reading a book written by a reincarnated... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Donald Mitchell
Creating evil - A manual
An excellent book that stimulates the intelect and enhances insight.

I too had some difficulty in "getting the point" until the perspective both historical and... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Livy
Brilliant, but not thrilling
This complex novel is about conspiracies, populism and plagiarism in 19th century Europe. Its first chapter was an assault on this reader's feelings, a sour fruit to eat and... Read more
Published 2 months ago by P. A. Doornbos
a Great Debunk
The scale of the Novel is in keeping with the past great books. it is a brave Italian that, albeit through an anti hero, scorns Garibaldi and the Thousand!! Read more
Published 3 months ago by Janiculum
Disappointed
What a thoroughly miserable main character, right from the very first page. Misogynist and misanthropic. Read more
Published 3 months ago by gary t
The Prague Cemetery
So, at last it is finished. As tedious a piece of writing as you are likely to see in many a long year. Read more
Published 3 months ago by firstnoel
Intrigue and deception. Great read.
I enjoyed learning some of the turbulent history of Italy and France from this intriguing novel. In this story we retrace the life of a man who has been mixed up in spying and... Read more
Published 3 months ago by P. McCLEAN
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Popular Highlights

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&quote;
People are never so completely and enthusiastically evil as when they act out of religious conviction. &quote;
Highlighted by 45 Kindle users
&quote;
People only believe what they already know, and this is the beauty of the Universal Form of Conspiracy. &quote;
Highlighted by 36 Kindle users
&quote;
Someone said that patriotism is the last refuge of cowards: those without moral principles usually wrap a flag around themselves, and the bastards always talk about the purity of the race. &quote;
Highlighted by 22 Kindle users

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