Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN num: 9780099422396
ISBN number: 0099422395
Label: Vintage
Manufacturer: Vintage
Page Count: 512
Printing Date: October 02, 2003
Publishing house: Vintage
Sale Popularity Level: 2874152
Studio: Vintage
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It is April 1204, and Constantinople, the splendid capital of the Byzantine Empire, is being sacked and burned by the knights of the Fourth Crusade. Amid the carnage and confusion, one Baudolino saves a Byzantine historian and high court official from certain death at the hands of the crusading warriors, and proceeds to tell his own fantastical story. Born a simple peasant in northern Italy, Baudolino has two major gifts; a talent for learning foreign languages and a skill in telling lies. One day, when still a boy, he met a foreign commander in the woods, charming him with his quick wit and lively mind. The commander - who proves to be the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa - adopts Baudolino and sends him to the university in Paris, where he makes a number of fearless, adventurous friends. Spurred on by myths and their own reveries, this merry band sets out in search of Prester John, a legendary priest-king who was said to rule over a vast kingdom in the East - a phantasmagorical land of strange creatures with eyes on their shoulders and mouths on their stomachs, of eunuchs, unicorns, and lovely maidens.
Amazon.com Review:
The most playful of historical novelists, Umberto Eco has absorbed the real lesson of history: that there is no such thing as the absolute truth. In Baudolino, he hands his narrative to an Italian peasant who has managed, through good luck and a clever tongue, to become the adopted son of the Emperor, Frederick Barbarossa, and a minister of his court in the closing years of the 12th century. Baudolino's other gift is for spontaneous but convincing lies, and so his unfolding tale--as recounted in 1204 to a nobleman of Constantinople, while the fires of the Fourth Crusade rage around them--exemplifies the Cretan Liar's Paradox: He can't be believed. Why not, then, make his story as outrageous as possible? In the course of his picaresque tale, Baudolino manages to touch on nearly every major theme, conflict, and boondoggle of the Middle Ages: the Crusades; the troubadours; the legend of the Holy Grail; the rise of the cathedral cities; the position of Jews; the market in relics; the local rivalries that made Italy so vulnerable to outside attack; and the perennial power struggles between the pope and the emperor. With the help of alcohol and a mysterious Moorish concoction called 'green honey,' Baudolino and his ragtag friends engage in typical scholastic debates of the period, trying to determine the dimensions of Solomon's Temple and the location of the Earthly Paradise. And when the Emperor needs support in his claims for saintly lineage, who but Baudolino can craft the perfect letter of homage from the legendary Prester John, Holy (and wholly fictitious) Christian King of the East? A giddy and exasperating romp, Baudolino will draw you into its labyrinthine inventions and half-truths, even if you know better. --Regina Marler
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Rated by buyers -
If you like history, here medieval history, historical fiction and Forrest Gump, you'll love Eco's Baudolino. Young peasant, Italian boy Baudolino stumbles upon Holy Roman Emperor Barbarossa in the forest as the Emperor begins a campaign against Italy. The Emperor, childless, according to Baudolino, is taken with the lad and more or less adopts him. Thus begins his great adventure. This is Baudolino's story as he recounts it to a Byzantine official whom he saves during the sacking of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade. But is it true? Maybe. Unicorns, the kingdom of Prestor John, holy grail, fake relics, the drowning of Barbarossa, Baudolino is everywhere in the late 12th Century. Consummate liar? Probably. But he and Eco weave a hell of a story. Fun read. Keeps you entertained from beginning to end.
Rated by buyers 
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I agree with Bruce Kendall. Funny review because it's so true!
Umberto Eco is probably single-handedly responsible for inspiring the academic dimension of my high school and undergraduate imagination. However, I now shun his more recent efforts. (And I even read Travels in Hyperreality and How to Travel with a Salmon!)
With Baudolino, it would seem that Eco aims not merely to illustrate the medieval world but to articulate that world through a medieval mind. The result is, sadly, subsequent to nonsense. I had great expectations for Baudolino - set amidst the Crusades, after all!
Despite my gratitude and respect for the author of the magnificent "Name of the Rose" and "Foucault's Pendulum", what I learned most from "Baudolino" is the courage to stop reading a book that no longer seems interesting or relevant to me.
If you have never read Umberto Eco, I can only recommend "Rose" and "Pendulum". The hapless "Island of the Day Before" spirals on to a dull colophon that is as unsatisfying as "Baudolino". I haven't picked up "Queen Loana" but I figure I've now traded my time for other reads.
Rated by buyers 
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To be sure, Baudolino is as fine an adventure from a different time and place as can be found. Stacked up to Umberto Eco's other works of fiction Baudolino is the most fanciful of the group. In Baudolino Eco Lends beauty to medieval times, and tells the most truth through a most prolific liar.
Rated by buyers -
I was attracted to Baudolino mainly through my love of Eco's books on language and semiotics. A particular interest of Eco's is also how history is interpreted (or mis-interpreted, as is often the case). In Baudolino he takes us through the Crusades, the fall of Constantinople, and a mythological search for the paradise of Paster Johannes, which underlines much of the action and stands as the centre-point to the book's main idea - that history (the factual record of events) is (at least in the 12th century, when this story takes place) subject to the fancies of individual interpretation (from kings to paupers). This is not a cynical book, however - what is important, as expressed at the end of the story, is that the fundamental truths and ideas of a particular time are what make the GREATER TRUTH OF HISTORY. The nagging details, invention and personal escapades of history's little characters (like Baudolino) are but mere transitions in the great game of truth. For all of Baudolino's experiences, his is a story that will disappear with the dust, but will in its own way, contribute to the overriding sense of the period in which he lived and played. This, ultimately, is what history is to most of the world's population (myself included). Most of us will leave little or nothing behind, but our tiny lives will join the great throng that sets the tone and ideas of our times. I found Baudolino an uplifting story that rightly pokes fun at man's inconsistency, hypocrisy and, often, outright lunacy. Above all, Baudolino teaches us that history is far, far bigger than any one individual. This novel is, as one would expect of the man who created The Name of the Rose, a literary work, and will require attention and patience on behalf of some readers. If you're looking for some brain fodder, then I heartily recommend it. If, on the other hand, you like your action quick and commercial, then perhaps this isn't the book for you. Eco is not always an easy read. But whoever said anything worthwhile was easy. Five stars *****
Rated by buyers -
I'll say that at very first I hated this book. I thought many times of giving up and moving on to another one, but I bought it, and I figured that since I paid money for it I might as well read it all the way through.
I'm really glad I didn't give up because the second half of Baudolino is really the better half. The very first half was so boring and seemingly unnecessary and long-winded. In the second half it really picks up speed and comes together nicely. If you have the patience, I would really recommend this. Despite the heavy handed philosophical diatribe that sometimes clogs up the pace of the story, it really is one of Eco's more accessible books. And it has a nice ending that I wasn't expecting. An Eco for beginners I guess.
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