Gabrielle's Reviews > The Book of Eve

As I read this book, I kept thinking about Umberto Eco's "The Name of the Rose". Can you blame me: the story is set in a convent in Italy, it's about forbidden books and fanatical monks who hate them... Albeit with a strong feminist twist that Eco obviously did not include in his work, but I remember looking up from the book to tell my husband "if this ends with the library burning down, so help me..."

I had not read Clothier's other books before, but I was surprised that this wasn't a debut, as it felt a bit like one: it was throwing a lot of things at me without clear direction. Is this fantasy or historical fiction? Since she remained very vague about the setting, it was hard to tell which of the two genres she was going for. Some of the language is also modern enough to be jarring at times, especially if this is supposed to be historical. I'm a huge fan of stories about strange and special books, so I knew a bit about the Voynich manuscript, but a short intro about it, or at least a small note, would have helped clarify what the big deal was - especially the newer theories about it being a women's medicine manual or pharmacopeia.

Beatrice is the librarian in a convent. She is not terribly devout, but the convent is the only place she has ever truly felt safe and like she had a purpose. One night, her quiet existence is thrown into chaos when two injured women are whisked to the infirmary. Before they succumb to their injuries, one of them slips Beatrice a book and tells her to keep it hidden. Beatrice soon comes to understand that a group of itinerant monks are looking for this book with the intent of destroying it. She is very familiar with what happen to forbidden books, and her librarian heart can't bear the idea of any book being destroyed, but she realizes that this book is unlike any she has seen before. She can't make out the writing on the pages, but she has seen it somewhere before...

I was really hoping to enjoy this more than I did, which was quite dissapointing. The subject and themes Clothier chose to explore are fascinating, but she doesn't go far enough,nor does she truly develop the characters. It all felt superficial and thin. As much as "The Name of the Rose" was hard work, it did pay off and it did feel incredibly rewarding to read, which was not the case here.


A few articles about the Voynich Manuscript, if you are curious:

https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/9/18...

https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-...

https://undark.org/2020/02/12/decodin...