As an Umberto Eco’s novel, Baudolino is quite different. It’s different in the way that it’s somewhat light. It is full of actions, and relaxed and grin-making narratives. It shows us about, still, Medieval Age, but not in terms of its thoughts and other cerebral discussions. It relates the “Umbertonian” realities, events, people, and issues in the Medieval Age with … well … as usual … a sense of thriller–this time is a closed-room murder of German Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa.
Baudolino is all about a person named Baudolino who admits to have been made a fostered son of Frederick I Barbarossa. It is told (by Baudolino himself) that he can speak any language in the world after listening to people talking with the language a couple of minutes. It is what has made Frederick like him and make him his son. Baudolino is very close to Frederick and his political decisions (he admits that some of the greatest decisions Frederick has ever made, also great events in the REAL history of mankind) are prompted by his ideas. Hey, I almost missed one thing: Baudolino admits that he is a liar, an uncontrolled liar. Well, if kleptomania can’t resist the temptation to steal, then I’ll call Baudolino a LIEPTOMANIAC. hahaha…
Baudolino is also about the search of Holy Grail by Baudolino and a group of men, under the instruction from Frederick I Barbarrossa, to presumably central Africa. In the journey, various unbelievably strange places and people are found and unbelievably incident takes place.
All in all, Baudolino is a relaxing kind of smart novel by an intellectually cool professor of semiotics and medieval studies.
By the way, at the end of the novel, on the last page, you’ll find a pleasurably surprising sentence. Watch out for it! And please, don’t get to the end of the book unless you know that someone will steal the book tonight.
