Foucault's Pendulum

Finally, I got to the end of this book! This was my second attempt at getting through it. The first time I got about half way. But, to the tale...

Some consider this to be the thinking man's Da Vinci Code. It follows three main characters who work for a publishing company in Milan. The company is cleverly split into two separate entities, one of which persuades so-called Diabolicals (any persons involved in secret societies such as the Knights Templar, the Rosicrucian and the Freemasons, conspiracy theories, etc.) to self-finance their own publications. The three characters decide to play a game with these texts, taking information from different sources and mixing them all up to come up with the Plan. However, once the Diabolicals learn of the Plan, it becomes real and the consequences are deadly.

The first 100 pages were easy enough to get through, as were the last 100 pages. But please read this book with a dictionary by your side as some of the vocabulary is esoteric and the prose turgid. It is packed full with obscure references to philosophy, literature, science etc. and a knowledge of French would certainly be useful as well. It's the last 100 pages that bring the story together and changed my opinion of the book. For weeks now I've been stubbornly persevering, just wanting to get to the end of it so I can say that I read it and move on to something else. But now that I've finished it, I find myself wishing to read some more detailed reviews to learn more about the references. I will not be giving this book away as I intend to read it again, at which point I expect it to make more sense, now that I know the ending.

For anyone who read and enjoyed the Da Vinci Code, I'd certainly recommend giving this book a go. For anyone who read some of it and quit as I did the first time around, it's definitely worth reading to the end.