Rating: 
Summary: Yawn yawn snorrrre
Review: Oo, trapped on a deserted ship near a mysterious island! you think, as you pick up this pretty, glittery book. But that's it. The protagonist, for the fifty or so pages I forced through, is just... there. Diametric to "Foucault's Pendulum," neither action nor thought were at all compelling. I'll always have this pretty thing on my shelf, though, 'cause I'd be ashamed to inflict it on someone else.
Rating: 
Summary: Mediocre
Review: After reading "The Name Of The Rose" and "Foucalt's Pendulum" I
must say this is a mediocre book for Eco's standards, who is
unable to maintain the interest of the reader as the story
unfolds. The reason for this is that as I advanced on the lecture I
realized that it took me to nowhere. The use of a lot of
historical facts (which I don't really know if they are true or
not) and the mention of ancient books aren't enough to create
that feeling of "necessity" to know what is going to happen next. After finishing it I had the sensation that the two last hundred
pages were very similar to many Evangelion chapters in which
Shinji Ikari tries to find the meaning of life. Evangelion is a japanese anime, and this review stands for the
spanish version of the book.
Rating:
Summary: Boooooring
Review: "The Name of the Rose" is excellent, I've read and re-read it. "Foucault's Pendulum" is pretentious but still readable. "The Island of the Day Before" is pretentious and boring. Incredibly boring. Skip it and read "The Name of the Rose" again.
Rating:
Summary: Incoherent Set of Essays
Review: If the main purpose of the author is to display his erudition, it will be more rewarding to write an anthology of unrelated short essays. As a linked up novel, this one must be considered a failure. A small portion of the book (on the siege back home) is highly entertaining (but, unfortunately, not quite pertinent to the Island of the Day Before). The shipwreck in front of the Island simply does not make much sense, and is not even scientific, unless one would pretend to be philosophical.
Rating: 
Summary: historical fiction at Eco's Best!
Review: Umberto Eco has woven a tale of wonder and dread. As usual he relies upon the the great gnostic idea of an unknown knowledge. Tie these complex ideas into the great search for the meridians, and you have a great sea tale, historical facts sculptured with great language and writing. I wish all books would come to the level of Mr. Eco's skills, it would make reading so much fun! Mille Grazie Don Eco for the great books!
Rating:
Summary: Interesting Concept
Review: The Island of the Day Before is basically one half a science fiction novel written from the point of view of society several hundred years ago and one half timeless romance. The story takes place during a time period when new methods to calculate longitude were becoming increasingly important with the increase in exploration of the new world. The narrator of this book spends much of the novel exploring then current theories of how to calculate longitude, some of which are now easy to laugh at (such as the use of sympathetic wounds on dogs), although all the theories may have seemed logical at the time. The most interesting misunderstanding in this novel, however, is regarding the international dateline. The narrator of the novel is stranded on a ship wrecked off the coast of an island through which the international dateline passes. Passages in which the narrator describes how he wound up in such a position alternate with passages in which he describes his attempts to reach the island in the belief that if he passes through the date line that he will travel back in time a day and, e.g., be able to save the life of his companion who drowned the day before. However, while this misunderstanding is humourous, Eco's portrayal of the narrator's desire and need for his theory to be true is rather poignant. Unfortunately, the science can get a bit thick at times and I did find it a bit difficult to wade through some of the longer discourses on astronomy, but it was still worthwhile to make the effort. Making the effort worthwhile is a back story that reads like a cross between Dumas and Poe, filled with strong romance and intrigue. Amongst the plot elements are dopplegangers, conspiracies, and such characters as Cardinal Richleu. As with most Eco novels, it is helpful if the reader is actually interested in history. However Eco is talented enough at bringing historical periods to life that even the most casual historian will be interested.
Ultimately, I did not find this book as intellectually stimulating as Foucault's Pendulum, but it was more emotionally powerful. I very much look forward to Eco's next novel.
Rating:
Summary: A shipwrecked book
Review: The meanderings of Eco in this book are as dull as the main character. Literary devices used, like a strong interrupting narrative voice that pops up randomly, just seems heavy-handed and insincere. Having just finished his _Foucault's Pendulum_, I was very let down and had to speed-read the last chapters just to get through it without admitting I blew 20 bucks. We know you are brilliant and knowledgeable, Mr. Eco--you don't have to prove it--just tell us a good story.
Rating:
Summary: Boring
Review: The first chapter was interesting. After that, I couldn't stay awake.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing Work from a Master
Review: After being entertained by The Name of the Rose and absolutely blown away by Foucault's Pendulum, I had very high hopes for this novel. Unfortunately, although the intelligence and cleverness still come through, the narrative is just not that interesting this time around. Most of Eco's work can be read and re-read, and still remain delightful. I struggled to get through this one just once. Here's hoping for better next time.
Rating: 
Summary: Good but not great
Review: TIotDB seems to be equal parts Proust (for its themes of memory and sexual jealousy), Dava Sobel (for its interest in the riddle of longitude), and Cervantes (for its dreaming, roaming madman) spliced with excerpts from a philosophical dictionary. Some of Eco's musings are superb, such as his single paragraph on infinity measured in human terms, ones we can try to imagine. But the plot is thin, and whereas the first half of the book has characters equal to the task of expounding Eco's ideas, in the second half much pretence as to plot is just given up and it becomes a monologue. We are left with much more of a show of knowledge than an education, if that is to be the redeeming feature of this book, and while there are appropriate classical references to Ovid and Virgil, much of the rest seems to be name-dropping. Some of the writing, to be honest, is clumsy, especially where effect is sought by repetition. Sections were left untranslated, presumably for a reason, but I'm afraid I just can't read the Italian, or Latin, or whatever it was. That just left me frustrated. I'm not sure why it takes Roberto 358 pages to decide to TRY to build a raft. Duh... This book is, surely, a parody. If Eco is not taking a few swipes at Proust et al, though, he must be taking a swipe, well, at his own profession. That is the only way to read this book, as though it is sprinkled with gems, and Eco can write, when he's in the mood, I cannot shrug the feeling that there is some kind of linguistic game being played here in a kind of postmodernist jest. If postmodernism leaves you as cold as it leaves me, read the book as a parody of linguistics, or the academy in general, or something. It might help.
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