BAUDOLINO

An Umberto Eco novel. The first few pages I had to struggle so much with, that I had doubt if I could finish it. But then I began to like Baudolino, the protagonist.

This novel is about kings, wars, civilizations, religions set in ancient world. Who cares about these things, I told myself. But Eco's style attracted me, and I found him more and more readable. I liked such phrases as "He would shit in his pants" "The heat cooked his buttock".

But I have still to figure out why Eco wrote down the novel at all. No big story. Plenty of dud philosophy. Sometimes it feels like an adventure story. But what is the insight of it all? Does it make any sense?

I'm still continuing with the novel: one chapter each day. Let us hope I would get at its worthiness after I go through it.
MRINAL BOSE