Perhaps James Wood put it best when he wrote about A Suitable Boy, “Such writing reminds us that there are secrets beyond technique, beyond even style, which have to do with a quality of soul on the part of the writer.”

Kawabata does not spend pages in detailed descriptions. Rather, he captures the essence in few sentences with such eloquence that it can only be compared with a haiku.

Unlike The Da Vinci Code, The Name of the Rose does not provide easy solutions to any of the mysteries.