The Lost Symbol (Dan Brown)
by Dan Brown
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Book Reviews of The Lost Symbol (Dan Brown)
Book Review: DAYBAGGING
Summary: 2 Stars
Perhaps the largest complaint I can level at THE LOST SYMBOL by Dan Brown is that, somehow, this is actually a step down in quality (in terms of plot, pacing, writing, structure and logic) from THE DA VINCI CODE, which I remember being far more exact and far more detailed than anything found here. I think it can also be argued that THE LOST SYMBOL is an immature book - everything in it screams first time writer (is it just me, or could you just read just the italics and come away with the same story?), which is unusual for a writer who has not only several books already published, but is considered by far (far) too many people to be a "brilliant" writer. If this doesn't give them pause and reconsider that THE DA VINCI CODE was simply the right book at the right time - then, more power to them...but for me, THE LOST SYMBOL felt like a hubris driven ENG101 CREATIVE WRITING class project written by a someone who felt he was smarter than both the teacher and the reader.
In THE LOST SYMBOL I think Dan Brown proves he's not (no pumpkin sticker for you!). There is not a moment in this book, not one mystery, not one code, not one second where you're not ahead of Robert Langdon at every turn and always looking back asking him to step on the gas and catch up; come on man! A big plus for fans of Dan Brown is that his books are swift on action (once THE DA VINCI CODE started rolling, it really didn't stop for too long), but here, Langdon drags his feet over the most simplest of clues and tasks because, for some odd reason, he can't accept that perhaps the Mason's do have a secret, a treasure, which could truly change the world. No, Langdon is time and again stuck between two pillars of ignorance: the first being that there simply can not be a pyramid in Washington, D.C. (and yet, he finds it and it fits neatly into his purse...excuse me, daybag) and the second: he ignores all callings to solve the mystery to whine again and again that he needs to save Peter Solomon, it never truly dawning on him (despite being told over and over by everyone involved) that perhaps the best way to save Peter is to solve the mystery - which, honestly, solves itself.
Langdon plays really no part in riddling out the secrets behind the pyramid - again and again Brown places the right people at the right time to save Langdon a lot of bother, while at the same time padding out the book with useless, often repetitive scenes that clearly were written for the screen and not the page (the ENTIRE scenes set inside the noetic sciences building are pure horror movie popcorn and could have easily been edited down or totally out of the book and not missed a beat). After a few books a hero does get worn, but Langdon is worn out here - you can't help but laugh that a man who has the phone number of a blood relative of Jesus and could call her up anytime and take her out to see a production of GODSPELL could be this slow - but he is. And he's also naive, Langdon comments that the Mason's are truthful, honest and above all loyal people - but, they're also people and people are fallible and THE LOST SYMBOL proves that Langdon is too.
As for the "villain"(s) of the book - it seems as if somehow Brown was trying his hand at being Chester Gould where evil itself brands people with a peculiar disfigurement. And as to the "major" surprise behind the identity of the the main villain - I dare anyone to claim that they were "surprised" by this.
The wrap up comes quickly and much like the reader, Langdon is blindfolded by Brown, who denies us (and Langdon) information right from the start to get the thrill of finally pulling the hood off our heads and saying "ta-da!" to see the look on our faces when we learn that, oh, yeah...I knew that, actually, I figured it right from the start (I mean, Brown, you pointed a red arrow right at it) so, yeah, here we are, buy a postcard and let's go.
In the end THE LOST SYMBOL was never truly lost, just kept and now finally shared it makes me wonder just what's going to happen to those four million, nine hundred, ninety nine thousand other copies of this book out there...it's more a mystery than THE LOST SYMBOL will ever be.
Book Review: The Lost Symbol reviewed by the Book Gourmand
Summary: 3 Stars
Dan Brown's long awaited and much anticipated book satisfied and disappointed at the same time. If you can overlook the sometimes awkward writing and the didactic speeches towards the end, The Lost Symbol delivers a fast paced, action-packed narrative that entertains and hopefully (if all Dan Brown's clain in the beginning that all the art, monuments, rituals and organizations that exist in the book are real), educates. Brown is at his best explaining symbols, rituals, secret societies and conspiracies. He is at his worst describing characters and the mundane details of their everyday life. Early in the book, our narrator tells us that our hero after his fifty laps at the university pool in the morning, is home around six when "he began his morning ritual hand-grinding Sumatra coffee beans and savoring the exotic scent that filled his kitchen." [...].
Brown, however, becomes more adept at describing other rituals. Thank goodness. He writes well when he is talking about the Freemasons, the Knight Templars and George Washington. He explains art and symbolism well, he's just a little awkward when it comes to fictional characters. It's like reading a scientific journal with a little bit of Harlequin Romance imagery thrown in to keep the reader interested, so if you can get past the awkwardness Brown can tell a good story.
WARNING: SPOILER ALERT
What I haven't decided, however, is if I like the author's deceptive manipulation of the writing to obscure the plot line. If you're a detective novel enthusiast, you might probably figure out earlier in the book the true identity of the book's antagonist. But if you examine the text, you will realize that the author gives you no basis for your suspicions, other than the hunch that such a vengeful spirit could only exist if the stakes were higher. Dan Brown carefully weaves his words so we are constantly surprised by who's the evil one and who's in cahoots with him and why. He also seems to take pleasure in making Robert Langdon the ultimate skeptic, and in the process, making him seem incredibly dim and actually, quite stupid. The man who can speak multiple languages have a photographic memory and can solve the most unsolvable puzzles in the world sometimes acts like the victim in a teen horror movie. No! Don't go in that door! Don't you know the killer is in there? All this in the interest of moving the action along, I suppose, like just the purpose they serve in horror movies.
Robert Langdon poses as the ultimate Doubting Thomas, refusing to believe, unable to accept, and then suddenly, before our book ends, he is converted. Though I do not know that it is a completely unbelievable ending for our hero, what I find difficult to dismiss is how much of this book Dan Brown's manifesto to get the right-wing Christians to stop criticizing him from having his character proclaim in previous books that he did not believe in God. Or their particular God. Towards the end, the book becomes more and more theological in spirit. I have no qualms in including a theological discussion in a work of fiction. I am a big fan of Dante's Inferno. Many great books (all if you believe Joseph Campbell's Hero with a Thousand Faces which I am sure Brown read and included its ideas in his book) have been written to wrestle with the idea of good versus evil and is there an ultimate good. Dan Brown uses ideas from Plato, Socrates, Dante, Campbell, Jung and the list goes on and on. But ultimately what I am interested in when I pick up Dan Brown is did he tell a good story? I can see that a movie of this book will yet again be criticized for extremely long misplaced dialogues explaining philosophical teachings and scientific theories. I can see two actors trying to discuss Noetic Sciences and Aristotle as they run away from bad guys down a long dark tunnel. Movie possibilities aside, The Lost Symbol is still an entertaining book, one that I'm sure will provoke great interest in many, many topics both religious and philosophical, and hopefully, a renewed interest to visit our great American capital and visit its fine if sometimes boring museums.
Book Review: Who'd have thought Dan Brown can be a bore?
Summary: 1 Stars
The best thing I can say about "The Lost Symbol" is that it made me want to visit the U.S. capital and see all its architectural treasures for myself. Apart from that, I found the book incredibly boring.
This time, our brilliant Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon immerses himself in the world of Freemasonry. A mysterious villain has kidnapped his Langdon's friend, a high-ranking mason, and blackmails Langdon into taking up the search for a mysterious pyramid for him, on which there is a (mysterious) map to be found, which in turn is supposed to lead to the (even more mysterious) location of the (most mysterious of all) "Ancient Mysteries". These are badly needed by the villain, it seems, because he expects them to help him complete his transformation into an all-powerful demon. Right.
Next, the mysterious director of a mysterious CIA branch steps on the scene. She's prepared to give the villain what he wants, even to sacrifice the lives of Langdon's friend and even Langdon himself. The reason is supposedly that there is much more at stake than just the mysteries of Freemasonry and a few people's lives - there is, in fact (drum roll) a mysterious national security crisis!
Trouble is, this supposed national security crisis is so mysterious that the reader doesn't learn until very late in the book what it is. Dan Brown is completely disregarding the first principle of creating suspense here - the reader has to know what's at stake. Of course, he might have a very good reason for doing it that way, because when we finally learn what's up with this "crisis", it turns out to be a damp squib. It doesn't amount to much more than a semi-serious PR crisis, really. Of course, there may have been a very good reason for Brown to do it that way. If that was all that he was able to come up with, maybe putting off this disclosure as long as possible was indeed his best bet.
Speaking of disclosure: Of course, there's again the Dan Brown Surprising Twist(tm) on page 448. Only unfortunately it doesn't come surprising to anyone anymore by that time, because we've been seeing it coming since page 221.
The same problem is affecting the puzzles, usually one of the most entertaining aspects in Brown's novels. This time, though, they are so disarmingly simple that the question why Langdon takes so long to solve them (and why a brilliant Harvard symbologist is needed for them anyway) is the most puzzling thing about them. Some of the solutions veritably jump in your face, and then you have to drag yourself through a dozen more pages until Langdon finally gets it, too. Maybe the professor should start thinking about retirement.
The book's biggest fault, though, is that it is made entirely of McGuffins - empty clichés that do their job as elements of suspense only as long as no one thinks too hard about what they actually are, like that famous briefcase everyone is after in Hitchcock's "39 Steps". In "The Lost Symbol", though, we go from one McGuffin to the next without ever getting to see what's in the briefcase, as it were. That would be impossible, of course, because there's nothing in it. Not until the very end, when everything's over really, does Brown find it necessary to have his hero and heroine stir around in the thin mystical-philosophical soup of "Tapping the Unused Potential of the Human Mind", which is supposed to be the essence of the "Ancient Mysteries" - just another empty cliché.
By that time, of course, the reader is so befuddled with boredom that chances are they'll never ask themselves what was the big secret about this groundbreaking revelation in the first place.
"Angels and Demons" was a highly entertaining, intelligent thriller. "The Da Vinci Code" was a bit silly, but if you kept one eye shut and pretended to know nothing about church history, it was a fairly suspenseful yarn at least. But "The Lost Symbol" is leagues beneath both these books. Who'd have thought Dan Brown can be a bore?
Book Review: A decent followup to The Da Vinci Code
Summary: 4 Stars
I've read all of Dan Brown's books, and while I'm not a huge fan, I do enjoy his stories and the fantastical idea that there could be some huge conspiracy or esoterica out there that only a few people know about. Dan Brown's writing could use some work, and he's not crafting great literature here, but the content of his stories usually makes up for that, and his latest novel, The Lost Symbol, is no exception. This is the third book to follow Robert Langdon, a Harvard Symbologist who previously showed up in Angels & Demons: A Novel (Robert Langdon), and The Da Vinci Code.
The Lost Symbol is very similar to his previous books, in that it has the same formulaic plot, structure, and theme, only this time it takes place in Washington, D.C. and involves the Freemasons instead of the Knights Templar. Just like in the Da Vinci Code, Langdon is called to Washington at a friend's request, only to find him missing, and spends the rest of the book chasing clues throughout the city and trying to outwit a new villain who is seemingly as smart as he is.
As mentioned above, the formula in The Lost Symbol is almost exactly the same. After only a few chapters into the book, I started drawing immediate comparisons to National Treasure (Widescreen Edition), and I could see some readers making that claim if it weren't for a few exceptions: Langdon is more likable than Ben Gates, the mysteries are much more involved and well-researched, and there is noticeably more action and suspense. This time, rather than trying to ignore some rather large plot holes, as contained in the Da Vinci Code, you will have to suspend your disbelief that a Harvard professor is physically capable of so many close calls. It almost reads more like an Ian Fleming novel than a book about a mid-50s professor trying to solve a centuries-old scavenger hunt. That works out well because a lot of books of this genre can get weighed down by the scientific or historical aspects and bore you to death.
That's not to say that The Lost Symbol doesn't have its faults. The first is most notably the writing. While it has certainly improved since The Da Vinci Code, it still seems rather sophomoric, and not on par with someone who is one of the biggest-selling authors in the last twenty years. Even though it's fiction, some of the characters' actions really made me wonder if Brown has had much human contact while writing the book. There are other annoyances that he repeats in the book, but I won't bring them up for fear that mentioning them may cause future readers to have their attention constantly drawn to them. Overall though, the writing is not terrible and the plot is suspenseful enough that I can overlook it. Another theme that Brown plays around with is the concept of "mind over matter." He provides a great deal of research on the subject (too much in some chapters), but I still found it a little too out there, and wish he had chosen a different angle.
I think this book will appeal not only to Dan Brown fans, but to fans of Douglas Preston and Lee Child (Langdon is almost a clone of the Agent Pendergast character), James Rollins, Michael Crichton (there are certainly a lot of influences here as far as research into a book goes), and with this book, Clive Cussler (the action is on par with anything Dirk Pitt would see).
If I had to rank it, I would put The Lost Symbol below Angels and Demons, and above Da Vinci Code. While I don't think it's worth of 5 stars, it was certainly an enjoyable read and enough to satiate me until the next book comes out (provided he doesn't wait as long as he did for this one).
Book Review: Disbelief, Proof, and Running: The Novel.
Summary: 2 Stars
See Jason Lee's review. It was spot on, especially where he details the charactor exchanges. This book was 500 pages of Langdon the skeptic and claustrophobic, being told/shown "truths" by a handful on uninteresting charactors. I appreciated the science element in Angels & Demons, and the historical element to Da Vinci Code, but this merger of the two just seemed a like an unneccesary and poorly told revisit to old themes. Dan Brown even throws in a few "memories" of past novels' exploits. There were so many times I wanted to put down the book for good and just it give up, but since I really liked Dan Brown's other novels I felt like I should at least see it through--what if it really all came together in the end?? For me, it did not. Yes, he tied up all of his plot but not enough to save this mess of Christian/Masonic/Historical fiction. Maybe this genre is just overdone at this point? When it comes to Dan Brown I'm not looking for a great literary masterpiece, but this seemed more like an English Comp 101 student's attempt to break into the bestseller market. "And then we went here. And then we went there. And then there was a twist!! And a new charactor! And a breakthrough! And then we ran here! Which led us to there!" Five. Hundred. Pages. One Hundred and Thirty-three Chapters. Of THAT. And honestly, most of it could easily have been deleted.
About halfway through I had the following thoughts:
1) In this economy, they inflated the text so that people would feel more comfortable dropping $20-$30 on the hardcover. After all, spending that much on a 200-pg piece of fiction that lasts two days doesn't add up quite like dropping the same amount on a 500 pg book that should take up a week. Unfortunately, most of the chapters are only 2-5 pages, sometimes with the last page being almost entirely blank. As a graphic designer I appreciate white space, but I literally couldn't get past the thought that half the content was superfluous and could have been removed without any harm to the story.
2) This seemed like some of his research from Angels & Demons and some of his research from Da Vinci Code merged together to make a "new" story. Unfortunately, he took some of the things I hated from each and really ran with them (Crazed albino monk? Meet Mal'akh. Pseudoscience meets historical fiction? Atomic research, meet Noetic science. And then there are the charactors who aren't what they seem...) Same story, different time/place/charactors.
3) Did any one else notice that the love interests in the previous books disappear with no note of where they went? Apparently an award-winning and adventurous scientist wasn't good enough for Langdon, nor was a beautiful and direct descendant of Jesus Christ??
4) Seems like Brown was trying to "humanize" Langdon by introducing his weaknesses and faults. However, I found him a little trying in this one. Don't even get me started on some of the other charactors. There were a few I thought were downright crazed. And I'm not just talking about the villain.
5) If you're reading this on the train, or metro, and you can only do a little bit at a time, you're in luck. The story jumps around every 2 pages or so to a different place/charactor. But not to worry, because when you encounter that charactor again in 5 pages, Brown will restate where you left off. If you are reading straight through during a long stretch, it's repetitive.
If you're using this as an airport-read/commute-read to toss in your briefcase, or as a beach-read when out with friends, or as a few pages a frantic mom manages to get to herself sporadically, then this could be great. That's why I'm giving it two stars, because it serves it's purpose as a time passer and stress releaser. Just make sure you check it out from the library or pick it up used for $4. It's not worth more than that.