The Lost Symbol

This is my third Dan Brown book. I had previously read the other two Langdon books. I rather enjoyed Angels and Demons. I thought The Da Vinci Code was okay. This book was pretty much terrible. I know other people will argue with me about it, but it was awful.

 

Let me give you the gist of this plot (without spoilers). It’s going to be VERY familiar. Langdon is basically summoned to a city, he has to figure out the code in order to save people’s lives, he faces adversity, and in the end he saves the day.

 

While on this journey, he meets a few people. He meets the crazy person attempting to murder some people. He meets a girl who he has a semi-romantic relationship with. He meets a cop that you feel is a bad cop, but is really a good cop. Plus, a few other generic Brown characters.

 

The whole book is a recycle or mad libs of his other books. I swear, he has a computer program that generates story lines based on his inserting a few words, new character names and descriptions writes the book for him. Seriously. And I know what you are thinking: but you didn’t rip Sophie Kinsella a new one for having a similar story line to all her books.

 

That’s true. I don’t expect a lot from a chick lit author. I don’t expect brilliance. Chick lit authors (and I say this with complete respect because I read them [obviously]) write books so that girls can take them to the beach, or on the subway, or on a road trip, or to her parents house for the weekend and read mindlessness. Seriously. They are not supposed to be thought provoking. They are intended to make us laugh, smile, cry, sympathize, thank the Universe that our lives aren’t that messy. They are not supposed to be written by literary genius with the purpose of making us think about something larger.

 

You may even argue that Dan Brown writes the exact same kind of book but with men in mind. Sure. I can see it. I can give him props IF (and only if) he intended this book to be man lit. I didn’t say man lit anywhere so if I am wrong please correct me.

 

Either way, I was largely disappointed. I figured out the two big secrets on page 100. I’m sure my 18 month old niece could as well. The ultimate lost symbol was ridiculous. I feel it was a complete cop out. And basically, I had a horrible sense of déjà vu.

 

Grade: D (Dreadful)