The Lost Symbol- Dan Brown. Meet the Da Vinci Clone

The Lost Symbol is like roller coaster ride- it’s thrilling, breath stopping, entertaining & then it’s over!1

Unlike Robert Langdon’s past two installments, where people from all societies had a row over Holy Grail, Mary Magdalene & Jesus (The Da Vinci Code), antimatter & artifacts (Angels & Demons), this book gets exempted from criticism (at least till date). This does not mean Lost Symbol has no such events. In fact it has all this. There’re Freemasons, paintings dangling- waiting for Langdon to decipher, secret places, links to illustrious folks, & all what you can expect from our Harvard scholar. While reading this book, I felt Dan Brown has actually made a resolute attempt to stay away from being focal point of criticism. Though there are some factual inaccuracies, one needs to ignore. Come on folks, book is fiction not verity!

One thing we all would undoubtedly agree to is- Robert Langdon’s life is far more expeditious then ours. In his early flick, The Da Vinci Code, where he solves murder mystery surrounding curator Jacques Saunière, took place at lightning speed. In Angels & Demons, where he’s convened to save all preferiti’s kidnapped in amidst of papal conclave & in turn, save world from antimatter explosion, took place in 24 hours timeframe. This one gets even better (worse for Robert Langdon though!). It takes place in timeframe of 12 hours! Book is definitely a cliff-hanger & thumbs up to Dan Brown for that. Suspense is top class & you are left guessing till the very end.

The book clocks over 500 pages, but like Dan Brown’s other flicks, this book is fast paced. The book is more like a labyrinth with Robert Langdon as our only beacon.

The Lost Symbol takes you back to secrets of Freemasons & glimpses of new science that researches power of human consciousness - Noetic Science.

So what’s the plot? Robert Langdon has 12 hours to discover something that might not even exist - Masonic pyramid, which wharfs ancient mystery -” A body of secret knowledge which was amassed long ago.” As always, he is guided by doughty female, a specialist in ‘Noetic Science’ who has discovered unimaginable (read it to find it). Then, we’ve public servants whom Langdon must confront. By the way, the story unfolds in Washington D.C, as against his earlier plots in Europe. (Here’s bet. Langdon’s next destination is Egypt.)

Otherwise, rest is fostered on his existing The Da Vinci Code & Angels & Demons template. While reading this book, I couldn’t control my urge to compare this book with his last blockbusters- we had sinister Silas in The Da Vinci Code, here we’ve Mal’akh (‘Angel’ in Hebrew). There we had Jacques Saunière killed, here we’ve his friend & mentor Peter Solomon’s hand summoned & kidnapped. There we had Cryptex, here we’ve Masonic pyramid.

Another thing that didn’t go well with me is premise! Sorry Dan, but I found it utterly improbable. Dan’s writing has improved but little after The Da Vinci Code. So his narrative is still blemished, his adoration towards use of italics to convey excitement, where adept writers prefer words deflates the cadence. There are some clunky moments where characters sound more like encyclopedia or Wikipedia. Last 50 odd pages are really dreary (that’s one difference between this & Dan’s other installments!). Also, science-religion link doesn’t fall in place; unlike in Angels & Demons (that part was my favorite there).

But then, we don’t read Dan Brown for his literary. We read it for Langdon & his breath stopping adventures.

So all in all, a good book could’ve been great, if last part was trimmed a bit. Nevertheless, Dan Brown still manages & he manages well to capture your attention & keep his Brownian motion going!

1- Modified from “Los Angeles Times”, Sep 14, 2009

2 States: The Story of My Marriage by Chetan Bhagat

I never expected Chetan Bhagat to write anything I can carry ahead in my life. His writing symbolizes fast food culture of India. No. His writing is not junk (literal meaning of fast food). All I’m saying is his books are ‘quick read’, ‘nothing to carry’ types. He tried to break this stereotype in 3 Mistakes of My Life & that was his second mistake (first one being writing One Night @ Call Center). As a matter of fact, even he agrees his books are 90% entertaining & 10% reforming. Though, I’m not in accord with latter part, I always believed his books are entertaining. He sure manages to create page turning urgency. You can read his entire book in one stretch.

His latest book 2 States... is about Krish, Ananya & their journey towards marriage. Punjabi boy in love with Tamilian girl with their parents opposing. To unite, the protagonist will have to battle cultural drift, deep rooted in the society. So what do they do? They first impress each other’s families & then try to make both families like each other. Sounds familiar? So will paranthas finally marry idlis, will coconut accept paneer?

This book has its moments. Book has some good smiles & great metaphors. The cultural drift between North-Indians & South-Indians has come up very well. In fact, austere differences among Punjabi & Tamilian forms nub of the book. May be in form of loud music loved by North-Indians against silent carnatic music preferred by South-Indians, or Krish’s journey in ‘Chain-nai’. CB manages to come up with witty humour. CB for all right reasons dedicates this book to his in-laws. All in all, struggle; both protagonists go through sets the cadence of the book. Oh, did I mention this- This book harks back to the steamy affair of Five Point Someone!

So if everything’s so well with this book, why did I find myself completely detached with this book? Rather than ‘page turning urgency’ why was I hastening to the end? (Probably, I need to revisit my first line.)

By the way CB, I’ve some questions for you:
Which boy will propose a girl in amidst of her dream company’s job interview? I've seen enough of this in 90's bollywood movies, where reel life-boy proposes his girl in un-im-manageable situations? I found it very hard to guzzle down. Request you to get over this familiar b-grade bollywood cliché. Also, sweet end to father-son saga didn’t work for me, though I knew it was coming!

So to conclude, though this book offers nothing new to read, yet, you should read it once, to know what lovers from different communities go through. Come on guys. Not bad at all to refresh your memories of 90’s movies.

I’ll place this book in number two slot, amongst his four books. First one of course - Five Point Someone. And last one undoubtedly - One night @ Call Center. This book ranks second more on poor performance of CB’s last two books as against its individual performance! To be honest, CB just manages to escape committing 3rd mistake of his life!