The Lost Symbol: A Review

I know it’s been quite a while since the book was out, but I read it just now and thought it’ll be great to give you guys a head start on it, in case you plan to read it.

If I rate Dan Brown’s other fictions, namely The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons at 5, I’ll rate The Lost Symbol at 4, or maybe even 3.5 due to some reasons. The Lost Symbol is another Robert Langdon stunner with the usual Dan Brown beginning that he wakes up in the morning not knowing where he’s going to end up in the evening. This plot has been followed in all his novels without exception. And I think Dan Brown is obsessed with three things - Europe, America and Christianity.

The plot of the story rotates about a mad man trying to find a Masonic Pyramid which is believed to be hiding the secret of some secret Word that leads to apotheosis of the man. And obviously, there’s only one man on earth who can find and decipher this pyramid and this word – Dr Robert Langdon. And out of nowhere, he finds himself trying to save his mentor and his own life from this madman who’s also being followed by none other than the CIA chief. The end, of course, you’ll have to find it yourself.

Though the story is intriguing and the thought process has been great, but I think Dan Brown is getting caught into his own web. During most of the novel, it looks like he has written it just to show-off his intellect and knowledge. He has gone into so detail about the specification of events, even the ones that don’t have any impact on the story, that it starts getting boring and sometimes irritating. The description of Italian marble and 16^th century bible etc etc were some parts which were not at all required, but were there in the story. Such parts were enough to distract the attention away from the main plot.

Apart from this, I think the novel has been written very well and is a usual Dan Brown thriller with unexpected turns and twists. Though I’ve rated it below his other masterpieces, it’s definitely way above some of the other well-known authors.

Arun Sharma

(Originally published @ www.whynothavefun.wordpress.com by Arun Sharma)