Almost done with the latest Dan Brown book...

[statman]

Great literature? Not by a long shot. But it's still pretty entertaining fluff reading. Don't really know why people were saying that Mormons were featured in the book - there was one very brief, completely inconsequential reference to Mormons in the book. At least so far, but by now the charactrers are all well enough developed that I can't really see him pulling some Mormon card out.

The thing I thought was interesting - he's written a couple books that were scandalous/controversial with regards to the basic assumptions around christianity. Davinci Code, with the idea that God is not complete viewed just in the masculine, that the feminine is also an essential role for God. Now with the latest book, the overriding theme is that man has within him the potential to become like God.

Both of these concepts are blasphemous to mainstream Christians, but Mormons don't really have a problem with them...

[woot]

Great literature? Not by a long shot. But it's still pretty entertaining fluff reading. Don't really know why people were saying that Mormons were featured in the book - there was one very brief, completely inconsequential reference to Mormons in the book. At least so far, but by now the charactrers are all well enough developed that I can't really see him pulling some Mormon card out.

The thing I thought was interesting - he's written a couple books that were scandalous/controversial with regards to the basic assumptions around christianity. Davinci Code, with the idea that God is not complete viewed just in the masculine, that the feminine is also an essential role for God. Now with the latest book, the overriding theme is that man has within him the potential to become like God.

Both of these concepts are blasphemous to mainstream Christians, but Mormons don't really have a problem with them...

Don't expect too much of the ending. I was flirting with giving it a 2/5 for a while, just because it managed to keep me turning pages. By the end, I was wishing I could give it a zero. It's shocking how terrible that book is.

[Pheidippides]

Don't expect too much of the ending. I was flirting with giving it a 2/5 for a while, just because it managed to keep me turning pages. By the end, I was wishing I could give it a zero. It's shocking how terrible that book is.

[TripletDaddy]

I waited for my in-laws to read it. They told my wife and I that they loved it.

I didn't even bother buying it.

This strategy with my in-laws works really well for me with books, movies, and even people.

[TheBYUGuy]

Don't expect too much of the ending. I was flirting with giving it a 2/5 for a while, just because it managed to keep me turning pages. By the end, I was wishing I could give it a zero. It's shocking how terrible that book is.

Dan Brown has an exceptional talent in that he is able to write books that 1) are real page turners and 2) have some of the worst endings imaginable to the human mind. I haven't read the latest but that's what I'm expecting again.

P.S. The book has been sitting on my Postum table for about a month now.

[pellegrino]

I waited for my in-laws to read it. They told my wife and I that they loved it.

I didn't even bother buying it.

This strategy with my in-laws works really well for me with books, movies, and even people.

I wish I had a surefire method like that. Hold tightly to that, it's a valuable resource.

[jay santos]

Don't expect too much of the ending. I was flirting with giving it a 2/5 for a while, just because it managed to keep me turning pages. By the end, I was wishing I could give it a zero. It's shocking how terrible that book is.

Ditto.

I made a promise to never get sucked in by Dan Brown hype again.

[woot]

Dan Brown has an exceptional talent in that he is able to write books that 1) are real page turners and 2) have some of the worst endings imaginable to the human mind. I haven't read the latest but that's what I'm expecting again.

P.S. The book has been sitting on my Postum table for about a month now.

It does seem to be a trend. I enjoyed Angels and Demons enough to almost recommend it, but that ending:

"Now, dear reader, forgive me for not telling you earlier that Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is also an invincible superhero!"

is indescribably bad. But at least it was sort of exciting. Lost Symbol's ending had me facepalming so hard and so often I couldn't even see the page.

The biggest issue with Lost Symbol is probably that the reader has no clue what the book is even about until the big reveal at the end. All we're given is that there are some "ancient mysteries" that will change the world when they are rediscovered. In A&D the world was at stake, in Davinci Code the Vatican/Catholic church was at stake, and in Lost Symbol, some amorphous knowledge of dubious importance is maybe going to be found! Yawn city. When it is revealed what this mysterious knowledge actually is, I wanted to punch Dan Brown in the throat for wasting my time.

[SeattleUte]

I waited for my in-laws to read it. They told my wife and I that they loved it.

LOL.

[statman]

It does seem to be a trend. I enjoyed Angels and Demons enough to almost recommend it, but that ending:

"Now, dear reader, forgive me for not telling you earlier that Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is also an invincible superhero!"

is indescribably bad. But at least it was sort of exciting. Lost Symbol's ending had me facepalming so hard and so often I couldn't even see the page.

The biggest issue with Lost Symbol is probably that the reader has no clue what the book is even about until the big reveal at the end. All we're given is that there are some "ancient mysteries" that will change the world when they are rediscovered. In A&D the world was at stake, in Davinci Code the Vatican/Catholic church was at stake, and in Lost Symbol, some amorphous knowledge of dubious importance is maybe going to be found! Yawn city. When it is revealed what this mysterious knowledge actually is, I wanted to punch Dan Brown in the throat for wasting my time.

I've turned about 400 pages expecting to find out what the big mysteries are. After about page 200, I've anticipated a let down. When he's going to be that gimmicky, you know it's going to be disappointing...

[UtahDan]

Brown is like Crichton was. He doesn't write great stories or great prose, but was he does do it write novels around very interesting ideas. I always think of both writers works as vehicles for expounding interesting concepts rather than attempts at great fiction.

[DrumNFeather]

I've got about 80 pages left. I've enjoyed it for what it is, but I won't be adding it to my list of great literary works.

Dan Brown does a great job of bringing interesting ideas to the forefront, but much like with a movie about aliens, there's just no good way to resolve most of his stories in a way that would make sense/be pleasing to the reader.

[statman]

Just finished it. The ending TOTALLY blew. And the big surprises - weren't so big. And the 'big crisis' - a joke...

[Viking]

Just finished it. The ending TOTALLY blew. And the big surprises - weren't so big. And the 'big crisis' - a joke...

The ending was horrible. Dan Brown should be hanged by his sack.