Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol

[Captain Craig]

Well perhaps whoever is given the task of making this into a screenplay will make certain changes and/or take certain liberties with the material.

Not banging it over our heads where its going. Not being so tech talky. Altering the baddie a bit to not seem a poor mans clone of Silas and even interjecting some extra action into. It almost certainly would need that if for no other reason than fit the tone of a summer film since the other two were summer releases also.

 

[Admiral2]

I've read it. I'll just say the villain and motive are kind of stupid.

 

[Gaith]

@ Goliath: yes, I acknowledge it. You're a better person than those who take the time to read and consider older threads rather than pretending that their participants never said anything at all.

Well perhaps whoever is given the task of making this into a screenplay will make certain changes and/or take certain liberties with the material.

Not banging it over our heads where its going. Not being so tech talky. Altering the baddie a bit to not seem a poor mans clone of Silas and even interjecting some extra action into. It almost certainly would need that if for no other reason than fit the tone of a summer film since the other two were summer releases also.

No doubt, but as DrEvil points out, the ending is a big fat zero, with two separate resolutions for the villain and the thematic question. There's very little movement, only one baddie, and a fortune-cookie New Age tosh "treasure"... a huge letdown from the scenery and stakes of the first two stories.

 

[Goliath]

@ Goliath: yes, I acknowledge it. You're a better person than those who take the time to read and consider older threads rather than pretending that their participants never said anything at all.

Pfft.

 

[Skywalker]

What puzzles me is why it took six years for The Lost Symbol to be completed and published. Sounds to me like Dan Brown got a little too comfortable and laconic following the success of The Da Vinci Code.

 

[Goliath]

Well, presumably Brown made a lot of money from both The Da Vinci Code and the movie deal.

Would you work hard on your next book if you didn't have to?

Thomas Harris, author of The Silence of the Lambs, has also only written a handful of books--and he's been writing since the 70s.

 

[Skywalker]

Well, presumably Brown made a lot of money from both The Da Vinci Code and the movie deal.

Would you work hard on your next book if you didn't have to?

I'd like to think I would, since that would mean even more money from high sales volume and likely a guaranteed movie adaptation.

But I'm a lazy bum, so no, I probably wouldn't.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

I haven't read it. I tried reading Code. How Boring.

Found A&D very interesting. However the ending sucked. Worse off, the one single line he used to foreshadow the end (right in the beginning) was one of the worst lines I'd ever read. I mean it's one thing to foreshadow something. It's another thing to foreshadow something whilst telling the reader that you are foreshadowing and that we should look out for it.

 

[ThunderAeroI]

I haven't read it. I tried reading Code. How Boring.

Found A&D very interesting. However the ending sucked. Worse off, the one single line he used to foreshadow the end (right in the beginning) was one of the worst lines I'd ever read. I mean it's one thing to foreshadow something. It's another thing to foreshadow something whilst telling the reader that you are foreshadowing and that we should look out for it.

Dan Brown does that ALOT though. It is his style, I wouldn't call it bad per se. In general A&D was much better than his other Robert Langdon books. That said, I'd gladly buy the next installment in the series.

 

[Captain Craig]

That said, I'd gladly buy the next installment in the series.

So there is another Langdon book in the works? Didn't the publisher have to throw money at him to basically write Lost Symbol? I was under the impression from that that Brown wasn't too interested in writing at the moment.

 

[137th Gebirg]

What puzzles me is why it took six years for The Lost Symbol to be completed and published. Sounds to me like Dan Brown got a little too comfortable and laconic following the success of The Da Vinci Code.

From what I heard, he was locked up in editing for a very long time and that the original story was a lot more controversial and may have possibly earned him some lawsuits. I'm a Mason in Virginia, and I do know that he was seen visiting certain Lodges in that area (including mine) to do research on us as far back as 2003. He talked w/ S. Brent Morris from D.C. and other local senior members in the process. IIRC, it was a lot less favorable to Masons in the beginning (similar to his treatment of the Vatican in prior books) but changed focus after he actually started visiting the Lodges and meeting people. I almost wish he didn't meet with them, as he would have probably produced a better story, despite what would have likely been bad press for us as a result.

Anyone who really expects some deep, non-formulaic plot and enlightened prose probably shouldn't read Brown's books, IMHO.

Anyways, that's my 2 cubits worth...

 

[Gaith]

Yeah, having Langdon be more sympathetic to the secretive society than most of those around him doesn't do the narrative tension any favors. But the Masons are far less interesting as shady potential villains than the Vatican any way you cut it.

 

[Lonemagpie]

Not quite thread necromancy this time- the paperback just came out a few weeks back, so I guess people are catching up with that.

 

[cultcross]

Yeah, and there's fresh discussion going on, so no worries on the bump.

 

[Goliath]

Not quite thread necromancy this time- the paperback just came out a few weeks back, so I guess people are catching up with that.

So, more like "thread awakens from coma after ten months."

 

[Lonemagpie]

Not quite thread necromancy this time- the paperback just came out a few weeks back, so I guess people are catching up with that.

So, more like "thread awakens from coma after ten months."

Or "thread relapse"

 

[IndyJones]

I read The DaVinci Code in '03, and Angels & Demons right after and could still give you a fairly detailed synopsis of each.

The Lost Symbol? Read it earlier this year and could not tell you a thing about it. Maybe I was just in a different place, but it certainly wan't very memorable.

 

[Gaith]

The AV Club:

Since The Da Vinci Code has become a much-jeered-at phenomenon, it’s easy to forget that it was reviewed fairly positively when it was released. It’s also easy to forget how quickly Brown’s re-appropriation of old, largely debunked conspiracy theories rocketed through the culture. Improbably, even though Da Vinci Code was roughly 70 percent exposition, it worked as a book. Brown’s re-imagining of the great European capitals as progressive levels on an art-history-based puzzle videogame was good, pulpy fun.

For The Lost Symbol, Brown has crafted yet another variation on this formula, right down to an odd-looking assassin (in this case, heavily tattooed), as though he has a Da Vinci Code Mad Libs book somewhere for plot inspiration. Symbol’s core plot—Code protagonist Robert Langdon rushes around Washington D.C. to stop a supervillain plot somehow tied into the secret history of the Masons—is about as well-executed as this sort of thing can be. But the plot only takes up half the book. The other half is Brown ladling his research tidbits atop everything else, to the point where the real story ends with about 40 pages of exposition left to be doled out.


C

QFT.

 

[Wynterhawk]

I tried reading DVC, but really couldn't get into his style of writing. In fact, I hated it. I did enjoy the movie and can watch it several times over. This is not true for A&D. While I liked it, I can't watch it again.

 

[Warp Coil]

I tried reading DVC, but really couldn't get into his style of writing. In fact, I hated it. I did enjoy the movie and can watch it several times over. This is not true for A&D. While I liked it, I can't watch it again.

I actually really enjoyed reading The DaVinci Code. The movie was also incredibly well done and is faithful to the novel. I read Angels & Demons shortly after I finished reading DaVinci, and I liked it. However, upon a second read-through I was less compelled. I was also very disappointed with the film.

I have yet to read The Lost Symbol. The negative reviews turned me off, and I told myself that I'd wait for the paperback and see. I guess I might pick it up and give it a try, but my expectations are low.