Starting that Christmas Reading List...

One of the things I plan to do over the Christmas break is get as much reading in as possible!

A few selections on my list this December are Wayson Choy's Jade Peony, Phillipa Gregory's The White Queen, and my old favourite that I haven't picked up in a long time, John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men.

I always feel guilty reading for pleasure while I'm in school, so I tend to put it off for holidays. However, I did afford myself the pleasure of reading Dan Brown's latest novel, The Lost Symbol and reviewing it for a journalism assignment.

So before you add it to your Christmas reading list, check out my review!




The Lost Symbol
By Dan Brown
Doubleday, 509 pages, $37
Release Date: September 15, 2009

Secret Masonic rituals. An ancient map encoded on a small, stone pyramid. Science that proves mind can control matter. A severed hand covered in symbols found in the middle of the U.S. Capitol. And another powerful secret.

The Lost Symbol follows Dan Brown’s famous protagonist from Angels and Demons and The Da Vinci Code, Robert Langdon, on his third adventure. This time, the Harvard symbologist races through the streets of Washington as he tries, once again, to stop an evil force from revealing a long-hidden secret that could devastate mankind.

While Brown’s novel succeeds in once again taking its readers on a thrilling, mystical quest full of sudden twists, hidden symbols, and secret codes, it lacks the intrigue and urgency of his previous blockbuster novels.

The novel’s biggest problem is that the reader is never convinced that the stakes are high enough. In Angels and Demons, it was essential that Langdon find the antimatter canister before it destroyed the Vatican. In The Da Vinci Code, Langdon was on a grail quest – one of the most revered quests in literature.

In The Lost Symbol, the reader knows Langdon needs to stop an evil, tattooed antagonist from uncovering a secret. But for much of the novel, the secret itself and the consequences of Langdon’s possible failure are unclear. Even more disappointing, once the reader is enlightened, the secret and the power it holds is a letdown in itself.

Another weakness of the novel is that its setting is slightly dull. Brown tries too hard to convince his readers that Washington’s history is as captivating as that of the Vatican or ancient Europe. He even includes a cheesy flashback to Langdon in his Harvard classroom attempting to convert his skeptical students, hoping the reader will follow suit. However, unless you have a keen interest in U.S. history and architecture, the setting is much less romantic.

Though some big weaknesses keep The Lost Symbol from the acclaim Brown received for The Da Vinci Code, as an intellectual thriller, it is still a good read.

Brown knows better than to mess with a good thing. He keeps his standard thriller formula because it works for him. Brown has the ability to create vivid, startling snapshots, beginning with the severed hand standing erect under the massive dome in the U.S. Capitol. These pictures grip the reader, as they are both shocked and puzzled, and read on to hear Langdon decipher their significance.

Brown is also a master of impossible situations. Langdon and Katherine Solomon, The Lost Symbol’s version of Langdon’s beautiful, intelligent female counterpart, are always encountering unsolvable problems and inescapable circumstances. Brown does not disappoint, as their escape is always creative and dependent on the reader’s belief in the intelligence of his characters.

Ultimately, Brown’s success is dependent on his ability to balance fact and intrigue. He is only able to include hoards of research and explanation if it is balanced with a gripping plotline. Unfortunately, Brown upsets this balance at the end of the novel. The heart-pounding action is completed with 50 pages left, and the long conclusion lets the novel fall flat.

In his next venture, Brown will have to find a more intriguing premise if he wants to match his Da Vinci Code success.