The Lost Symbol Audible – Abridged

The Lost Symbol Audible – Abridged dged
Author: Dan Brown ID: B002P9T8C0

The Lost Symbol, the stunning follow-up to The Da Vinci Code, is a masterstroke of storytelling – a deadly race through a real-world labyrinth of codes and unseen truths…all under the watchful eye of a terrifying villain. Set within the unseen tunnels and temples of Washington, D.C., The Lost Symbol accelerates through a startling landscape toward an unthinkable finale.Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned to deliver an evening lecture in the U.S. Capitol. Within minutes of his arrival, the night takes a bizarre turn. A disturbing object – artfully encoded with five ancient symbols – is discovered in the Capitol Building. The object is an ancient invitation, meant to usher its recipient into a long-lost world of hidden esoteric wisdom. And when Langdon’s mentor Peter Solomon – prominent Mason and philanthropist – is kidnapped, Langdon’s only hope of saving Peter is to accept this invitation and follow wherever it leads him. Langdon finds himself plunged into a clandestine world of Masonic secrets, hidden history, and never-before-seen locations…all of which seem to be dragging him toward a single, inconceivable truth.The Lost Symbol is exactly what Dan Brown’s fans have been waiting for…his most thrilling novel yet.
Done.
Audible Audio EditionListening Length: 6 hours and 24 minutesProgram Type: AudiobookVersion: AbridgedPublisher: Random House AudioAudible.com Release Date: September 15, 2009Language: EnglishID: B002P9T8C0 Best Sellers Rank: #49459 in Books > Audible Audiobooks
I want to be fair to Dan Brown.

Elitist literary critics say that Brown is not a good writer, and that his stories are bland. I personally think that if you manage to genuinely entertain and awe your audiences, then you have accomplished something worthy of reading. I also think that "The Da Vinci Code" was nearly an impossible act to follow. People will have all sorts of crazy expectations for your next book that you won’t be able to fulfill. As such, I write this review as fair as I can, trying to assess it on its own merits, but comparisons are inevitable.

The Lost Symbol isn’t a bad book, but it is a letdown. I didn’t like this one for the same reason I didn’t like Angels and Demons as much. Also, Brown doesn’t advance the story at a good pace. A good two-thirds of the book (I’m not exaggerating, I counted the pages) was filled with variations on such a scene:

Character A: Have you heard of X?
Character B (usually Langdon): Yes, but I thought that was just a myth.
Character A shows or tells B something.
Character B reacts with shock.
Then, insert scenes of people walking from one place to another, being chased.
Then, insert the sentence "Suddenly everything made sense." At least for the next ten pages.
Repeat.

After reading this, I had to wonder whether Brown is a writer on Lost, where people can’t seem to give straight answers, and where scenes never resolve any questions.

Here’s my advice to Dan Brown:

1. Fire your editor. There were some whole passages, even chapters, that served no purpose other than to inflate your book to an unnecessary size. I don’t mind reading big books, but I do mind reading through unnecessary words. Ch. 69, for example, is unnecessary.
A quick note on the ranking: I hold 5-star ratings in reserve for the best of the best. The previous Robert Langdon books I would rate at about 4 stars for being fun reads but nothing that would resemble a literary masterpiece. I enjoyed this book significantly less than the other two, hence the two stars.

‘The Lost Symbol’ is not a bad book. While it would certainly rank it 3rd amongst the three Robert Langdon novels it is still an amusing read. I forgive Brown for his weak writing style and I accept that he writes characters that are fairly two-dimensional with little personality outside of that which pertains explicitly to the story. I accept that this novel was going to have the exact same story structure and characters as the previous two. I accept that the relationships between people will be odd. I accept that most chapters will end with a variation on his cheap cliffhanger "And then Robert couldn’t believe what he saw!" I accept all that. And yet, even with all those concessions, this one just left me flat.

When it comes to the writing style I’m not entirely sure if I should be blaming Brown or his editor (or, potentially, his lack thereof-which I guess would be blaming him). The style, while simple, could easily be smoothed out with an editor who was given some room to work. What hurts his prose is repetition of words and phrases over and over and over and over-often on the same page.

Sure, the story structure is an identical match to the first two with all the same types of characters and twists. But here’s the issue, this time is just doesn’t work like it did before. Here’s why:

1. Robert Langdon is officially a moron: He spends more time being lectured to and making wrong guesses than he does solving anything.
Have to agree with many of the posters here. Too many cliched characters: the diminutive Japanese CIA lady straight out of "The Incredibles"; the tatooed protagonist just the albino from DVC in reverse; the evil Turkish prison guard from "Midnight Express," the wise religious man who sees with his hands…I could go on and on. Forget the so-called science. You can see the plot twists coming a mile away. Is there ANYONE who didn’t know the true identity of the villain immediately? Or the location where it would all end? Or what was inside the box Langdon was given? But I think when it got to the "drowning" scene, I lost it completely. I simply could not believe he would re-create a scene from a 20-year-old movie.

What hasn’t been mentioned here is the absolute idiocy of the characters’ behavior. A brilliant scientist lets a stranger into her secret lab because she receives a TEXT message? Who wouldn’t question that? By her own admission, her brother didn’t even know how to text! The use of phone messages throughout is maddening. A major CIA director hears someone saying, "I’ll be there in 20 minutes" and never questions that he might be lying? Langdon flies off at a moment’s notice without any confirmation that the person he’s speaking to represents the person he says he does? And SURE, I’ll bring along this sacred thing that I’ve been told to keep hidden for years just because you say so! DB keeps using this same device over and over and it simply defies all sense. "Oh, well, this person says he’s my brother’s doctor–my brother who’s been MISSING–so, sure, I’ll just run right over there and have a chat with him." In a private home that looks nothing like a doctor’s office. "Sure, I’ll have some tea!
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