Sunday, March 07, 2010
Brownout
In the category of things I should be ashamed to admit, I am reading The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown. As my more loyal readers (if any are still at large) may recall, I found The Da Vinci Code to be a bit of a hoot, largely because I enjoy unnecessary adjectives and I favor ridiculousness in all of its many forms. The Lost Symbol, unfortunately, is just as badly written but not nearly as entertaining. I'm about halfway through and so far it's mostly just been (spoiler alert!) walking and talking. I suppose there's also been driving and riding, but come on! By this point in Code we had already had about sixteen improbable plot twists. It's almost like he's not even trying.
There is some hilarity to be had, though, I suppose. Dan Brown has an unnerving habit of continually referring to the races of characters, as though we won't be able to tell them apart if we're not constantly reminded which one is the "elegant African-American." He also continues his glorious tradition of hectoring his audience about being respectful of crazy conspiracy theories, which are probably why they bought the book in the first place. And there are lots of fun internal inconsistencies, such as when he announces that a character "looks startled for the first time all night" a mere four chapters after having her "exchange a startled look" with another character. Mad props on that one, Doubleday editorial staff. Are you really that afraid of Dan Brown?
Anyway, it's terrible, and I can't wait to finish it. I'm reading Lauren Conrad's book next.
In the category of things I should be ashamed to admit, I am reading The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown. As my more loyal readers (if any are still at large) may recall, I found The Da Vinci Code to be a bit of a hoot, largely because I enjoy unnecessary adjectives and I favor ridiculousness in all of its many forms. The Lost Symbol, unfortunately, is just as badly written but not nearly as entertaining. I'm about halfway through and so far it's mostly just been (spoiler alert!) walking and talking. I suppose there's also been driving and riding, but come on! By this point in Code we had already had about sixteen improbable plot twists. It's almost like he's not even trying.
There is some hilarity to be had, though, I suppose. Dan Brown has an unnerving habit of continually referring to the races of characters, as though we won't be able to tell them apart if we're not constantly reminded which one is the "elegant African-American." He also continues his glorious tradition of hectoring his audience about being respectful of crazy conspiracy theories, which are probably why they bought the book in the first place. And there are lots of fun internal inconsistencies, such as when he announces that a character "looks startled for the first time all night" a mere four chapters after having her "exchange a startled look" with another character. Mad props on that one, Doubleday editorial staff. Are you really that afraid of Dan Brown?
Anyway, it's terrible, and I can't wait to finish it. I'm reading Lauren Conrad's book next.
