Sofa Spotlight - The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown

Hardback books are not my favourite books to read because they are a bit unwieldy. But having done battle to just hold the book, the size of which would have made an effect door stop, I even managed to finish it. There were points when I didn't think I would, and the surprising thing is that the closer I got to the end the more I wanted to give up.

Why? Because I got bored. This book does contain a fast storyline and it does keep you guessing, but I felt that there were a few interruptions that slowed everything down. 

It's typical Brown. There is a race against time and lots of secrets that some people people want to reveal and that other people want to conceal. The secrets in this one belong to the Freemasons. You want to keep reading because you want to know if Langdon can break the code to save his friend. And you also want to know what motives the other parties involved have. I have to admit that Brown has painted a good villain. By that I mean he is the kind that you love to hate. With some twists towards the end, the book does keep you on the edge of your seat.

But then there are moments when you could fall off your seat with boredom (or at least I could). And it is the main character Langdon that seems to slow everything down. Everytime he opens his mouth I can feel the urge to skim over his bit, to the action on the other side. I think that what may have happened is that you as the reader need to know certain information in order to understand the unfolding drama, and so you get it from the symbologist, Langdon, who knows it all. I could be wrong, maybe what he had to say was interesting and important for narrative flow. But for me it just made me want to switch off. 

The worst example of this came at the end. As you draw towards the resolution of the crisis you can feel the pressure lifting and I could also feel the desire to read on lifting too. With the drama done, I nearly gave up as there were more explanations that didn't interest me that much. To be fair, when I read this part of the novel I was very tired, and as I hadn't paid much attention to the details Langdon had given earlier on in the book, most of it was lost on me. 

So, overall there were parts that were really good, but also parts that I didn't find interesting. I enjoyed the action but not the philosophy, history or symbology. Which is odd for me, I often find that stuff interesting. Maybe it just wasn't presented in a way that appealed to me.  

Have you read it? What did you think? Am I wrong, did I miss something? I'm open to having my mind changed, and maybe even giving it a second chance...