What is it about a great conspiracy theory that grabs our imagination, I wondered for the umpteenth time as I flipped another page in Dan Brown's latest novel, The Lost Symbol.
My hot-off-the-press copy of the book arrived from Amazon on its release date, September 15. Seems like I've been waiting years for this book to hit the store shelves. Oh, wait—I have been waiting years for this book to hit the store shelves!
Well, actually, I've been waiting years for a book called "The Solomon Key." I'm not sure what prompted Dan Brown to change the title of his latest effort, but it had originally been slated for release in 2005. I have my own theory as to why the substantial delays kept us on the edge of our seats in anticipation, though I figure there was hardly a conspiracy at hand beyond hyping that anticipation.
The movie, "National Treasure," hit the theaters in November, 2004. I suspect the movie plot, focusing on the Freemasons, was just similar enough that Dan Brown had to reconstruct major elements of his story to prevent fresh accusations of plagiarism. By 2006, he was deeply embroiled in litigation over the plot in The Da Vinci Code, as authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail (1982, non-fiction) claimed he'd stolen the premise for his runaway bestseller from their book.
At the time, I thought the whole lawsuit was a farce. IMHO, that would be like Physicist Stephen Hawking suing someone for writing a sci-fi thriller where the lead character is sucked into a super-massive black hole and reemerges in a parallel universe. People write plausible fiction based on non-fiction research all the time. That's a large part of what gives an interesting story credibility.
Anyhoooo...I've been enjoying the new book, although I've not had a lot of free time for reading. That's okay. It encourages me to savor the experience like fine wine—sip by sip.
I poo-poo critics who blast Dan Brown's writing style as "sophomoric." I don't believe extraordinary technical precision is requisite to wonderful storytelling. (And I do believe I smell sour grapes, don't you?) Dan Brown has obviously invested a lot of time and effort thoroughly researching his subject, and Harvard Symbologist, Robert Langdon, is still a very appealing character.
Now, I only hope we don't have to wait five years for the movie.
— Robin
My hot-off-the-press copy of the book arrived from Amazon on its release date, September 15. Seems like I've been waiting years for this book to hit the store shelves. Oh, wait—I have been waiting years for this book to hit the store shelves!
Well, actually, I've been waiting years for a book called "The Solomon Key." I'm not sure what prompted Dan Brown to change the title of his latest effort, but it had originally been slated for release in 2005. I have my own theory as to why the substantial delays kept us on the edge of our seats in anticipation, though I figure there was hardly a conspiracy at hand beyond hyping that anticipation.
The movie, "National Treasure," hit the theaters in November, 2004. I suspect the movie plot, focusing on the Freemasons, was just similar enough that Dan Brown had to reconstruct major elements of his story to prevent fresh accusations of plagiarism. By 2006, he was deeply embroiled in litigation over the plot in The Da Vinci Code, as authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail (1982, non-fiction) claimed he'd stolen the premise for his runaway bestseller from their book.
At the time, I thought the whole lawsuit was a farce. IMHO, that would be like Physicist Stephen Hawking suing someone for writing a sci-fi thriller where the lead character is sucked into a super-massive black hole and reemerges in a parallel universe. People write plausible fiction based on non-fiction research all the time. That's a large part of what gives an interesting story credibility.
Anyhoooo...I've been enjoying the new book, although I've not had a lot of free time for reading. That's okay. It encourages me to savor the experience like fine wine—sip by sip.
I poo-poo critics who blast Dan Brown's writing style as "sophomoric." I don't believe extraordinary technical precision is requisite to wonderful storytelling. (And I do believe I smell sour grapes, don't you?) Dan Brown has obviously invested a lot of time and effort thoroughly researching his subject, and Harvard Symbologist, Robert Langdon, is still a very appealing character.
Now, I only hope we don't have to wait five years for the movie.
— Robin
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