'The Lost Symbol,' by Dan Brown

Since the theme of this book is symbols: “The Lost Symbol” < “The Da Vinci Code” < “Angels & Demons.”

Once upon a time, I fell in love with “Angels & Demons.” Encouraged, I read “The Da Vinci Code” since everyone and and their brother foamed at the mouth over it. Me? Eh, I thought it was pretty good, but it didn’t keep up the awesome of “A&D.”

I didn’t really have any expectations for “The Lost Symbol” because of how “DVC” let me down, but I was hoping to enjoy it.

I did. Honestly, I did.

But.

There was just too much symbolism. The whole novel was one explanation after another – be it an image or a metaphor. The novel was constantly explaining the meaning of things, and I don’t think Dan Brown developed the actual storyline as much as he could. I skimmed through a lot of pages just to get past them and get back to the story.

Another letdown was the end. The “shocking twist” at the end was predictable, and I kept hoping for something more that would take me by surprise, but it never happened.

So what did I enjoy?

I loved learning more about Washington, D.C. and the sites there. Brown described so many new details about familiar buildings and also introduced me to many new sites I had no clue about. I stopped reading several times to search a piece of art or building online because only reading about it wasn’t good enough – Brown made the sites so enticing!

I was also thrilled with the information on the Masons. I was impressed by Brown’s description of their beliefs Brown regarding a higher power and found they run fairly parallel to my own.

Up next: “Looking for Alaska,” by John Green