1.06.2010

Lost Symbol


I think someone already posted on this one, so here's my two cents.

Did I tell you that after reading The DaVinci Code, the roommate of a good friend left the [Mormon] Church because he thought that what the story told had to be true....? Pretty sad, huh? And obviously, his testimony of the Church was not strong prior to reading the book. But some authors do have a way with telling a story.

I like Dan Brown's writing. I think he is creative in his stories. I do not believe he is teaching gospel (of any religion) doctrine. I think he is just good at creating an intriguing, fictitious story. He does do a great job of researching his subject. He is great at taking you a on a tour of Rome, of DC, etc. He does present a lot of historical truths, but he also takes advantage of his right to artistic license and twists truths to tell his story.

As with his other books, I finished this one in two days (wow, I miss having afternoons and weekends free from studying.) He keeps me going, tags me along, makes me want to keep reading. I'm not bothered by his presenting controversial ideas as absolute truths. Believe what you want, I know what I believe, and I enjoy a good story.

Angels and Demons is still my favorite Dan Brown book, but I liked this one too.

(Another book that I finished this week was The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - but I think that's been reviewed by lots of people, so I'll just agree and say I liked it too. I don't think any of us have disliked it.)

2 comments:

Gina said...

That's sad about your friend who left the church. My hubby loves these books, but one problem he has about them is that they could put doubt about God in someone. I like to put it this way: Dan Brown mingles fact with fiction. Which is something similar to how Satan works; mingling fallacies with scripture.

After my hubby read The Lost Symbol he was kind of frustrated with it for the same reason. Though he said some true things about our religion, he also said things that were fiction. To the untrained reader, as it were, they just might combine the two.

For this reason, we suggested my little brother, who is struggling with the church and who he is as it is, NOT read these books.

Does anyone else feel the same way?

Gina said...

Apparently not. :)