The Lost Symbol Drinking Game
Originally published at Elizabeth Genco. You can comment here or there.
The day after Christmas, I happily engaged in what can arguably be considered a new American holiday tradition: reading a Dan Brown novel in one sitting. My good friend Ron gave me a copy of The Lost Symbol back when he gifted me with The Red Book, and it’s been sitting on the stack ever since, taunting me.
I’ll admit that I wanted to like it, and I wasn’t disappointed. You can go all “You’re no William Faulkner!” on Dan Brown all you want, but he’s not trying to be Faulkner (as he admits himself right here) and I have to give him a lot of credit for crafting a fairly complex story/puzzle-line wherein I found myself deliberately suspending disbelief, oh, maybe one time.
I know some peeps’ jaws will drop at that - Wiersema, I’m lookin’ at you! - and that’s fair, but what can I say… I haven’t read Red Dragon and I will totally admit that I have a tendency to want to fall into a story trance, especially when I’m favorably predisposed, so it takes a lot to shake me out of it.
(Did I mention that I didn’t see the ending of The Sixth Sense coming either? *laugh*)
And it will come as no surprise that the Ancient Mysteries thing gets bonus points with me, as did the Divine Feminine/Sacred Marriage thing in the last go-round. Regardless of whether the guy set out to sell 80 frillion books or not, I don’t know anyone else who has done quite as much to shine a light on certain unfairly maligned spiritual traditions I could name. Nor could I find any glaring philosophical errors (as opposed to nitpicking, which I have no interest in), and believe me, I looked. I can see why Mitch really liked it.
Anyway. None of that is to say that the book is without its flaws, of course. For example, every 30 pages or so I found myself thinking of Star Trek, of all things. Why, you ask?
“My God!”
[...]
My God…
[...]
“My GOD NO!”
“You know what this means,” said Leland, after I shouted “My GOD MAN!” for the zillionth time, somewhere around page 350. (Yes, I talk back to authors in the margins of my books, too.)
“What’s that?”
“Drinking game.”
I’ve never been much of a drinker, but I have to admit, the idea amuses me. So without further ado, here it is…
The Lost Symbol Drinking Game (Respectable Lightweight’s version)
(Please allow 3 hours for this game.)
1. Pour yourself a glass of your favorite libation. (I suggest a nice Riesling, cider, or high-end scotch, or of course you can go with a nice tall glass of Paisano if you’re my mom.)
2. Settle in with Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol.
3. When you come across either the following, take a sip. (Hey, this is a family blog.)
- “What the hell?!”
- “My God!” (and its derivatives)
4. Optional: Shout out “My God Man!” in your best McCoy voice every time you come across the phrase “My God”
Please drink responsibly.
