The Black Sheep and The Lost Symbol
Did I write a review of the Lost Symbol? I can't remember. I don't think I did.
Review might be too kind a word. Short, blatant criticism may be a more apt description.
Here goes. The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown continues the adventures of symbologist Robert Langdon- except it doesn't. The book spends the vast majority of it's time switching between three POV's; which isn't unusual for Brown. Most of his books allow the reader to get inside the heads of both heroes and villains, and even the occasional side character. What sets this novel apart? Probably the fact that ninety nine point nine nine nine percent of it is dedicated like some sort of love sonnet to a secondary character (not even a love interest!), Katherine Solomon. Langdon's sole act it seems was to naysay his way through pretty much every aspect of their adventure in a show of support for his friend/snide academic disagreement with everything. Not only did I find his lack of voice obnoxious, but I thought he was entirely out of character with the tolerant academic of his previous books. Actually, I disliked The DaVinci Code as well, so really I'm just going off Angels and Demons.
As if the characterization gone asunder wasn't enough, the entire message of the book (human conscientiousness striving as one to achieve a goal can actually fulfill that goal) wasn't pulled off well. I've read novels where 'noetic science' managed to come off as convincing, and this one just didn't do ANYTHING for me. I did feel that perhaps Brown attempting to contrast science and religion once more here was a major mistake. In Angels and Demons, the contrast lie between science and Christianity. Here, Brown tried to contrast science and all religions, yet his go to faith was again, Christianity (or at least two of the big three- Christianity and Judaism). I think if he wanted to truly get the message across, he needed to use equal parts the big three (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam- which all spring from Zoroastrianism which is still a pertinent religion, so including it wouldn't have been amiss), Hinduism, and Buddhism. Just working with one kind of threw me.
Really, I was just bored. Bored, bored, bashing my head into the wall bored. For the first time ever, I put a book down two pages before the end and didn't pick it up again for a month afterwards. Shame, Dan Brown. One star out of five.
Next we have The Black Sheep, which is by two authors whose names I don't recall right now. Usually two author books tend to be schizo, but this one was surprisingly...well edited. This isn't to say I liked the book. If it was a movie; bravo, brava. As a book, I don't know.
The premise: Kendra Bishop mistakenly signs herself up for a reality TV show called The Black Sheep. She's shipped out to Monterey, CA from NYC to live with a surprisingly eccentric family who just so happens to have a hot hot son and blah blah blah.
The scoop: The characters in this thing were surprisingly well rounded for what I'd first taken to be a bit of fun summer reading (I picked it up in August and only just got around to it). Usually chick lit fluff doesn't give a lot of attention to side characters, but there were at least ten other characters in the book who were given...well, not a ton of attention, but more than they get in most books of the same genre. The one character I had the biggest beef with was...well, Kendra. This might have something to do with my disliking the name Kendra. I don't know why or how, but for some reason I find it hard to empathize with someone named that. I thought it was interesting how she had the potential to be a huge pushover, naiive, stupid, etc, but she managed to kind of stumble into these situations and handle them well. That was kind of the problem- she handled them better than I thought she should have and still got put down again and again. In her thoughts, she was naiive. And trust me, the girl had a lot of thoughts. She was strong, intelligent, but still kind of innocent, and I think that the banter didn't reflect that innocence at all. When you combine that with all her well meaning intentions falling short over and over and over again until the end- the suspense literally killed me. The girl needed a break once or twice, and the authors just never gave it to her until the happily ever after bit, which took too damn long.
Also, that bitch Maya (the girl she traded houses with) needed to get what was coming to her and never did. Also annoying.
I'll give it a two point five out of five.
I'm now considering whether to read something out of the massive pile I've got waiting for me (I never let books build up like this, I've no idea why I've been so brain dead this year) or to reread something silly and fun. Decisions, decisions.
Review might be too kind a word. Short, blatant criticism may be a more apt description.
Here goes. The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown continues the adventures of symbologist Robert Langdon- except it doesn't. The book spends the vast majority of it's time switching between three POV's; which isn't unusual for Brown. Most of his books allow the reader to get inside the heads of both heroes and villains, and even the occasional side character. What sets this novel apart? Probably the fact that ninety nine point nine nine nine percent of it is dedicated like some sort of love sonnet to a secondary character (not even a love interest!), Katherine Solomon. Langdon's sole act it seems was to naysay his way through pretty much every aspect of their adventure in a show of support for his friend/snide academic disagreement with everything. Not only did I find his lack of voice obnoxious, but I thought he was entirely out of character with the tolerant academic of his previous books. Actually, I disliked The DaVinci Code as well, so really I'm just going off Angels and Demons.
As if the characterization gone asunder wasn't enough, the entire message of the book (human conscientiousness striving as one to achieve a goal can actually fulfill that goal) wasn't pulled off well. I've read novels where 'noetic science' managed to come off as convincing, and this one just didn't do ANYTHING for me. I did feel that perhaps Brown attempting to contrast science and religion once more here was a major mistake. In Angels and Demons, the contrast lie between science and Christianity. Here, Brown tried to contrast science and all religions, yet his go to faith was again, Christianity (or at least two of the big three- Christianity and Judaism). I think if he wanted to truly get the message across, he needed to use equal parts the big three (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam- which all spring from Zoroastrianism which is still a pertinent religion, so including it wouldn't have been amiss), Hinduism, and Buddhism. Just working with one kind of threw me.
Really, I was just bored. Bored, bored, bashing my head into the wall bored. For the first time ever, I put a book down two pages before the end and didn't pick it up again for a month afterwards. Shame, Dan Brown. One star out of five.
Next we have The Black Sheep, which is by two authors whose names I don't recall right now. Usually two author books tend to be schizo, but this one was surprisingly...well edited. This isn't to say I liked the book. If it was a movie; bravo, brava. As a book, I don't know.
The premise: Kendra Bishop mistakenly signs herself up for a reality TV show called The Black Sheep. She's shipped out to Monterey, CA from NYC to live with a surprisingly eccentric family who just so happens to have a hot hot son and blah blah blah.
The scoop: The characters in this thing were surprisingly well rounded for what I'd first taken to be a bit of fun summer reading (I picked it up in August and only just got around to it). Usually chick lit fluff doesn't give a lot of attention to side characters, but there were at least ten other characters in the book who were given...well, not a ton of attention, but more than they get in most books of the same genre. The one character I had the biggest beef with was...well, Kendra. This might have something to do with my disliking the name Kendra. I don't know why or how, but for some reason I find it hard to empathize with someone named that. I thought it was interesting how she had the potential to be a huge pushover, naiive, stupid, etc, but she managed to kind of stumble into these situations and handle them well. That was kind of the problem- she handled them better than I thought she should have and still got put down again and again. In her thoughts, she was naiive. And trust me, the girl had a lot of thoughts. She was strong, intelligent, but still kind of innocent, and I think that the banter didn't reflect that innocence at all. When you combine that with all her well meaning intentions falling short over and over and over again until the end- the suspense literally killed me. The girl needed a break once or twice, and the authors just never gave it to her until the happily ever after bit, which took too damn long.
Also, that bitch Maya (the girl she traded houses with) needed to get what was coming to her and never did. Also annoying.
I'll give it a two point five out of five.
I'm now considering whether to read something out of the massive pile I've got waiting for me (I never let books build up like this, I've no idea why I've been so brain dead this year) or to reread something silly and fun. Decisions, decisions.