Disposition
Brit Boy:
I’ve read two previous Dan Brown books both featuring his chief protagonist Robert Langdon (The Da Vinci Code & The Lost Symbol), both were a thoroughly enjoyable read, this however is my first foray into an audible version, we will see how this sits.
American Girl:
I have only read “The Da Vinci Code”, around my college years. At the time I was not an avid reader, so that novel was way out of my comfort zone. However, I do remember thoroughly enjoying it, even if I can’t remember much of the story anymore. When Brit Boy chose this selection, I was completely willing to give it a try, and relieved we can take it a bit easier with the Audible format, instead of reading the print version.
Editorial
The narration by Paul Michael really made the book for me, his acting was on point and it really made the book flow. I certainly didn’t miss reading this in the old fashioned sense, especially as it is 480-ish pages in real life, something which I don’t miss carrying around.
I agree, the narrator was great, albeit I still struggle when guy narrators have to alter their voices to sound like a female, but I think that has more to do with me adjusting to Audible in general than anything Paul Michael did wrong. It was nice to have a strong female lead in addition to Robert Langdon. It kept me continually interested in the book and gave me a character I could relate to as well.
The book took me around 3 weeks of driving to complete and never felt like a drag, I am however used to his style of writing and knew that there would be twists, turns and an awful lot of set-up.
So. Much. Set up. Within the first few chapters, a massive presentation that is supposed to question the origin of religion, doesn’t occur. Chapters and chapters later I am filled with dread that the presentation will never actually occur, that as a reader I will never get to know. As Brit Boy was much further along than me, I made him tell me if we ever get to “find out”, he assumed we would. So I continued on… At around hour 16 (it is 18 hours in length total), the presentation was finally going to be shared, with an epic countdown of 20 minutes (again with a lot of detail explaining why it was necessary to wait these 20 minutes), and it took over 90 minutes for it to finally start!!! I literally stormed into the house and announced to Brit Boy, “I don’t even care about this fucking presentation anymore, it’s been over 17 hours that I have been waiting for it.” Even after finishing the audible, I still share the same sentiment. Too much detail. Too much waiting. It was long, drawn out, and took away from the climax.
As always Brown’s attention to detail and research is unsurpassed I really felt like I was experiencing everything with Robert Langdon and I even found myself googling certain locations just to see whether real-life matched the book and my minds-eye had captured everything correctly.
The book starts off in the Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao somewhere I have never visited but will now definitely make my bucket list, coincidently The Louvre has also made this list courtesy of Mr. Brown.
These were the details in the book that I loved! Dan Brown definitely out did himself with the setting for this novel, and I am so glad Brit Boy googled this, it far surpasses anything I ever could have imagined! It really felt like the back drop of a James Bond flick, mysterious, glamorous, prestigious, dangerous. However, when Brown was describing everything from the look of a computer, a vial of dirty liquid, a pointer of a mouse, it became very tedious. If I were reading the print version I may have enjoyed it more because I could have skimmed the parts of the story that were dragging for me.
The premise and characterization as always was interesting and I thoroughly enjoyed getting caught up in another fast paced thriller with Robert Langdon, (however you have to feel sorry for the guy, he always ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time 🙂 ).
I would certainly recommend this book, and although not up there with The Da Vinci Code it is certainly worth the effort to read or listen too.
I am meh about the book. I don’t think I am the right target market for it, definitely seems more of a dude’s novel. It could make an awesome movie, something I would probably enjoy more, condensing 18 hours into a respectable 2-3 hour action flick.
Distant Bookends 