Scan barcode
A review by themrbook
Inferno by Dan Brown
3.0
Another fast-paced read from Dan Brown. Brown seems to be one of those lightning-rods where you love him or hate him, for whatever reasons. As for me, I enjoy his books, and "Inferno" was enjoyable for me. Two aspects of his books that I could never tire of: getting his characters out of seemingly impossible, dead-end situations, and learning a great deal.
Dan Brown's masterpiece is Robert Langdon. Langdon is an almost stereotypical college professor. He has a little Indiana Jones to make him unique enough from the average prof. And in this read, Langdon does his professorial best in Florence, Venice, and Istanbul. It's amazing how he manages to get away from pursuers, especially considering his pursuers in this novel are highly trained foot soldiers with large quantities of assets at their disposal. It seems one of Brown's underlying messages involves brains outwitting brawn, in a general sense at least. Langdon's eidetic memory and unsurpassed knowledge in all things art history and symbology make him a formidable foe or priceless ally, depending on if you're a good guy or a bad one.
Which brings me to the educational aspect of "Inferno" and Brown's other works. A lot of it may seem trivial or arbitrary, but a great deal of the information passed along to readers remains impactful to this day in explaining the importance of buildings and locations, how traditions and customs have come to be, and even explaining why the words and images we use every day are integral to an important past. History, art, linguistics, literature, architecture, religion, symbology, cultural studies, politics, etc etc. are explained in nearly every chapter, if not close to every page. I particularly enjoy "The Divine Comedy," so I couldn't help but be enthralled by all the Dante Alighieri data inserted throughout the book. You can feel smart after reading "Inferno" with all the information that gets inputted in your head. After reading this book, I want to go listen to certain pieces of music, visit some places, and read specific books, mentioned in its pages.
The pace, as always, is relentless, and the pieces of the plot fall together in a piecemeal fashion similar to a Tarantino movie. While the characters are memorable for their unique physical and mental traits, they can feel a little canned and stretched. And Brown's world-perspective articulated via his characters can be disagreeable (stay away from politics and religion unless you want to indulge in heady dialogues after all, Mr. Brown) and far-fetched, but that is to be expected from any artistic endeavor, and so should be looked upon with affability.
You've done another fine job, Mr. Brown, and I look forward to your next work. And to future readers, after reading this book, you should read "Young Michelangelo", by John T. Spike; it is an enthralling, well-researched book on Michelangelo and the Italian Renaissance world in which he lived and labored.
Dan Brown's masterpiece is Robert Langdon. Langdon is an almost stereotypical college professor. He has a little Indiana Jones to make him unique enough from the average prof. And in this read, Langdon does his professorial best in Florence, Venice, and Istanbul. It's amazing how he manages to get away from pursuers, especially considering his pursuers in this novel are highly trained foot soldiers with large quantities of assets at their disposal. It seems one of Brown's underlying messages involves brains outwitting brawn, in a general sense at least. Langdon's eidetic memory and unsurpassed knowledge in all things art history and symbology make him a formidable foe or priceless ally, depending on if you're a good guy or a bad one.
Which brings me to the educational aspect of "Inferno" and Brown's other works. A lot of it may seem trivial or arbitrary, but a great deal of the information passed along to readers remains impactful to this day in explaining the importance of buildings and locations, how traditions and customs have come to be, and even explaining why the words and images we use every day are integral to an important past. History, art, linguistics, literature, architecture, religion, symbology, cultural studies, politics, etc etc. are explained in nearly every chapter, if not close to every page. I particularly enjoy "The Divine Comedy," so I couldn't help but be enthralled by all the Dante Alighieri data inserted throughout the book. You can feel smart after reading "Inferno" with all the information that gets inputted in your head. After reading this book, I want to go listen to certain pieces of music, visit some places, and read specific books, mentioned in its pages.
The pace, as always, is relentless, and the pieces of the plot fall together in a piecemeal fashion similar to a Tarantino movie. While the characters are memorable for their unique physical and mental traits, they can feel a little canned and stretched. And Brown's world-perspective articulated via his characters can be disagreeable (stay away from politics and religion unless you want to indulge in heady dialogues after all, Mr. Brown) and far-fetched, but that is to be expected from any artistic endeavor, and so should be looked upon with affability.
You've done another fine job, Mr. Brown, and I look forward to your next work. And to future readers, after reading this book, you should read "Young Michelangelo", by John T. Spike; it is an enthralling, well-researched book on Michelangelo and the Italian Renaissance world in which he lived and labored.