Critical Reading Dan Brown

Biography of the Author: Dan Brown who is renowned all over the world for his bestselling novels, was born on 22nd June, 1964. He was the eldest of three children and was raised in in Exeter, New Hampshire. He did his schooling from Phillips Exeter Academy, which was considered to be a highly exclusive. His father was a mathematics instructor at the same school. His mother on the other hand was a music professor; Brown's interest in secrets and puzzles stems from their presence in his household as a child. He spent hours working out anagrams and crossword puzzles, and he and his siblings participated in treasure hunts devised by their father on birthdays and holidays. After graduating from school, Brown then went to Amherst College to obtain a degree in English and Spanish. Brown spent his last school year abroad in Spain, where he was enrolled in an art history course at the University of Seville. Brown graduated from Amherst in 1986 He then later spent several years trying to get himself established as a singer, songwriter and pianist, but unfortunately wasn’t very successful.

Musical Career

Brown created sound effects with a synthesizer, and selfproducing a children's cassette entitled Synth Animals; it sold a few hundred copies. • In 1990 self-published a CD entitled Perspective • In 1991 he moved to Hollywood to pursue a career as singersongwriter and pianist. • In 1993, Brown released the self-titled CD Dan Brown. • In 1994, Brown released a CD titled Angels & Demons. Its artwork was the same ambigram, which he later used for the novel Angels & Demons.

Writing Career Reading the novel ‘The Doomsday Conspiracy’ by Sidney Sheldon, changed the course of Dan Brown’s life completely he was inspired by the writing style and the efficiency with which the storyline was dealt with, Brown resorted to switching to a writing career. To pursue writing professionally, Brown started working on ‘Digital Fortress’, his first thrilled-based novel. He quit teaching in 1996. Two years later, in 1998 ‘Digital Fortress’ was released. Following years, in 2000 and 2001, Brown released his next two books ‘Deception Point and ‘angels and demons’. It was Brown’s fourth novel, The Da Vinci Code’ that unleashed the success story of the author to never-experienced-before heights.

This novel not only outdid its predecessors, but went on to feature at the topmost position in the New York Times Best Seller list during its first week of release in 2003. It sold 81 million copies worldwide. The novel was so successful that it pushed sales of Brown's earlier books as well. In 2004, all four of his books featured on the New York Times list in the same week. Like in ‘Angels & Demons’ and ‘The Da Vinci Code’, Robert Langdon was the central character for Brown’s next novel as well, ‘The Lost Symbol’. Published in 2009, the book sold over one million in the U.S., the U.K. and Canada, and 5 million overall Released in 2013, ‘Inferno’ is the latest book from Dan Brown. Like its predecessors, the book also has Robert Langdon as the protagonist. ‘Inferno’ raced to the top spot at the book charts in the US and the UK, selling 580,000 copies in its first two weeks alone. Even though “The Da Vinci Code” was the book that really raised him to success, my favorite one from Dan Brown’s collection is “Angels and Demons”. This was the first book that he released where he introduced the character of Robert Langdon.

Plot summary of angels and demons Despite his notorious relationship with the Roman Catholic church, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is once again called upon to decipher the clues to a catastrophic conspiracy. The Pope has

died. So now After his death , the conclave has gathered in a locked room to choose his successor among four cardinals designated to take his place. However the cardinals are abducted by the Illuminati, a secret brotherhood that was supposed to be extinct. Robert Langdon and the scientist Vittoria Vetra, who had her powerful and dangerous prototype of the antimatter research stolen, are invited by the Vatican police to help them in their investigations. They are received by the Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca. They are informed that the Illuminati has threatened to kill each of the cardinals every hour from 8:00 PM and then blow up Vatican City with the stolen antimatter. Robert and Vittoria have a few hours to unravel the clues and discover where the lethal weapon might be hidden. SETTING: There are two major settings in the novel. 1. The first is the Vatican and its surrounding sites of Catholic worship in Rome. It also discusses tombs, paintings, structures and sculptures. 2. The second is CERN, a scientific counterpoint to the Vatican. Located in Geneva, Switzerland, CERN is ultramodern and filled with world-class minds and gleaming technological artifacts that extend its reach around the world (such as the Internet, which it had a hand in creating). Themes

Angels and Demons is built around a number of paired/opposed forces that wind through the novel Science Versus Faith Passionate Devotion Versus Obsession Good versus Evil Deception versus Honesty Vengeance Versus Forgiveness Life and Death

Character of Robert Langdon Robert, the main protagonist of the novel is a fictional Harvard University professor of religious iconology and symbology (a fictional field related to the study of historic symbols,. The character was created by Dan Brown himself for the novels and later movies, Angels & Demons (2000), The Da Vinci Code (2003) and The Lost Symbol (2009). Robert Langdon was named after John Langdon, a professor of typography at Drexel University who is known for his creation of ambigrams that can be read in multiple ways; for example, both right side up and upside down. An example of Langdons ambigrams appeared on the cover of the first edition of Browns

novel Angels & Demons. On the acknowledgments page, Brown calls Langdon one of the most ingenious and gifted artists alive who rose brilliantly to my impossible challenge and created the ambigrams for this novel. Tom Hanks portrayed Robert Langdon in the 2006 film adaptation of The Da Vinci Code, and angels and demons and will reprise the role in the upcoming the lost symbol .

RESPONSE OF THE AUDIENCE Pros 

'Angels and Demons' is a fast paced page turner.

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The mix of religious and historical elements adds a unique twist to the mystery.

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Brown provides plenty of surprises.

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Cons 

If you are put off by graphic violence, some descriptions may bother you.

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The religious elements might offend some people, especially Catholics.

Writer’s main purpose The main purpose of the author to write such a story seems as if he is trying to coincide the ends of Science and Religion, which most of the times is thought to be a distance apart.. In the book there might be a breakthrough, as Leonardo Vetra tried to bring the two closer together by showing his findings. The main objective that author wants to achieve is he is trying to tell a new way how to balance between both of these important things. He also gives a notion to the readers that Science never confronts religion rather it reinforces its ideas. He is of the view that Science itself is not bad at all, but how it is used makes the difference. So is the case with religion.

Conclusion Dan Brown is one of the best writers of the 21 century. In spite of some critics, people like his books, because they are full of adventures, mysteries, secrets which take us far from our reality . You will find it very difficult to put his books down, because they are so very compelling. Even if you haven’t read his books before, I hope that now you will be glad to start reading them.