Book Review
Title: Origin
Author: Dan Brown
Published: 2017
Rating: 80/100
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| Dan Brown Origin Book Cover |
(Review From Goodreads)
'll start by admitting that I'm a Brownie from way back. His books are a guilty pleasure. They're the literary chocolate in the fridge that I can't help but snack on. Call Dan a hack. Call his books formulaic. Call his writing style rudimentary. That's fine. He doesn't care. I don't care. His millions of fans around the world don't care. He doesn't write books to win awards. He doesn't write books hoping they'll stack up as masterpieces when he's long dead. He writes thrillers to entertain. He wants his fans to have a bit of light good-natured fun, with hefty dollops of science and religion thrown in for good measure. Was I entertained by Origins? By the Gods, Yes. Was it bucket loads of fun? Damn straight.
Origins has all the elements of Brown's previous four 'Langdon' novels. There is nothing new here and I'm ok with that. The formula works - this is undeniable. Trademark female sidekick (Ambra Vidal)? ✓. Puzzles and codes galore? ✓. Learning about some of the world's most notable religious landmarks like you're reading from a Lonely Planet guide? ✓. Mickey Mouse watch? ✓. Over-explaining facts like Wikipedia? ✓. The Harvard symbologist Langdon (played by Tom Hanks in the movies), as a protagonist, works - this is fact. In Origins, a Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs amalgamation character, Edmond Kirsch, asks the question: "Where did we come from and where are we going?" and that's pretty much what the book is about. Kirsch, a genius at all things, has finally discovered the answer to these questions (an answer that will instantly render all of the world's religions as nothing but silly fiction) and he's about to reveal it to the world before he's assassinated. Insert Langdon and Origins kicks into gear.
Origins is great when it's shining a light on the shadowy recesses of religion. Being anti all things religion myself, I revelled in the chapters that exposed religion as nonsense, doing more harm than good. On the topic of religion, Origins is quite confronting and if you're a true believer you'll probably end up hurling the book against a wall in frustration. I like this, though, as it means the book has the power to evoke real emotions. I appreciate that Origins is powerful enough to spark water cooler conversations between believers and non-believers. Say what you will about Brown's writing ability, but igniting these difficult conversations is not an easy literary feat and he seems to do it without breaking a sweat. This tension is best summed up Langdon himself with the line: "Well, science and religion are not competitors, they’re two different languages trying to tell the same story." I tend to agree.
Who will like this book?
Anyone who likes any of Brown's earlier novels or the Langdon movie franchise.
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