Downward Dog

Without giving away the story, the subject of this particular post was the last line in Dan Brown's "Angels and Demons" - the first book in a series involving symbologist Robert Langdon.

I read "Angels and Demons" (to hereon out be referred to as AandD) with the expectation that it would far surpass "The DaVinci Code" - a book that I thoroughly enjoyed and found difficult to put down.

Everyone I talked to (or didn't talk to) commented on how much better a book AandD was than DaVinci. My boyfriend exhalted that it was a much easier and exciting read; a woman who was waiting behind me to fill up her water bottle at the fountain at the gym even mentioned in passing that it was such a good book and much better written than DaVinci. What better endorsement than by my gym-going, yoga-loving passer-by. Actually, as I finished the book I could understand why this AandD lover held the book in such high regard... read on and you'll see why.

By this stage I was about 30 chapters in and thought, "what are you people talking about?" At this stage AandD was dragging; it was paining me to read yet another chapter about antimatter and physics. Yet, being the type of person who must finish a book once she starts, I read on and on.

Luckily, much to my surprise, the book actually started to pick up! It turned into a really entertaining novel; I was reminded of how much I liked Dan Brown's writing. I got to a point where I could no longer put the book down. I was reading instead of watching TV, reading instead of playing video games, I was even reading between plays while watching the Seahawks' games! I was on a mission to finish the book by the New Year.

Unfortunately, that "resolution" didn't pan out. But I was set to finish it as early in the New Year as possible. So, last weekend I hunkered down to read the few remaining chapters. Again, I was excited, reading through and beyond the climax of the story... "just a few more pages and I'll be at the end!" An end I was eagerly anticipating, wondering how the story could be wrapped up in a few short words.

But then, as the murder mystery wound down, it turned more and more into a love story (something that those close to me know I despise). The love story became sickeningly full of flirtatious innuendoes. It appeared that I wasn't the only one having troubles predicting how the book would be summed up... apparently Dan Brown faced a similar dilemma.

I neared the last page, still heavily involved in the love affair between Robert Langdon and Vittoria Vetra. Feeling dirty and uncomfortable, I was hoping for some new plot twist to let me escape from the mushiness of it all. Then it came (pun intended), "You've never been to bed with a yoga master, have you?" Aaaaaackkkkkkk!!!!

This is the end of the book. This is the end of a book that had my imagination roaming parts of Italy I never thought to imagine? This is how all unanswered questions are going to be summed up? This is how American symbologist, knower-of-all-things-Illuminati is going to end his journey?! Blech!!!

I love the imagery that Dan Brown paints with his written word, but visualizing Vittoria Vetra's yoga moves on Robert Langdon was a visual I could have done without.

Thanks Dan.