General information
The book Angels and Demons was written by American bestseller author Dan Brown. The book was first published in 2000 by Pocket Books, part of the Simon and Schuster publishing company located in New York City. The number of pages in my pocket version is 567. A notable remark is the use of an ambigram on the books cover. The title is written in such a way that it doesn’t only spell out in its form as presented, but also in another direction or orientation. (See front page). Dan Brown dedicates his book to his wife, as the first page reads nothing more than for Blythe.
First impression
I did not really find this book, I had it on my shelf already for a year and had read it several times before though never used it for a book report, so it saw this as a good opportunity to do so. However when I bought the book a long time ago, I did have expectations from it. I bought the book because I had earlier bought Dan Browns first novel, Digital Fortress. I was very satisfied after I finished that book and so decided to read his second novel as well. I expected this book to have the same sort of tension as there was in Digital Fortress, and presumed it to be a page-turner. Besides that I had heard from other people that it was a good book. And as I have a big interest in history and art and heard this book was all about it, another reason was thought up to read this book. After having finished Angels and Demons I really thought that I had lived up to the expectations I had beforehand. The book was absolutely a page-turner as I finished it in less than 4 days and all that was said by other about the book was true. I simply loved the fact that Brown uses so much historical descriptions and locations in his book and keeping it intense at the same time. One of the main reasons for that is also the historical accuracy. As I had not read Browns third novel at that time, The Da Vinci Code, I considered Angels and Demons the best book I had read in my life so far.
Contents and Technique
Summary
Angels and Demons starts with a prologue in an unknown location, and features two yet unknown characters: physicist Leonardo Vetra and an intruder. The story really starts and we are moved to a Victorian styled house in Massachusetts. We learn that the person living there is Robert Langdon, a professor of iconology at the University of Harvard. Langdon receives a call from Max Kohler, a renowned physicist at CERN, worlds biggest research faculty in Switzerland. Kohler wants Langdon to come to Switzerland right away for reason he does not yet wishes to mention. At first, Langdon denies his request, but later receives an image showing a body branded with the word Illuminati. As a renowned specialist on Iconology Langdon knows what this means and that business is serious and decides to take Kohlers call. He tells Langdon of the murder of one of CERNs most renowned scientists. Langdon agrees to come and leaves.
The scene switches from Langdon to two men, Vetra’s murderer and his assigner. The murderer seems to have stolen something, yet what is unclear.
Langdon arrives at the airport and thinks he’s about to fly to Geneva, in New York State. However the pilot tells him that they are going to Geneva in Switzerland, after which Langdon thinks he’s joking. The pilot however is not and tells Langdon to buckle up for a Mach 15 flight of 1 hour across half the world.
For the second time we are moved from Langdon to the assassin, who is somewhere in the streets of Europe. We learn more about the mysterious Illuminati brotherhood and the man who assigned the assassin with his task. Besides this we learn more about the profession and history of assassins.
Langdon arrives at CERN and examinates the body of Vetra together with Kohler. Kohler is told all about the history of the Illuminati brotherhood and about famous members of its long history. Kohler is surprised to hear all details. After a while, we again switch to the assassin who is about to have sex with a prostitute, which he calls his reward for his killing.
A security guard somewhere on the globe, presumably Italy, sees something on a monitor. Later this appears to be the antimatter canister.
Langdon meets Vittoria, Vetra’s adopted daughter who personally feels involved and joins in. it appears that the project of her and her father was developing anti-matter, a highly sensitive piece of technology weighing of 0.25 grams, which has the power of an atom bomb when it touches any matter. Since everything on earth is made of matter, the antimatter is kept in a canister with a strong magnetic field around it keeping it safe. This canister appears to have been stolen by the assassin. The protagonists find out that is has been transported to Vatican City, but were in the city is unknown. The problem is now that the canister is out of electric supply the magnetic field will only last for 24 more hours. Thus, they travel to Italy.
In Italy it appears that the papal conclave has convened since the last Pope had passes away, the man responsible for the election of a new Pope finds out that the 4 top candidates for the position of Pope are missing. Langdon and Vittoria go and look for them with help of the late pope’s chamberlain and the Swiss Guard.
After a long way and struggle along the path of Illumination, in which Langdon is almost killed twice, Swiss guard captain Olivetti is killed, and all 4 Preferiti are killed (favoured cardinals), and Vittoria is almost raped, the assassin is also killed. Langdon and Vittoria go back to St. Peter’s Cathedral to try and find the canister but think it’s a chanceless mission. However then the chamberlain says to have received a vision from God and all of a sudden knows where it is. They find the canister however they are too late to go back to CERN to deactivate it. As a last ditch effort the chamberlain and Langdon take the canister into the air by helicopter. The couple both jumps out, and Langdon miraculously survives without a real parachute. All are reunited in the basilica later on were a long and hard discussion takes place on the things happened before. Kohler dies here. The truth is discovered, and it appears the chamberlain has been responsible for a lot including the death of the late Pope. As he later learns it was his own father he killed, and burns himself on top of the cathedral.
The next day, Cardinal Mortati is voted new Pope. Peace returns, and Robert and Vittoria start enjoying a nice holiday in Roma together, which ends up with them starting to make love.
Main characters
The protagonist character of the book is obviously Robert Langdon, a professor at Harvard University teaching Iconology. We learn that Langdon has written 3 books on this subject and that Langdon is one of the most renowned researchers on iconology worldwide, the reason for Max Kohler to call for his assistance. Besides details on his physical appearance and some other information about for example, we do not learn very much about Langdon. What we do learn is that he is quite a big guy (approx. 6 feet tall) and that he is a swimmer. His nickname is the dolphin. Langdons main concern is to find the path of illumination, find the missing antimatter and thereby rescue Vatican City and the foundations of Christianity. Langdon seems to be a simple man from the outside, almost friendly to everybody. Langdon is obviously obsessed by history, art and iconology. He and Vittoria develop a relationship, which in the end of the book has them end up together in bed about to make love. They appear to have fallen in love.
The other main character of the book is murdered Leonardo Vetra’s very own daughter Vittoria. Vittoria appears to be a physicist too, and she was closely involved in her father’s work of developing anti-matter, a weapon usable for mass destruction. Vetra has somewhat Italian looks, though she is not hot as hell. Her main interest is the same as that of Langdon: preventing the city to be destroyed. In some way she also wishes to avenge her father. Langdon tends to think she has somewhat of a ‘raw sensuality’, and develops and interest in her. We also learn that Vittoria practises yoga, which Langdon is going to experience in the end of the book.
A less prominent though not unimportant character is the (H)assassin. He is the killer of Vetra and the kidnapper of the 4 cardinals running for the position of Pope. He is the one who stole the deadly antimatter. He is also the killer of the commander of the Swiss Royal Guard, Olivetti. The assassins main target is killing the cardinals as assigned by the brotherhood, and thereby indirectly destroy Vatican City. He is a very strong man, and a trained killer. He had nearly raped Vittoria, but this is denied by Langdon. After almost killing Langdon, Vittoria and Langdon work together and push him over a balcony causing his death.
The character I liked most is Robert Langdon. This not only because he is the story’s protagonist, but also because I like his personality and ingenuity. Langdon seems to have a solution to everything. Also, as a fan of art and history I like his knowledge on these subjects.
The character I liked least is Maximillian Kohler. I like to see Kohler as an old grumpy bastard, not showing any emotions at all and he appears to be just thinking about himself in the first place. A bitter man merely devoted to science and casted into a wheelchair in a horrible way, however what must be said is that I do like Kohler’s geniality as he did find out that the camerlengo was actually Janus, the assassin’s assigner.
Narrative space
The main events of this book take in Vatican City, Italy. Most locations are historical and are precisely and accurately described. The story starts in the USA in Massachusetts, and there are also scenes which take place in Geneva, Switzerland. The use of narrative space is of importance to the books people and plot. For example Langdon and Vetra have to save the city by following the path of Illumination. Now this path is a route trough ancient Vatican City and the way these locations are described are thus of relevant importance as they make the reader more part of the story and letting the reader understand it better. It lets the story live as if you’re part of it. Besides that it is nice to read as well.
Time frame
The story takes place in the present, in approximately 24 hours. The time frame is in my opinion not too important though it is important to the story’s plot, as the protagonist have to find the antimatter within less than 24 hours. The time progression in the story is the same as it is normal: time passes by as usual, and as just said the entire story takes about 24 hours to last. The story is told chronologically. The story has an open ending, as it ends with the two main characters start having sexual intercourse. This could mean that they develop a relationship which might continue (in another sequel perhaps) later on. And as we know now the ending of the book is not the ending of the character Langdon as he reappears in the da Vinci Code. And in that book Vittoria is also mentioned, so that also suggests that Angels and Demons has an open ending.
Point of view
The story is told by an all-knowing narrator, who can as you will look into the heads of all characters. For example there is a lot of use of phrases like Langdon thought … and Vittoria was wondering…etc. He knows all about the characters and what’s going on in their life, and we are told about their pasts and backgrounds too. This point is absolutely reliable. As we see different matters and situations from different perspectives we as readers are able to form an opinion ourselves and are thus not saddled up with someone else’s perhaps bias opinion. So in conclusion are also not manipulated by this point of view. It is very clever that the writer chose for this point of view as the reader gets a complete overview of the story instead of seeing it through the eyes of merely one character.
Style
Though the book uses difficult words in several parts of the book, the overall level of vocabulary is rather plain and simple. Honestly, the most difficult word I came across was the abbreviation CERN - Switzerland’s Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire. Besides that some difficult words are used to relate to history, art and science (especially to the last mentioned). There is a lot of use of dialogue in this story and these conversations are generally quite interesting as they define and make the plot of the story often clearer. The book is divided into chapters. Notable is the protagonist change in every chapter, as is usual in Dan Browns books.
Theme(s)
The main theme of the story is the fight or argue between the church and the Illuminati, so the dispute between religion and science which over time has appeared to be never ending. In the book there might be a breakthrough, as Leonardo Vetra tried to bring the two closer together by showing his findings. However due to him being killed and his project and invention stolen, there now literally a bomb under the foundations of Christianity: a bomb underneath the Vatican threatening to destroy everything in an 800 meter radius.
A good quotation to show the twist between church and science is one by the camerlengo saying: ‘the work of god is not done in a laboratory, but in the heart.’ or ‘Does the church needs to invest in something threatening to make church superfluous?’ Personally I believe that the author treats the main theme in some way that he kind of favours the scientific side more than the religious side. The main themes relation to the title is as follows. In order to save the Vatican (and thereby save the foundations of Christianity thus saving faith) the protagonists have to follow the path of Illumination which is a mysterious route across ancient Vatican city, taking the across religious places featuring angels, demons, medieval mysteries and rituals, sort of set up by former Illuminati mastermind and leader Gian Lorenzo Bernini. I cannot really think up or haven’t read any book which features a theme like this. Though there might be a film with the same theme, of course, the film version of the book, likely to premiere somewhere in 2009.
Literary history
Dan Brown was born and raised in Exeter, New Hampshire, USA, the eldest of three children. His mother Constance (Connie) was a professional musician, playing organ at church. Brown's father Richard G. Brown was a prominent mathematics teacher, writing textbooks and teaching high school mathematics at Phillips Exeter Academy from 1968 until his retirement in 1982.
Phillips Exeter Academy is an exclusive boarding school, which requires new teachers to live on campus for ten years, so Brown and his siblings were raised at the school. His own schooling was at public schools in Exeter until the 9th grade, at which time he enrolled in Phillips Exeter (Class of 1982), as did his younger siblings Valerie (1985) and Gregory (1993).
After graduating from Phillips Exeter in 1982, Brown attended Amherst College, where he was a member of Psi Upsilon fraternity. He played squash and sang in the Amherst Glee Club, and was a writing student of novelist Alan Lelchuk. Brown graduated from Amherst with a double major in Spanish and English in 1986.
In 1991 he moved to Hollywood to pursue a career as singer-songwriter and pianist. To support himself, he taught classes at Beverly Hills Preparatory School.
While in Los Angeles he joined the National Academy of Songwriters, and participated in many of its events. It was there that he met Blythe Newlon, a woman 12 years his senior, who was the Academy's Director of Artist Development. Though not officially part of her job, she took on the seemingly unusual task of helping to promote Brown's projects; she wrote press releases, set up promotional events, and put him in contact with individuals who could be helpful to his career. She and Brown also developed a personal relationship, though this was not known to all of their associates until 1993, when Brown moved back to New Hampshire, and it was learned that Blythe would accompany him. They married in 1997.
In 1996, Brown quit teaching to become a full-time writer. Digital Fortress was published in 1998. Blythe did much of the book's promotion, writing press releases, booking Brown on talk shows, and setting up press interviews. A few months later, Brown and his wife released The Bald Book, another humour book. It was officially credited to his wife, though a representative of the publisher said that it was primarily written by Brown.
Brown's first three novels had little success, with fewer than 10,000 copies in each of their first printings; but the fourth novel, The Da Vinci Code, became a runaway bestseller, going to the top of the New York Times Best Seller list during its first week of release in 2003. It is now credited with being one of the most popular books of all time, with 60.5 million copies sold worldwide as of 2006. [7] Its success has helped push sales of Brown's earlier books. In 2004, all four of his novels were on the New York Times list in the same week, [citation needed] and in 2005, he made Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people of the year. Forbes magazine placed Brown at #12 on their 2005 "Celebrity 100" list, and estimated his annual income at US$76.5 million. The Times estimated his income from 'Da Vinci Code' sales as $250 million.
Characters in Brown's books are often named after real people in his life. Robert Langdon is named after John Langdon, the artist who created the ambigrams used for the Angels & Demons CD and novel. Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca is named after "On A Claire Day" cartoonist friend Carla Ventresca. In the Vatican Archives, Langdon recalls a wedding of two people named Dick and Connie, which are the names of his parents. Robert Langdon's editor Jonas Faukman, is named after Brown's real life editor Jason Kaufman. Brown also said that characters were based on a New Hampshire librarian, and a French teacher at Exeter.
Literary History
* Digital Fortress, 1998
* Angels & Demons, 2000
* Deception Point, 2001
* The Da Vinci Code, 2003
* The Solomon Key, in development, will possibly be published in 2008
Sources
Dan Brown – Angels and Demons
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Brown
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angels_%26_Demons
http://www.danbrown.com/novels/angels_demons/reviews1.html
Own knowledge
Reading experience
The general feeling I had during this book I that I wanted to continue reading. As said before, this book is a real page turner. When the story starts getting boring, there is new action input which immediately focuses your attention on the book again. The part which impressed me most was actually already the beginning of the book: the prologue. This because the prologue doesn’t say a lot but lets you suggest a lot, making you wonder about the motives for the murder for example. There are a lot of other examples such as that one, so you can just guess about what happened. After all you find out what actually happened and it’s always fun to see whether you were wrong or right. Parts of the book which I find less successful are descriptions of several locations which are not interesting. For example descriptions as the one of Vetra’s lab: boring and it doesn’t really add something to the story. There are lots of descriptions, most of them interesting telling about history and art, but some of them also really boring telling about irrelevant cases. If I wouldn’t have read all of Browns books already I would for sure read his other ones because they’re always full of tension, detail, and overall are very intriguing. I’m definitely planning on buying Browns newest book the Solomon Key as soon as it is published. It would for sure advise this book to other, for the same reasons I’ve read it. Those reasons are mentioned a few lines above here.
The book Angels and Demons was written by American bestseller author Dan Brown. The book was first published in 2000 by Pocket Books, part of the Simon and Schuster publishing company located in New York City. The number of pages in my pocket version is 567. A notable remark is the use of an ambigram on the books cover. The title is written in such a way that it doesn’t only spell out in its form as presented, but also in another direction or orientation. (See front page). Dan Brown dedicates his book to his wife, as the first page reads nothing more than for Blythe.
First impression
I did not really find this book, I had it on my shelf already for a year and had read it several times before though never used it for a book report, so it saw this as a good opportunity to do so. However when I bought the book a long time ago, I did have expectations from it. I bought the book because I had earlier bought Dan Browns first novel, Digital Fortress. I was very satisfied after I finished that book and so decided to read his second novel as well. I expected this book to have the same sort of tension as there was in Digital Fortress, and presumed it to be a page-turner. Besides that I had heard from other people that it was a good book. And as I have a big interest in history and art and heard this book was all about it, another reason was thought up to read this book. After having finished Angels and Demons I really thought that I had lived up to the expectations I had beforehand. The book was absolutely a page-turner as I finished it in less than 4 days and all that was said by other about the book was true. I simply loved the fact that Brown uses so much historical descriptions and locations in his book and keeping it intense at the same time. One of the main reasons for that is also the historical accuracy. As I had not read Browns third novel at that time, The Da Vinci Code, I considered Angels and Demons the best book I had read in my life so far.
Summary
Angels and Demons starts with a prologue in an unknown location, and features two yet unknown characters: physicist Leonardo Vetra and an intruder. The story really starts and we are moved to a Victorian styled house in Massachusetts. We learn that the person living there is Robert Langdon, a professor of iconology at the University of Harvard. Langdon receives a call from Max Kohler, a renowned physicist at CERN, worlds biggest research faculty in Switzerland. Kohler wants Langdon to come to Switzerland right away for reason he does not yet wishes to mention. At first, Langdon denies his request, but later receives an image showing a body branded with the word Illuminati. As a renowned specialist on Iconology Langdon knows what this means and that business is serious and decides to take Kohlers call. He tells Langdon of the murder of one of CERNs most renowned scientists. Langdon agrees to come and leaves.
The scene switches from Langdon to two men, Vetra’s murderer and his assigner. The murderer seems to have stolen something, yet what is unclear.
Langdon arrives at the airport and thinks he’s about to fly to Geneva, in New York State. However the pilot tells him that they are going to Geneva in Switzerland, after which Langdon thinks he’s joking. The pilot however is not and tells Langdon to buckle up for a Mach 15 flight of 1 hour across half the world.
For the second time we are moved from Langdon to the assassin, who is somewhere in the streets of Europe. We learn more about the mysterious Illuminati brotherhood and the man who assigned the assassin with his task. Besides this we learn more about the profession and history of assassins.
Langdon arrives at CERN and examinates the body of Vetra together with Kohler. Kohler is told all about the history of the Illuminati brotherhood and about famous members of its long history. Kohler is surprised to hear all details. After a while, we again switch to the assassin who is about to have sex with a prostitute, which he calls his reward for his killing.
A security guard somewhere on the globe, presumably Italy, sees something on a monitor. Later this appears to be the antimatter canister.
Langdon meets Vittoria, Vetra’s adopted daughter who personally feels involved and joins in. it appears that the project of her and her father was developing anti-matter, a highly sensitive piece of technology weighing of 0.25 grams, which has the power of an atom bomb when it touches any matter. Since everything on earth is made of matter, the antimatter is kept in a canister with a strong magnetic field around it keeping it safe. This canister appears to have been stolen by the assassin. The protagonists find out that is has been transported to Vatican City, but were in the city is unknown. The problem is now that the canister is out of electric supply the magnetic field will only last for 24 more hours. Thus, they travel to Italy.
In Italy it appears that the papal conclave has convened since the last Pope had passes away, the man responsible for the election of a new Pope finds out that the 4 top candidates for the position of Pope are missing. Langdon and Vittoria go and look for them with help of the late pope’s chamberlain and the Swiss Guard.
The next day, Cardinal Mortati is voted new Pope. Peace returns, and Robert and Vittoria start enjoying a nice holiday in Roma together, which ends up with them starting to make love.
Main characters
The protagonist character of the book is obviously Robert Langdon, a professor at Harvard University teaching Iconology. We learn that Langdon has written 3 books on this subject and that Langdon is one of the most renowned researchers on iconology worldwide, the reason for Max Kohler to call for his assistance. Besides details on his physical appearance and some other information about for example, we do not learn very much about Langdon. What we do learn is that he is quite a big guy (approx. 6 feet tall) and that he is a swimmer. His nickname is the dolphin. Langdons main concern is to find the path of illumination, find the missing antimatter and thereby rescue Vatican City and the foundations of Christianity. Langdon seems to be a simple man from the outside, almost friendly to everybody. Langdon is obviously obsessed by history, art and iconology. He and Vittoria develop a relationship, which in the end of the book has them end up together in bed about to make love. They appear to have fallen in love.
The other main character of the book is murdered Leonardo Vetra’s very own daughter Vittoria. Vittoria appears to be a physicist too, and she was closely involved in her father’s work of developing anti-matter, a weapon usable for mass destruction. Vetra has somewhat Italian looks, though she is not hot as hell. Her main interest is the same as that of Langdon: preventing the city to be destroyed. In some way she also wishes to avenge her father. Langdon tends to think she has somewhat of a ‘raw sensuality’, and develops and interest in her. We also learn that Vittoria practises yoga, which Langdon is going to experience in the end of the book.
A less prominent though not unimportant character is the (H)assassin. He is the killer of Vetra and the kidnapper of the 4 cardinals running for the position of Pope. He is the one who stole the deadly antimatter. He is also the killer of the commander of the Swiss Royal Guard, Olivetti. The assassins main target is killing the cardinals as assigned by the brotherhood, and thereby indirectly destroy Vatican City. He is a very strong man, and a trained killer. He had nearly raped Vittoria, but this is denied by Langdon. After almost killing Langdon, Vittoria and Langdon work together and push him over a balcony causing his death.
The character I liked most is Robert Langdon. This not only because he is the story’s protagonist, but also because I like his personality and ingenuity. Langdon seems to have a solution to everything. Also, as a fan of art and history I like his knowledge on these subjects.
The character I liked least is Maximillian Kohler. I like to see Kohler as an old grumpy bastard, not showing any emotions at all and he appears to be just thinking about himself in the first place. A bitter man merely devoted to science and casted into a wheelchair in a horrible way, however what must be said is that I do like Kohler’s geniality as he did find out that the camerlengo was actually Janus, the assassin’s assigner.
Narrative space
The main events of this book take in Vatican City, Italy. Most locations are historical and are precisely and accurately described. The story starts in the USA in Massachusetts, and there are also scenes which take place in Geneva, Switzerland. The use of narrative space is of importance to the books people and plot. For example Langdon and Vetra have to save the city by following the path of Illumination. Now this path is a route trough ancient Vatican City and the way these locations are described are thus of relevant importance as they make the reader more part of the story and letting the reader understand it better. It lets the story live as if you’re part of it. Besides that it is nice to read as well.
The story takes place in the present, in approximately 24 hours. The time frame is in my opinion not too important though it is important to the story’s plot, as the protagonist have to find the antimatter within less than 24 hours. The time progression in the story is the same as it is normal: time passes by as usual, and as just said the entire story takes about 24 hours to last. The story is told chronologically. The story has an open ending, as it ends with the two main characters start having sexual intercourse. This could mean that they develop a relationship which might continue (in another sequel perhaps) later on. And as we know now the ending of the book is not the ending of the character Langdon as he reappears in the da Vinci Code. And in that book Vittoria is also mentioned, so that also suggests that Angels and Demons has an open ending.
Point of view
The story is told by an all-knowing narrator, who can as you will look into the heads of all characters. For example there is a lot of use of phrases like Langdon thought … and Vittoria was wondering…etc. He knows all about the characters and what’s going on in their life, and we are told about their pasts and backgrounds too. This point is absolutely reliable. As we see different matters and situations from different perspectives we as readers are able to form an opinion ourselves and are thus not saddled up with someone else’s perhaps bias opinion. So in conclusion are also not manipulated by this point of view. It is very clever that the writer chose for this point of view as the reader gets a complete overview of the story instead of seeing it through the eyes of merely one character.
Style
Though the book uses difficult words in several parts of the book, the overall level of vocabulary is rather plain and simple. Honestly, the most difficult word I came across was the abbreviation CERN - Switzerland’s Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire. Besides that some difficult words are used to relate to history, art and science (especially to the last mentioned). There is a lot of use of dialogue in this story and these conversations are generally quite interesting as they define and make the plot of the story often clearer. The book is divided into chapters. Notable is the protagonist change in every chapter, as is usual in Dan Browns books.
Theme(s)
The main theme of the story is the fight or argue between the church and the Illuminati, so the dispute between religion and science which over time has appeared to be never ending. In the book there might be a breakthrough, as Leonardo Vetra tried to bring the two closer together by showing his findings. However due to him being killed and his project and invention stolen, there now literally a bomb under the foundations of Christianity: a bomb underneath the Vatican threatening to destroy everything in an 800 meter radius.
A good quotation to show the twist between church and science is one by the camerlengo saying: ‘the work of god is not done in a laboratory, but in the heart.’ or ‘Does the church needs to invest in something threatening to make church superfluous?’ Personally I believe that the author treats the main theme in some way that he kind of favours the scientific side more than the religious side. The main themes relation to the title is as follows. In order to save the Vatican (and thereby save the foundations of Christianity thus saving faith) the protagonists have to follow the path of Illumination which is a mysterious route across ancient Vatican city, taking the across religious places featuring angels, demons, medieval mysteries and rituals, sort of set up by former Illuminati mastermind and leader Gian Lorenzo Bernini. I cannot really think up or haven’t read any book which features a theme like this. Though there might be a film with the same theme, of course, the film version of the book, likely to premiere somewhere in 2009.
Dan Brown was born and raised in Exeter, New Hampshire, USA, the eldest of three children. His mother Constance (Connie) was a professional musician, playing organ at church. Brown's father Richard G. Brown was a prominent mathematics teacher, writing textbooks and teaching high school mathematics at Phillips Exeter Academy from 1968 until his retirement in 1982.
Phillips Exeter Academy is an exclusive boarding school, which requires new teachers to live on campus for ten years, so Brown and his siblings were raised at the school. His own schooling was at public schools in Exeter until the 9th grade, at which time he enrolled in Phillips Exeter (Class of 1982), as did his younger siblings Valerie (1985) and Gregory (1993).
After graduating from Phillips Exeter in 1982, Brown attended Amherst College, where he was a member of Psi Upsilon fraternity. He played squash and sang in the Amherst Glee Club, and was a writing student of novelist Alan Lelchuk. Brown graduated from Amherst with a double major in Spanish and English in 1986.
In 1991 he moved to Hollywood to pursue a career as singer-songwriter and pianist. To support himself, he taught classes at Beverly Hills Preparatory School.
While in Los Angeles he joined the National Academy of Songwriters, and participated in many of its events. It was there that he met Blythe Newlon, a woman 12 years his senior, who was the Academy's Director of Artist Development. Though not officially part of her job, she took on the seemingly unusual task of helping to promote Brown's projects; she wrote press releases, set up promotional events, and put him in contact with individuals who could be helpful to his career. She and Brown also developed a personal relationship, though this was not known to all of their associates until 1993, when Brown moved back to New Hampshire, and it was learned that Blythe would accompany him. They married in 1997.
In 1996, Brown quit teaching to become a full-time writer. Digital Fortress was published in 1998. Blythe did much of the book's promotion, writing press releases, booking Brown on talk shows, and setting up press interviews. A few months later, Brown and his wife released The Bald Book, another humour book. It was officially credited to his wife, though a representative of the publisher said that it was primarily written by Brown.
Brown's first three novels had little success, with fewer than 10,000 copies in each of their first printings; but the fourth novel, The Da Vinci Code, became a runaway bestseller, going to the top of the New York Times Best Seller list during its first week of release in 2003. It is now credited with being one of the most popular books of all time, with 60.5 million copies sold worldwide as of 2006. [7] Its success has helped push sales of Brown's earlier books. In 2004, all four of his novels were on the New York Times list in the same week, [citation needed] and in 2005, he made Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people of the year. Forbes magazine placed Brown at #12 on their 2005 "Celebrity 100" list, and estimated his annual income at US$76.5 million. The Times estimated his income from 'Da Vinci Code' sales as $250 million.
Characters in Brown's books are often named after real people in his life. Robert Langdon is named after John Langdon, the artist who created the ambigrams used for the Angels & Demons CD and novel. Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca is named after "On A Claire Day" cartoonist friend Carla Ventresca. In the Vatican Archives, Langdon recalls a wedding of two people named Dick and Connie, which are the names of his parents. Robert Langdon's editor Jonas Faukman, is named after Brown's real life editor Jason Kaufman. Brown also said that characters were based on a New Hampshire librarian, and a French teacher at Exeter.
* Digital Fortress, 1998
* Angels & Demons, 2000
* Deception Point, 2001
* The Da Vinci Code, 2003
* The Solomon Key, in development, will possibly be published in 2008
Sources
Dan Brown – Angels and Demons
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Brown
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angels_%26_Demons
http://www.danbrown.com/novels/angels_demons/reviews1.html
Own knowledge
Reading experience
The general feeling I had during this book I that I wanted to continue reading. As said before, this book is a real page turner. When the story starts getting boring, there is new action input which immediately focuses your attention on the book again. The part which impressed me most was actually already the beginning of the book: the prologue. This because the prologue doesn’t say a lot but lets you suggest a lot, making you wonder about the motives for the murder for example. There are a lot of other examples such as that one, so you can just guess about what happened. After all you find out what actually happened and it’s always fun to see whether you were wrong or right. Parts of the book which I find less successful are descriptions of several locations which are not interesting. For example descriptions as the one of Vetra’s lab: boring and it doesn’t really add something to the story. There are lots of descriptions, most of them interesting telling about history and art, but some of them also really boring telling about irrelevant cases. If I wouldn’t have read all of Browns books already I would for sure read his other ones because they’re always full of tension, detail, and overall are very intriguing. I’m definitely planning on buying Browns newest book the Solomon Key as soon as it is published. It would for sure advise this book to other, for the same reasons I’ve read it. Those reasons are mentioned a few lines above here.
REACTIES
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