Book Review : Origin

Origin… another from the pen of Dan Brown. Wish I could be as excited about reviewing this one; truth be told, even after reading it, I have precious little confirmed idea or thought as to what to write about this book. I am taking it as it goes, writing in one flow; letting my instinct rule. The book has both good points and bad points; but being a Dan Brown fan, I was disappointed. This is not one of his best works, nowhere near it… the book is well written and all the rest of it; but it lacks his usual panache. I cant put it any better than that… I rate is 2 stars overall, not more.

THE BOOK

The book is about a crackpot eccentric scientisty type person who believes God does not exist; and has the skills and the intellect to put up a theory behind it. That doesn’t make him a crackpot, by the way; his eccentricities do. The person is eccentric in the extreme, which is a different and interesting characeterisation. He conjures a theory which apparently he manages to prove that God does not exist in reality, and decides to announce to the whole world in one televised live address, replete with fanfare, and the proper buildup.

Queering the plot is his decision to first show this to some eminent personnages from the pre-eminent {Western – but of course, this is novel written by a Westerner} religions. He also, for some reason, calls in Robert Langdon for the fanfare, and gives him special treatment. So far, so good. What is not so good is the building threat to his life as someone is determined to kill him, apparently to stop the release of the theory. Further queering the plot is the presence of Artifical Intelligence; this same scientisty type has also invented a cyber human, a cyber programme that is all to human, who subsequently assists Langdon and the Queen to be of Spain to reveal the scientisty secret.

THE ANALYSIS

Blunt : I am not impressed with this work, though in all fairness, as a work of fiction, it does have redeeming qualities. Fair is fair, credit where credit is due. On the positive side, we have a novel of breathtaking speed intermixed with slow deliberate sections with the skill of a master, which we all know Dan Drown to be. If you can ignore the significant downsides of the novel, this can be rated 4 stars with consummate ease. It is a reasonably fast paced novel. It also has pull – I concede that without reservation. Despite and notwithstanding my rating of 2 stars and criticism, this is a novel that you will find extremely hard to put down once you start on it.

The negatives  are several, and I could ignore them if they were limited to societal and religious bias, or even the improbability of the concept, but there were two problems that are central to Fiction as a genre. The character of Robert Langdon does not seem to be in keeping with the character map I had in my mind from the previous novels of this series. That is a significant departure; one of the reasons is the hazy and diverse plotline, which did not allow Langdon to develop fully.

The plotline was confused to say the least, at times not requiring the central character. This is more a book of the AI – Science - Religious debate than a thriller. Saying more would be categorised as a spoiler; so just let me stop at that; I have given enough hints of what I think.  The story digresses far from its premise at multiple points, and frankly requires familiarity of the underlying culture, going into reams upon reams of descriptive details of art, beyond what was done earlier. It also wastes massive space in a very intricate and extensively criticism of Religions in general, a section that raises hackles, to be frank

The third negative, to me the most important, was the description of Hinduism, which seemed horribly cliched, inaccurate and drips with Western Bias, and a very offensive bias at that. Now I grant that may have been used for effect; it is only a few sentences, that is all. But the way it has been presented leaves a completely inaccurate picture in the Western mind. The book castigates Religion – it should have said Abrahaminic Religions, for the central thesis is “Origin”, which is a factor only in Abrahaminic Religions. In Hinduism, there is no origin point, and time is considered a continuum, which destroys the entire concept presented in the novel. The author has no understanding of my religion, and it shows.

CONCLUSION

Thus, to summarise, there are significant plot holes as enumerated in the criticism, as well as cultural insensitivity towards the East. Given that Colonialism died nearly 80 years ago, high time The West got off its high horse, and makes an effort to understand us from The East. Do these weaknesses serve to lessen your enjoyment of the novel? For the most part, no. They manifest themselves in the closing {the plot holes, that is – cultural insensitivity is only in a very short few sentences split in 2 or 3 places}; where the novel loses its pull and you begin skipping pages. But as it stands, it is a good read, though tedious at times, and is worth a read for Dan Brown fans. For others, your call.