Angels and Demons (Raheem Malik) (Nate Standen)

Title: Angels and Demons

Author: Dan Brown

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group

Pages: 449

Where did you find this book?

This book was recommended to be by my brother. He had read this and The Da Vinci Code and he told me that I should read both of them.

Summary:

In this novel a professor at Harvard, Robert Langdon is called upon to help solve a murder in which the victim’s chest is branded with the word Illuminati. Langdon is an expert on the Illuminati society so he travels to Switzerland to try and solve the mystery. Langdon joins with the daughter of the victim, Vittoria Vetra as he searches for the culprit. A canister of antimatter is stolen from Vittoria’s father’s lab and it is seen on a camera which is located somewhere in the Vatican. In the Vatican all of the cardinals of the Catholic Church are deciding on who the next Pope should be. A member of the Illuminati informs Langdon that he has the four most powerful cardinals and he will murder them one by one and then allow the antimatter bomb to destroy Vatican City. From this point on Robert Langdon and Vittoria Vetra are racing against time to try and find and save the missing cardinals and to discover the whereabouts of the explosive canister of antimatter. They travel to many historic locations in the Vatican and collect more and more clues. They begin to piece together the mystery and discover the plans of the criminals. As the each of the cardinals begin to be murdered gruesomely Langdon and Vetra try hard to find clues leading them to the bomb and the evil, sadistic Illuminati.

Audience:

I think that this book is directed towards adults. It is not for younger teenagers. It is a great book for anyone that likes to read adventurous and suspenseful books.




Writing Style:

Dan Brown’s writing style in this novel is very serious. His characters are very somber and there is little humor in the book. He utilizes his broad vocabulary and varies his sentence structure often.

“Those who believe undergo great tests for God! God asked Abraham to sacrifice his child! God commanded Jesus to endure crucifixion! And so we hang the symbol of the crucifix before our eyes - bloody, painful, agonizing ­to remind us of evil's power! To keep our hearts vigilant! The scars on Jesus' body are a living reminder of the powers of darkness! My scars are a living reminder! Evil lives, but the power of God will overcome!” (Brown 348)

The way the Camerlengo speaks in this passage is very serious and heated, much like the rest of the book.

Passages:

“Faith is universal. Our specific methods for understanding it are arbitrary. Some of us pray to Jesus, some us go to Mecca, some of us study subatomic particles. In the end we are all just searching for truth, that which is greater than ourselves,” (Brown 126)

I chose this passage because I thought that it was very true. I really like the way the sentence was worded. It seems to be a very bold statement and it causes the reader to look at it again and think about it.

“Faith does not protect you. Medicine and airbags… those are things that protect you. God does not protect you. Intelligence protects you. Enlightenment. Put your faith in something with tangible results. How long has it been since someone walked on water? Modern miracles belong to science… computers, vaccines, space stations… even the divine miracle of creation. Matter from nothing… in a lab. Who needs God? No! Science is God,” (Brown 293)

This quote surprised me. The villains in the novel are extremely against the Catholic Church. They do not believe in God. Instead they believe that science is God. This made me wonder if people in the world today have the same beliefs.

“I will save your church, Father. I swear it,” (Brown 424)

Although this quote is short I thought it was very meaningful. The Camerlengo cares so much about the Catholic Church. He promises the Pope that he will do whatever it takes to save it, even if it means giving his life.




How I interacted with the book:

This is most definitely one of the best books I have ever read. Usually I hate reading but I really enjoyed this novel. Through out the book there was a battle between science and religion and I found that interesting because people in the world have similar debates. There was a lot of action and suspense in Angels and Demons. This made it very interesting. I don’t think there were any dull or boring parts in this story. The important places in the book are all real historic places which made it seem very realistic. All of the kidnapping, murder, and repeated plot twists make this book nearly impossible to dislike.

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Angels and Demons, Dan Brown, Pocket Books, 569 pp.

I found the book in my book shelf and my brother recommended it too me.

Summary: Angels and Demons is a story about a symbologist named Robert Langdon and he is summoned to a Swiss research facility to analyze a cryptic symbol seared into the chest of a murdered physicist. However, during the time of his analysis, he discovers something unimaginable. He ends up discovering a deadly vendetta against the Catholic Church by a centuries-old underground organization known as the Illuminati. Langdon is desperate to save the Vatican from a powerful time bomb, so he then joins forces in Rome with a beautiful and mysterious scientist named Vittoria Vetra. Together they embark on a frantic hunt through conserved crypts, dangerous catacombs, deserted cathedrals, and the long-forgotten Illuminati liar’s most secretive vault on earth. This book is a rough adventure for these two intelligent scientists, as they try to solve unsolved obscurities and all the secrets being held from the Illuminati.

The audience is those who enjoy mysteries that keep you thinking different elucidations to solve the secrecies that are causing dilemmas throughout the story, in which the two scientists try to solve these mysteries and find out what is being kept secret from society.

Brown enjoys making the reader think really deeply into the story. He has a very mysterious yet elegant writing that shows a lot of excitement throughout the story.

“In the obscurity of the secret archives, Langdon stood amidst shattered glass and tried to catch his breath,” (348)

Passages:
“Science tells me god must exist. My mind tells me I will never understand god. And my heart tells me I am not meant to,” (208).
This passage really shows me that life after death is a mystery and we are taught to believe a certain legend. Even the most intelligent people, such as scientist, are still unsure on what will life will really be like after death.

“The embellishments in the oblong room, though old and faded, were replete with familiar symbology. The Church of Illumination, simple and pure,” (437).
This passage was very descriptive and it really made me think about what the Illumination was keeping from the followed legend of religion. I really liked how this quote showed what type of people the Illumination might be like.

“I realize we do not have much time,” the camerlengo said, “I still ask we take a moment of prayer,” (341)
Brown is trying to show the readers how serious and close people are to religion, and even in huge crisis they always take a moment to pay their respects to the legend by praying.
My Relationship:
I really enjoyed this book; I thought it was a superb story. I’m a person that isn’t close to religion and I really don’t follow by it. Although, I do think about life after death, and what other stories of religion might be around that have never been told. This story made me realize, there are a lot of beliefs throughout society and can not be scientifically proven, we can only believe and wonder. I loved this book, from beginning to end, overall excellent book.