Book Review: Origin By Dan Brown
Written by Afreen Shanavas, a grade 11 student.
This is just a desperate attempt to put into words, a review of an awe-inspiring book. I wouldn’t say it’s a must-read because it’s not everyone who can appreciate or even comply with the nonconformist ideologies that it dictates…
Written by Afreen Shanavas, a grade 11 student
This is just a desperate attempt to put into words, a review of an awe-inspiring book. I wouldn’t say it’s a must-read because it’s not everyone who can appreciate or even comply with the nonconformist ideologies that it dictates. Can’t blame them so; it is not their fault. The brain likes to hear what it wants to hear.
Dan Brown, again, utilizes his subtle tactic of writing the story from the perspective of different characters, which, consequently, gives it the exact feeling of watching a movie. But it’s not just that; it is the quickening pace, both of the storyline and our hearts, the diction and the description.
The Origin delves right into the situation, not compelling us to appreciate how beautiful the sunset is before getting into action. Right from the beginning, we are hooked up, never to unhook until the last word.
People all over the world, including protagonist Robert Langdon, are anxiously waiting to watch an exclusive event at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, headed by futurist Edmond Kirsch, which would answer two of the most raging questions on existentialism: Where do we come from? Where are we going?
The lecture, however, is interrupted by the assassination of Edmond Kirsch, by a former naval admiral Luis Ávila.
Langdon, inadvertently, is plunged into a perilous quest to unlock a cryptic password, along with Ambra Vidal, the curator and the fiancée of the future king of Spain, aided by Winston, an artificial intelligence system, who throughout the journey serves as a right-hand man, guiding them effortlessly through all the wondrous creations of an enigmatic Edmond.
In a euphoric moment, the rest of the presentation is broadcast to the entire world, which reveals the origin of life as well as our ultimate fate. The Miller-Urey experiment is further stimulated using nucleotides and with the aid of E-Wave, which can digitally speed forward time, he recreated a hypothetical moment of abiogenesis, corroborating the absence of a Creator.
Despite the blasphemous content, the presentation envisions an idyllic utopian future that would thrive on technology and modernism.
In a flabbergasting revelation, Winston discloses himself as Edmond’s murderer citing he would have wanted it that way, as it would increase the number of viewers, before self-deleting himself.
Amidst all the chaos that ensued, Langdon returns to Sagrada Família, where he mingles with people of different races and religions, affirming that nature was once at the core.
The debate between science and religion has never been so well articulated. After all, science and religion are not competitors, they’re two different languages trying to tell the same story. There’s room in this world for both.
Comments
Great summary but I disagree with your understanding that the book represented the argument between religion and science and am baffled by the conclusion that the book offers hope to the reconciliation of the two
Of course it represented the argument between religion and science. You would know it if you’ve read the book. The ending does provide a hopeful future. Robert Langdon and countless others, though aware of the revelation, still visit Sagrada Familia.