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Inferno (2013) is a breathless race-against-time thriller by America’s renowned author Dan Brown. Dan Brown was born in a family of three, brought up by a great mathematics teacher and a church organist, his parents in New Hampshire, USA. Brown was raised on a prep school campus where he developed a fascination for science and religion which paved way for the art of writing as these themes eventually formed the backdrop for his books. He is a graduate of Amherst College and Philips Exeter academy.
Dan Brown is the of “The Da Vinci code,” one of the most widely read novels of all time, as well as two other international best sellers featuring Harvard symbologist, Robert Langdon, “The lost symbol” and “Angels and demons”.
He lives in New England with his wife, Blythe. “Inferno” is the underworld as described in Dante Alighieri’s epic poem “the divine comedy”, which portrays hell as an elaborately structured realm populated by souls trapped between life and death.
All artwork, literature, science, and historical references in this novel are real emphasizing Brown’s intelligence in which way he relates these true facts to his thriller that will grab you from page one and not let you go until you’re done with the book! The book opens with the suicide of famous genetic engineer Bertrand Zobrist, a scientific genius who jumps to his death from a historical building in Florence.
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After a few days, eminent Harvard Symbologist, Robert Langdon awakes in a hospital bed in Florence, with mild amnesia, no recollection of where he is or how he got there.
A killer immediately breaks in the hospital to finish him, and Langdon escapes with the enigmatic doctor Sienna Brooks with whom he solves hidden mysteries, connecting the dots of symbology, just in the nick of time to ward off an apocalypse plotted by crazed men.
The story is all about Langdon unravelling a mystery, as Elizabeth Sinskey, The head of the World Health Organization hires Langdon to find Zobrist's virus. The only hint is a high-tech biohazard container, and inside, an optical device that projects the “Map of Hell” – Botticelli’s Abyss of Hell, inspired by Dante’s Divine Comedy.
Swiss Billionaire transhumanist, Dante fanatic, and genetic research genius Bertrand Zobrist, is said to have had the mind of a futurist, eyes that could see down the road in ways few others could even imagine. He had created an apparently deadly plague to be released the very next day as he was obsessed with the global population explosion. The story gradually triggers the hyper button of the reader by questioning if Robert Langdon and his saviour, the attractive young blonde genius Dr. Sienna Brooks find the location and stop Zobrist’s plan to release the virus before it is too late?
As usual Brown’s hero, Langdon has to decipher various clues, codes, and cryptic symbols to find the location where Zobrist had planned to release his deadly disease. “Dearest God, I pray Mankind will understand the gift I leave behind. My gift is the future. My gift is salvation. My gift is Inferno. ” Brown’s books are often famous for wonderful details, and intricate view of the artistic world and for science-religious correlated facts. Inferno is not an exception as it fits into the mould in a beautiful manner.
Brown beautifully portrays the artistic works of Renaissance and Medieval European art - many of the usual Florentine attractions, through the illusive Vasari corridors, its hidden entrance in the Boboli gardens, Pallazio Vecchio and famed hall of five hundred and much more; highlighting and certainly helping to revive tourism in Florence - tempting the readers immensely. At times, one might feel that Dan Brown brags too much and is kind of boring, drawn out and spending so much time focusing and giving information on the art, location, sculpture, building that it feels more like a tour guide than a thriller novel.
This might eventually lead to deviating or minimising the reader’s interest to continue. Despite all the predictability, Brown’s art reigns over boredom. He somehow manages to keep the reader glued to the story. Composed in simple, lucid English, this most compelling and thought provoking novel can be read and understood without turning and returning the pages after a single read. The compositional language is no doubt, slightly complex – to such an extent that a young college student with average English vocabulary will be able to comprehend the sense of the tale.
Nevertheless, the message that is being sent to the readers is delivered in the best possible manner! “The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis. ” Dan Brown’s Inferno, really does a little more than adding colour to the city of Florence and the history of Dante’s famous work. This is a book about the future of humanity and alarming existential risks due to exponential human population expansion. As Brown insists that he wants to alert his readers to serious issues in each and every book of his, he discusses about transhumanism and over-population in Inferno.
The writer quite effectively tries to put across the message, central idea through the initial conversation the mad scientist Zobrist and Elizabeth had. “Animals species are going extinct at a precipitously accelerated rate. The demand for dwindling natural resources is skyrocketing. Clean water is harder and harder to come by. By any biological gauge, our species has exceeded our sustainable numbers” Inferno is no novel you can read finish in one go. This one is a tedious read with more artistic bend than a mystery or crime fiction.
I was mainly interested in Brown’s portrait of transhumanists and their scientific and philosophical ideas, which plays a major role in the novel. Consequently, while reading Inferno, I was able to grade and value Dan Brown’s potential and creativity as he has proven himself as a successful writer to this world once again. His attempt to relate Dante Aligheri’s “Divine Comedy,” Boutticelli’s “Abyss of hell” and “over-population” issues reported by the WHO to his thriller has turned out quite well, making this novel a flawless, massive hit!
On the other hand, we see Brown, struggling with his malapropistic tendencies (unintentional misuse of a word by confusion with one that sounds similar) having fallen into the rut of predictability. As the novel proceeds, one may come across many twists and turns on every other chapter where Langdon and Sienna, together solve hidden mysteries, connecting the dots of symbology, just in the nick of time to ward off an apocalypse plotted by crazed men. Dan has used quite a few characters to bring out the story well. There aren’t any characters which leave a lasting impression in the thriller.
Child prodigy - Sienna Brooks, eugenicist Bertrand Zobrist, and expert symbologist Robert Langdon, serve their purpose but nothing beyond. Elizabeth Sinskey, the silver haired angel is the only one who feels genuine though she hardly has any role in the progress of the novel. On the whole, Dan Brown’s Inferno is quite an amazing piece of writing: You will enjoy this if you can treat it as an engaging piece of art, providing a wide panoramic view of Florence, slowly opening the hidden world and surprising you with its researched facts!
Inferno - Dan Brown. (2020, Jun 02). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/inferno-dan-brown-essay
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