honestchipmunk

Maybe I'm coming in on this a little late, but I read the Da Vinci Code a little while ago. I liked it; I thought the theology was cool, the bad guys were cool, the science was cool. The only little problem I had was that Langdon seemed to have almost no personality and his relationship with women was rediculious. At any rate, I thought to myself, "Hey I should read Angels and Demons also." Now this is were things really went to hell in a hand basket. The last line of the novel still rings in my ears "You've never been to bed with a yoga master..." AAAAA! Who is this Dan Brown and why is he such a horrible writer?! I just had to get this out there: that I see Dan Brown as a great academic and very knowledgable of the things he writes about, but also as maybe the most cliched, amature writer today. With all the fuss over the Da Vinci Code, I just wanted to know if other people are experiencing this, or if I'm a snobby ass (or maybe a little bit of both).

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Xiangsu

I kind of agree with you as far as his fictional writing goes, a lot of the stuff in the main story of the Davinci Code is really corny. Doesn't make him a horrible writer, just not a very creative one.

Mephisto2

Answer = yes.

I tried reading the Da Vinci code and couldn't get past the first few pages. What I find utterly astonishing is that some people out there seem to believe this story is true or based on fact. It's fiction! Bad fiction at that!! I'm absolutley incredulous at the mini-industry that has sprung up around this book. I remember reading that there were something like 27 Da Vinci Code related books published or being published.

My God people. What is wrong with you!!?!

If you want a good book read the Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes.

Mr Mephisto

Derwood

I just finished DaVinci Code. It was pretty good, but not ground breaking. He clearly was writing the book in hopes it would be a movie. How many books do you see with 100+ chapters that are all 2-6 pages long? That's a movie treatment, not a book.

I guessed several of the "puzzles" before they were revealed too, which is fun in one way, but lame in another. I dunno. I'm glad I read it, but I'm not going around preaching it as some work of genius.

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meepa

I finally got around to reading the Da Vinci Code and I admit, I was pretty entertained. However, and I think this is true for a lot of people, if you strip away all of the little historical factoids he throws in, the book is extremely bland. The characters were shallow and the plot was just a methodical chug-along like any typical suspense book. By splicing in all the history and theology in a clever mix of fiction and nonfiction, he made it all worth turning the pages for. A lot of people said they didn't care what happened to the characters, they just wanted to read about the next slew of interesting trivia.

I haven't read any of Brown's other books, but from what I hear he uses a similar formula each time. So it's one of those "Wow that was pretty cool" things at first, but then each time you see it, it impresses you less and less until you're numb to it. Sort of like M Night Shamalan's movies... Ooooh didn't see the twist coming the first time! Cool. Then movie after movie you know the entire thing was written just for the turn-around ending and you get sick of it.

So you may call it mindless escapism... But at least it is a step above a lot of fiction in the same genre!

Mephisto2

Off topic, but I like his movies. What twist was there in Signs?

Oh, and please do NOT spoil the Village for me, as I hope to see it this weekend. :-)

Fair comment.



Mr Mephisto

bigbad

The twist was Spoiler: they were killed by water, which makes up a large part of the earth's atmosphere, rather than conventional weapons.

And I like his books for what they are, attempts to merge historical ideas and fiction.

MahlerIsGod

My problem with Dan Brown is this: he tries to package himself as Umberto Eco, Elaine Pagels and Don DeLillo. All in one but unfortunately, for Dan Brown, he isn't any one of the three. He isn't even close. I read The Da Vinci Code (all the while with [pardon the pun] echo's of Eco ringing in my head) and immediately gave the book away (an action I don't engage in very often). Unfortunately, Ron Howard is making this into a movie and I think it will do huge buisness. "There is no accounting of taste....."

kulrblind

I think Derwood is onto something. Whether or not Brown really was gunning for a movie or not, I can't say for certain, but writing that way entertains the "speed reader / novel devourer" more than the deep reader. It seems to me that Brown isn't into character development all that much. In the DaVinci Code and Angels & Demons, he spends more time developing supporting characters than the protagonist -- an odd thing to do if one wishes to continue to write books starring the same protagonist.

Having said that, I must also put forward the notion that he needed some easily likeable (or hate-able) characters to fit in with his little treasure hunt theme, loosely based on history with a good deal of creative license (i.e. making shit up) on his part.

For the record: I liked A&D better than the DVC, but I likely won't read another of his books if they're all like that. Kudos to Brown for spurring a side industry to discuss his misdeeds and for actually making people pay attention to history when he's actually being accurate.

sailor

I read Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons. Both were very similar--cool little bits of "trivia", some interesting puzzles, but in the end, shallow beach reads. Neither was anything more than a page turner to kill time, although I did enjoy the little bits of knowledge in them. Certainly not as good as people have made it out to be, though.

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Architeuthis

I have read all the books by Dan Brown and i am not at all impressed by his writing be it technique or creativity. Only thing that he seems somewhat adept at, is pacing and weaving semi factual information in to the plot.

trickyy

yeah, i actually started laughing at his style halfway through. most chapters ended with a phrase stolen from a 6th grader's creative writing assignment. and he loves lists almost as much as he love cliches. when describing something, he is sure to give a nice grocery list of the various parts. hey dan, show don't tell, remember?

and (toward the end) when he starts going off on a convoluted vision quest..."the rose. the compass rose. the rose line. the ancient prime meridian. rosaline. under the rose - sub-rosa. sabrosa. mary magdeline, her legend carried throughout history, from leonardo da vinci to the little mermaid. what is this mysterious writing? oh, it's reverse english! ps: find robert langdon...etc, etc..." i had to take some knee-slapper breaks.

doesn't the louvre use liquid soap?

hilbert25

I tried to read that book, and wanted to like it, but the writing was so bad I felt stupid for actually finishing the book. And his "facts" are all not just bullshit, but annoying and played out bullshit. His little chapters were rediculously formulaic and annoying. Even though he makes a half-hearted attempt at the end to be pro-organized religion, it does not make up for the hundred pages or so of constantly repeated anti-church rants. Plus who the hell tries to write a believable car chase using a SmartCar?