Da Vinci Code

marie_85

I have to say I find this the most over hyped book of all time. Discussing it at work the other day, and everyone was raving about it. Not to be a complete literary snob, but they wouldn't be into reading that much and it seemed like a clear case of the Emperors New Clothes.

I'm just interested in other peoples opinions on this. I do like the story behind it, and it has great potential for a film, but as a writer, Dan Brown leaves a lot to be desired.

My main problem was that when I was reading the book, I just didn't care about the characters. I had no emotional connection with them whatsoever, apart from finding most of them irritating. To be honest, I think Dan Brown should have stuck to writing a guide book rather than a novel.

simu

I read about half a sentence from a random page of it once and already, I could tell that it would suck. Have read no more but it sounds like the poor person's Foucault's Pendulum tbh.

Black hole sun

Basically the da vinci code is an amazing facts about the catholic church book with a poorly written plot layered over it.

Faerie

Black hole sun wrote:

Basically the da vinci code is an amazing facts about the catholic church book with a poorly written plot layered over it.

I wouldn't exactly say 'facts'. Basically all the 'revelations' in the book are an accumulation of other writers' theories and speculations. There may be some truth in them (I'm not an expert!) but they are in no way accepted as fact.
I enjoyed the book but I didn't think it was fabulous or anything and it doesn't realy deserve the hype, but then most hugely successful books never do! I mean does Harry Potter deserve to more popular than Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy?
I thought that the theories and conspiracies and everything in the book were really interesting (especially the stuff about Da Vinci's paintings) and the plot isn't that bad but I've never even been tempted to read it again!

damienom

It's like join the dots - a range of slightly interesting tailored information and pure crap to link them together

ConUladh

I'd call it in an airport novel. Nothing particularly good about it but just easy reading

Saruman

I enjoyed it and all his other books.. i would not say they are great works of literature.. However.. they were perfect to kill time with... Just like James Patterson books.. short and to the point. In that sense he is a good writer.. he is writing for a particular audience... I like to read easy to get into books that have short chapters. That way i can fit it in better... I usually read during breaks in work.. so its nice to have short easy to understand chapters without having to remember complicated plot lines etc.

If i have more time on my hands then yes a better written more complicated book might appeal more... like if im on holiday or something.

OSiriS

The way I see it, Dan Browns books are aimed at people who don't read very much. The plots tend to be easy to follow, not alot of depth to the characters, and the action is pretty free flowing. They are the literary equivalent of a hollywood action flick. Hardly thought-provoking stuff but entertaining if you're willing to leave your brain behind.

Nimrod's Son

There's about a bajillion threads on this already so I'll just say it's ****e rather than harp on about it again.

BossArky

Reading this about a year ago I found it enjoyable as there wasn't too much brain engagement involved. Its the kind of book you read between some rather heavier stuff. I don't understand why people get so upset about it and Dan Brown... there are many crappier books out there! Fair play to him, he made a stack of cash by having a book which was lucky shot in the dark. I have not seen him professing it to be classic literature.

I have not read any of his other stuff as I hear they were seen more or less as less rounded attempts at the Da Vinci code. Who knows, perhaps the next book will blow socks of the Da Vinci code.

In summary, as said before --> its an airport / weekend / recovery read.

meldrew

Its just the typical line from people who read "proper" books and would'nt be seen dead with a Dan Brown book , some people read books just to say that is what they are reading at the moment and its like a competition to see who can come up with the most obscure choice , and a lot of it is just jealousy because Brown hit the jackpot with the Da Vinci Code and "proper" writers struggle . Maybe the reason they struggle is because most people want to be entertained when they read a book.
Actually just check the "this week I am mostly reading " thread to prove my point

Ardent

Worst book I've ever read. What annoyed me most, apart from the piss poor writing, was his continuous assertion that everything was fact. He basically copied someone else's speculation and theory and peddled it as the truth.

Apparently, the Da Vinci Code was Brown's last attempt as a failed author before returning to school teaching. Thankfully the controversial angle, suggested by his wife, turned him into a multi millionaire.

I didn't buy the book and it still galls me that so many sheep went out in their droves to buy this garbage.

Saruman

Ardent wrote:

Worst book I've ever read. What annoyed me most, apart from the piss poor writing, was his continuous assertion that everything was fact. He basically copied someone else's speculation and theory and peddled it as the truth.

Just because its the worst book you ever read does not make it in any way bad

And copying speculation and theory to peddle as truth? Eh is this not what EVERY SINGLE writer does? Unless they actually have a profound understanding of say.. science like Arthur C Clarke then all they can do is peddle other peoples theories as fact in the book.

Dades

Ardent wrote:

I didn't buy the book and it still galls me that so many sheep went out in their droves to buy this garbage.

Those poor suckers.

Thinking they actually liked the book, when in fact they didn't. Perhaps they should be banned from bookstores and only given reading material prescribed by you.

Tar.Aldarion

simu wrote:

I read about half a sentence from a random page of it once and already, I could tell that it would suck. Have read no more but it sounds like the poor person's Foucault's Pendulum tbh.

Lol, that's exactly what I did when <name here> brought it home.

I'm gonna read it though, just to see.

Ardent

The Atheist wrote:

Those poor suckers.

Thinking they actually liked the book, when in fact they didn't. Perhaps they should be banned from bookstores and only given reading material prescribed by you.

Could that work do you think?

OK, I was a little OTT in my criticism of people who bought the book. But the success of the book was purely down to hype than any literary skills on Brown's part, so if people enjoyed it, more power to them. I guess it just sticks in my throat that a talentless hack like Dan Brown somehow struck oil.

Saruman

How can you call any author talentless hacks? I mean by definition they are authors, they have written books so they have more literary talent than you have yourself (unless of course you are an author?)

He has only written 4 books and all 4 of them i like... they are no "ulysses" But enjoyable and well (yes well) written books. They do not look like someone who has no concept of english writing.. wrote them..

ixoy

Ummm success in publishing != talent. As a point, the Guardian recently sent in excerpts from famous novels (including ones that won the Nobel prize) to literary agents and got rejection letters. These agents were only looking for a particular piece that conformed to market requirements and not what was actually decent writing. The piece went on to talk about how a Hollywood actor, regardless of their talent, is more likely to get a publishing deal than someone with a greater modicum of creative ability. It's down to the entertainment factor...

As to "The DaVinci Code".... I didn't like it. In fact I hurled it against the wall a number of times when reading it. It wasn't just that I felt it featured poor characterisation or a somewhat simplistic narrative... It was the idiotic aspects it gave to the characters who couldn't solve the simple puzzles I immediately saw through (and I'm hardly the expert in the areas that they were meant to be). Felt it was really pandering to a particular cheap-thrill market that was definetely not for me and presenting me with some interesting facts but a lot of which I'd heard/read elsewhere.

Gurgle

Saruman wrote:

He has only written 4 books and all 4 of them i like... they are no "ulysses" But enjoyable and well (yes well) written books.

DaVinci Code - Sensationalist money spinner, capitalising on the Catholic church's image being at an all time low.

Deception point - Lazy research, inaccurate in almost every technical detail. Annoying to anyone who knows anything about technology, mis-educational to anyone who doesnt.

Haven't bothered reading his other ****e.

marie_85

meldrew wrote:

Its just the typical line from people who read "proper" books and would'nt be seen dead with a Dan Brown book , some people read books just to say that is what they are reading at the moment and its like a competition to see who can come up with the most obscure choice , and a lot of it is just jealousy because Brown hit the jackpot with the Da Vinci Code and "proper" writers struggle . Maybe the reason they struggle is because most people want to be entertained when they read a book.
Actually just check the "this week I am mostly reading " thread to prove my point

That doesn't wash with me. I'm willing to give any book a chance and even took the time to read the Da Vinci Code twice or three times, because I thought maybe I'd missed what the hype was about. But nothing changes the fact that its an awful book.

And as for obscure choices, I read everything from Rushdie to Harry Potter. A book doesn't have to be obscure to be enjoyable, it just has to be enjoyable.

Dades

Gurgle wrote:

DaVinci Code - Sensationalist money spinner, capitalising on the Catholic church's image being at an all time low.

The guy's a writer, trying to make living. He's not trying to write a critically acclaimed novel.

And in fact in his home country Christianity is rampant - so he did something that Hollywood consistantly refuses to do - which is offend large swathes of his own folk.

I just can't help but have respect for a guy who wrote a book enjoyed by so many, puerile as it may seem to those who frequent literature boards.

meldrew

Totally agree with you , to some people popular = rubbish , if it had bombed then the same people would probably be reading it and reccommending it to their friends !

MagnumForce

I thought i'd give it a read, you know to see wht the deal was. Pretty terrible book,as someone said, just a pile of "facts" with a thin as hell plot thrown over it and in a hurry it seems. I have read two other of Dan Browns books to see if it was just The Da Vinci Code that sucked, but although Digital Fortress and Deception Point were better, they still exibited,to a lesser extent the same flaws as The Da Vinci code, mainly being that he has only one plot revealing device, at the end of just about every chapter is a cliffhanger, the resolution of which being revealed in the chapter after the next, it gets really really really tiring and annoying after the first few chapters let alone the first few books.

In The Da Vinci code, he was trying to just throw as much information as possible at us, and everything in the "plot" was so convenient, caractures would find items first try or repeatedly all of a sudden solve some riddle that people had been investigating for hundreds or thousands of years, it was just a very badly written book.

and Tom Hanks as yer man in the film, come on! fire the casting director, to me it appeared he was meant to be a sort of Indiana Jones caracture (without the whip and nazis) I really cant see Tom Hanks even almost nearly fitting that profile, i an barely even imagine him running!

Gurgle

The Atheist wrote:

And in fact in his home country Christianity is rampant

Christian != Catholic
Actually, theres quite a strong arguement to say that Catholic != Christian but thats a whole 'nother thread's work.

The Atheist wrote:

I just can't help but have respect for a guy who wrote a book enjoyed by so many, puerile as it may seem to those who frequent literature boards.

1) I'm not comparing it to literature. I'm comparing it to airport thrillers, and its not even in the same league as Patricia Cornwall. And I think Patricia Cornwall is a lazy author who doesn't bother actually researching facts outside of her own area of expertise.

2) I certainly respect the man's business sense, he is making an absolute fortune on this hype. Its his skills as an author I think are waaaaaay below par.

Dades

Gurgle wrote:

Christian != Catholic
Actually, theres quite a strong arguement to say that Catholic != Christian but thats a whole 'nother thread's work.

It's not just the Catholics that get a poking.

Like I'm sure the Bible-belt Christians have nooo problem embracing the notion that Jesus wasn't divine and went to live in France with his wife...

Chumpski

Hugely enjoyable book i thought. Dan Brown is a very entertaining writer. He is one of the best at what he does. I've read some books from the same genre like Adept by Robert Finn, The Last Templar by Raymond (something) and Labyrinth by Kate Mosse in the hopes of getting something as good as the Langdon series but they all fell short.

By the way Labyrinth is worth a read alright but stay the hell away from Adept, it is complete cack. Yes, i was fooled by them comparing it to The Da Vinci Code on the back.:)

panda100

I agree with atheist here-I though the Da vinci code was a good read and Dan Browne should be applauded for it.Angels and Demons was even better.Saying that Brownes 'Deception point' was awfull-did he write this before or after angles and Demons and the Da vinci code?

Ardent

The Atheist wrote:

And in fact in his home country Christianity is rampant - so he did something that Hollywood consistantly refuses to do - which is offend large swathes of his own folk.

I just can't help but have respect for a guy who wrote a book enjoyed by so many, puerile as it may seem to those who frequent literature boards.

Those two sentences outline exactly why it sold so much.

Brown robbed a little-known, highly controversial and fanciful theory regarding The Holy Grail and peddled it as fact. He also speculatively brought in Leonardo Da Vinci into the equation and insisted throughout - even in the foreword - that every tenuous link he conjured up was fact. Most embarrassing though was the lengthy waffle about the Priory of Sion or whatever it was supposed to be called.

I think it sold in droves because people fell for the content hook line and sinker and felt compelled to spread the word. Others were simply outraged at the assertions.

You have give Brown credit, not because he's a telented writer (he's patently not) or because he came up with the idea (he's currently being sued by the authors of the fictitious 'Holy Blood Holy Grail'), but for the way he marketed the highly contentious 'facts'.

Failed writer hits paydirt in last desperate attempt.

pburns

I read it before the hype went into overdrive...
It's very ordinary. Only thing that sets it apart are the conspiricies. In the '90's we has alien autopsies/abductions/Mulder & Scully...

People love a good conspiracy. What really sickens me are all the copy-cat books that have hit the shelves in the last year. I thought writers are supposed to be above such opportunistism...

Gurgle

pburns wrote:

I thought writers are supposed to be above such opportunistism...

lol, yeah its unheard of - like pop stars selling out and following the money

iregk

I think the were getting like the heads over in the music section. Your only cool if you like obscure unheard of bands. Once a bad has hit the big time you have to stop listening as its no longer a cool band to be into. So go out and find someone else nobody has heard of. The more obscure and the less well known the better and the more educated on the subject you seem to everyone else.

Cousin of mine wont read Dan Brown. Not because he doesn’t like him, he has never read through a full chapter before but basically because its Dan Brown! What a ridiculous way to live.

Personally I like his style of writing. The 24-48 time period keeps the story fresh and makes his books very easy to read. Right due to the timeline that his stories are over you never get too involved in the characters so there is a lack of tension in places where there should be. That said I read Angels & Demons first then TDVC and felt more feeling towards Langdon this time around. So maybe there is something to be said for reusing personnel. Ok his writing isn’t particularly difficult to follow and not the most imaginative, its straight forward English. But do cryptic sentences and clever ways of putting simple things make a writer great?

I’ve read a lot of Stephen King books and I would say he is my favourite author because most of his books are class. The thing is though, I don’t want to read him all the time. Some times though I don’t want that sometimes I just want to open a book be entertained and then put it down happy. That’s Dan Brown.

Ardent

iregk wrote:

I think the were getting like the heads over in the music section. Your only cool if you like obscure unheard of bands. Once a bad has hit the big time you have to stop listening as its no longer a cool band to be into. So go out and find someone else nobody has heard of. The more obscure and the less well known the better and the more educated on the subject you seem to everyone else.

Poor analogy. There's an assumption that everyone likes the band but some get turned off because they make it big and it's not cool anymore. That's not the case here and it's silly to think that. Here, the band, before and after they became successful on the back of one album, are still sh*te.

Cousin of mine wont read Dan Brown. Not because he doesn’t like him, he has never read through a full chapter before but basically because its Dan Brown! What a ridiculous way to live.

Perhaps it struck him, while attempting to read the book, that some of the stuff he read back in 1st class national school was much more accomplished?

Ok his writing isn’t particularly difficult to follow and not the most imaginative, its straight forward English. But do cryptic sentences and clever ways of putting simple things make a writer great?

It's not about that at all. Personally, I couldn't care less with how much flair a book is written as long as there's a compelling story, the plot hangs together and the pacing is good. I wanted to throw this book in the bin with a third of it left. I have never wanted to do that before. But so laughable was the story I decided to skim through to the end to see how he would close it out. Kind of like not being able to tear your eyes away from an impending car crash.

I'm not a snob when it comes to books and I'm not a devout cathloic or anything but this book was a load of poorly written poo.

I’ve read a lot of Stephen King books and I would say he is my favourite author because most of his books are class.

Finally, I can agree with you.

iregk

I can understand to a large extent the differences. Example I said I like Stephen King. My favourite book he wrote was Firestarter, the pace and the tension all through that book was brilliant as was the case with Insomnia. They were great with character development, plot and timing. So when you get used to reading a standard such as Stephen King then yes Dan Brown is going to seem a touch basic and not very enlightened. Its like getting used to driving a Merc and then going back to your VW Polo.

That said I take them for what they are, good switch off the brain reads. I don't see his books as any more than that. They aren't going to change the world but they pass the time on the 65 in the morning and I enjoy them for that besides sometimes Stephen King can be a bit much at 7am!

Will admit though I am reading deception point at the moment and its absolute pants. One thing I have to say that does annoy me about him is the way you can guess whats going to happen. An asassin looking for someone who went into a football stadium. just then 80,000 people pour out of the stadium and the one person he is looking for just happens to walk straight in front of him. That sort of crap does annoy me.

EamonnKeane

He has only written 4 books and all 4 of them i like... they are no "ulysses" But enjoyable and well (yes well) written books.

I would bet my house you've never read "Ulysses". I haven't either, but I hate when people mention books that are great when they've actually never even read them.

Dades

EamonnKeane wrote:

I would bet my house you've never read "Ulysses". I haven't either, but I hate when people mention books that are great when they've actually never even read them.

Iregk never said (or even suggested) he has read Ulysses. He simply made the comparison between a Dan Brown novel and a book well known to regularly top polls of the greatest novels ever written.