Dan Brown

P.C Greene

Insanity is a state of mind
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 7, 2007
Messages
135
Reaction score
4
Location
That little island called United Kingdom
Are you a big fan of Dan Brown?

Ive only read two of his novels:

The DaVinci code
Angels & Demons

I am going to read Deception Point and digital Fortress very soon.

I just wanted your views on Dan Brown.

Good or bad?

im asking this cause i realise that he got some stick from catholics ect.... on his release of Davinci code, so i wondered if this book or any of his others affected you in a way, and if you were drawn away from him by this?
 

Jongfan

Insane, in a good way
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 25, 2006
Messages
515
Reaction score
546
Age
57
Location
Boston
Although I did enjoy reading The DaVinci Code, he is not at the top of my list of "must read" authors. I liked some of the ideas he used, however I found it easy to predict the ending.

Just MHO
 

giftedrhonda

Gifted Goofball
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 28, 2006
Messages
627
Reaction score
102
Honest opinion here, having read those two books you mentioned:

Dan Brown is quite good at ending chapters on suspenseful parts. He's got a way of weaving plot that's interesting and compelling.

However, his characterization is not good at all, IMHO. The characters are flat and wooden, and I don't really care about what happens to them.

His books are highly plot-driven, so it does make for an interesting study of his techniques (I tend to write more character-driven stuff, so it's good to read how others handle plot stuff).

Rhonda, trying to be kind
 

Rob B

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 26, 2007
Messages
99
Reaction score
18
Christopher, I want to answer your question purely from a technical perspective, as I see it. I would find it hard to think that any other work he might have written, or will write, could even remotely approach the impetus of THE DI VINCI CODE in the mind of the reader. And, in my opinion, herein lies the problem. It makes objectivity improbable or impossible for most people.

You read ANGELS AND DEMONS. Whether you read it before or after, do you remember how you approached The DI VINCI CODE (now be honest, it's not easy on this one)? I'm just kidding around with this, but I hope my point makes sense.

I think one of the most difficult things for people to do is to ask themselves why the book was so successful. Overwhelmingly, we hear, as you pointed out, of the religious ramifications, but might this have been a cleverly designed publicity technique?

Is it realistic to think that someone might disavow his/her faith because of a novel--especially when naysayers have proffered the identical argument in hundreds (sic, thousands) of books and articles since the death of Jesus? Maybe, but I don't think so. If a person's faith was that weak to begin with, I submit that this book didn't send him/her over the edge.

So what made the book work? For me, it is the best paced book I have ever read, and I wasn't at all fond of the redundancy and I thought the ending was a complete zero. Yet, I read the book from the moment I got up in the morning, at lunch, standing in line at the post office--well, you get the picture. My wife was the same, and she's never gotten that involved with a story in the 32 years we've been married.

Every single person I talked with about the book, whether they said they liked it or not, could not put it down. For my purposes, this is the lesson.
 
Last edited:

KCathy

Writer when I grow up
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 27, 2007
Messages
471
Reaction score
110
Location
Oregon Coast
Website
www.catherinebusinelle.com
ChristopherMcgurn said:
im asking this cause i realise that he got some stick from catholics ect.... on his release of Davinci code, so i wondered if this book or any of his others affected you in a way, and if you were drawn away from him by this?

Rob B said:
If a person's faith was that weak to begin with, I submit that this book didn't send him/her over the edge.

I find it more than a little weird how hard the media tried to make a huge controversy out of the book and movie. They kept going on and on about how Christians were going to freak out and protest, and even tried to make a big deal out of a crowd who showed up for the taping of one part but turned out to be mostly autograph seekers.

In the real world, Christians just didn't get worked up about it because, as Rob pointed out, this isn't exactly a new idea and there's simply zero evidence to back it up. If anything, a lot of Christians were galvanized to go back and look at how the current Biblical text came to be accepted by early church leaders. It's a study that reassures the vast majority of us, and was even used by a lot of groups as a way to spark community discussion. Many churches led book-club-type meetings with people who had read the book and were curious, drawing outsiders who would never have popped into a church service.

Unfortunately for the media, we just didn't think it was that big a shocker or anything to worry about. I found their attempts to drum up outrage ludicrous and mildly annoying.
 

Meerkat

Claims the loan was a gift
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 2, 2006
Messages
3,600
Reaction score
2,033
Location
"site, place, position" --Roget's Thesaurus
Hi Christopher,

I read all four, and enjoyed three of them. Despite my high "nerd senses tingling" hopes for it, Digital Fortress was tedious and trite. Spare yourself this one!
 

Claudia Gray

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 20, 2007
Messages
2,918
Reaction score
604
My basic take on Dan Brown is this: He did so many things wrong, and please, God, please, let me screw up half that badly someday.
 

Elodie-Caroline

Banned
Flounced
Joined
Oct 6, 2006
Messages
1,021
Reaction score
186
Website
elodie.the.writer.tripod.com
The best parts of the DaVinci code were taken from the holy blood and the holy grail anyway http://www.amazon.co.uk/Holy-Blood-Grail/dp/0099682419/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/202-8365515-2422210?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1176232396&sr=8-2 . Each part of DVC was predictable and had the ends were tied up too easily at the end. I didn't actually waste my time reading the DVC, I listened to it on audio CD instead.
I do actually like the film though, but that's only because Jean Reno is in it and the (plagiarised) historical parts were good.


Elodie
 

citymouse

fantasy dweller
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 20, 2005
Messages
1,316
Reaction score
140
Both stories feature the same hero Robert Langdon. Here is my take on these books. I won’t spoil them by giving away the ending.

Angels & Demons is a better book than The Da Vinci Code. Why?
• The writing is better—more inventive and lyrical.
• The venues are well research. I’ve been to all the sites and they are accurate and well described.
• Once begun, the action sequences fly at a breakneck pace. Brown is very good at keeping the momentum without wearing the reader out.

Here is what I found problematic with Angels & Demons.
• As in the DV Langdon doesn’t seem to know any ugly people—especially heroines who, while vulnerable in a stereotypical female way, are resilient, smart, well read, strong as a brace of oxen, and hotter than a French nymphomaniac vacationing at Club Med.
• Langdon takes great pains to mask the true identity of the villain by suggesting a pantheon of prospective evildoers. In my opinion he achieves the opposite of his intention. I spotted the rat in the corncrib after the first introduction.
Worst of all, in my opinion, the plot’s raison d'être, is totally bogus. No one commits the types of crimes Brown offers in excruciating detail for the reason given at the end of the story. Because of this the whole story falls into the realm of the laughable. I say laughable because that’s exactly what I did; laugh in disbelief and disappointment.

The Da Vinci Code begins as a real whodunit. The appeal of a murder in the Louvre and how the hero Robert Langdon solves it would captivate anyone. Mystery lovers (I’m one) have flocked to this book.
So have others, those looking for any legitimate avenue that attacks the Catholic Church. This assumes that novels are legitimate avenues to anything but entertainment.
By Catholic Church I mean specifically the institutional part of the church; its hierarchy, priests, nuns, monks, and cultists.
In The Da Vinci Code, it is one particular cult that Dan Brown specifically targets. That cult, or sect if you prefer, is Opus Dei (literally God’s Work). When one has occasion to observe the handiwork of Opus Dei one must wonder just what God is up to.
If one is looking for excellent research Dan Brown is a past master at this. If one is reads the Da Vinci Code for any reason other than the desire to read a good yarn then he or she will be or should be disappointed. That’s because the assertions made in DVC simply don’t bear out Brown’s claims about Opus Dei and the Vatican. That’s not to say these allegations aren’t true, but the institutional church has had two millennia to master the art of obfuscation. It will take more than a clever researcher and a so-so wordsmith to make this sow’s ear into a silk purse.
• What’s wrong with The Da Vinci Code?
If Dan Brown had simply devoted his story to catching a murderer he would have been on easy street. As it is, he tackled a plot that has no resolution. Because of this, he tied his hands in such a way that the ending peters out into a murky mist that left this reader unsatisfied.
C
 

Claudia Gray

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 20, 2007
Messages
2,918
Reaction score
604
The best parts of the DaVinci code were taken from the holy blood and the holy grail anyway http://www.amazon.co.uk/Holy-Blood-Grail/dp/0099682419/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/202-8365515-2422210?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1176232396&sr=8-2 . Each part of DVC was predictable and had the ends were tied up too easily at the end. I didn't actually waste my time reading the DVC, I listened to it on audio CD instead.
I do actually like the film though, but that's only because Jean Reno is in it and the (plagiarised) historical parts were good.


Elodie


Other famous "plagiarized" works:

Les Miserables -- Victor Hugo did NOT INVENT the country of France. It is located in Europe and existed even before his book was written.

Gone With The Wind -- Margaret Mitchell not only lifts the concept of the American Civil War wholesale from history books, she also does not bother to invent her own names or characterizations for people in positions such as generals (Robert E. Lee was not her creation) and politicians (Jefferson Davis, either).

Jurassic Park -- both dinosaurs AND cloning appear in books written before Michael Crichton's.

Shocking yet true!
 
Joined
Aug 7, 2005
Messages
47,985
Reaction score
13,245
The problem I have with Dan Brown is that:

a) He didn't do his own research
b) His research is wrong
c) He says at the start of his book it's fact, and it is not
d) He lifted the story complete from HBHG - if he'd bothered to do his own research he would have found out it was a load of speculative nonsense
e) Cardboard characters
f) Info-dumping
g) Adverbs
h) Head jumping
i) Stealing the names of the authors of HBHG and cobbling together Leigh Teabing as an 'homage' despite knowing they objected to it
j) Being generally shit at writing
 
Joined
Aug 7, 2005
Messages
47,985
Reaction score
13,245
I would. I don't want success if it means writing that badly.

Believe me or not, I don't care. His career is not my vision of success.
 

Silver King

Megalops Erectus
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 11, 2006
Messages
12,438
Reaction score
8,932
Location
Florida (West Central)
Believe me or not, I don't care. His career is not my vision of success.
I believe you. I feel the same way. A small measure of success for greater quality work than what he's produced is also highly desirable.

But man, he's sold untold numbers of books, which, in itself, is vindication of what he has to say.
 

Sage

Currently titleless
Staff member
Moderator
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 15, 2005
Messages
64,561
Reaction score
22,366
Age
43
Location
Cheering you all on!
I enjoyed DVC, even though I thought the antagonist was easy to predict. I liked the conspiracy, whether it was fact or fiction, 'cuz of course, I was reading a fictional work & in that world, it was fact.

I enjoyed A&D (which I read after DVC) as well. I figured out the antagonist there too, though I thought one red herring was better than any in DVC & almost changed my mind to that character. Though I think A&D was better written, I enjoyed solving the puzzles in DVC so much that I liked it better.

Then I read Deception Point & was pretty disappointed. I figured out whodunnit before I even knew what "it" was, & came up with this complicated motive, only to find that it was so incredibly simple that I couldn't understand why other readers would ever be surprised.
 
Joined
Aug 7, 2005
Messages
47,985
Reaction score
13,245
I believe you. I feel the same way. A small measure of success for greater quality work than what he's produced is also highly desirable.

But man, he's sold untold numbers of books, which, in itself, is vindication of what he has to say.

I bet Mein Kampf sold millions too, doesn't make it any good. ;)
 

Silver King

Megalops Erectus
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 11, 2006
Messages
12,438
Reaction score
8,932
Location
Florida (West Central)
I bet Mein Kampf sold millions too, doesn't make it any good. ;)
Very true. I've read the work, and its shortfalls include shoddy research, info-dumping, too many adverbs, head jumping and generally crappy writing.

Do you suppose Dan Brown is the reincarnation of Mein Furher?
 

Chumplet

This hat is getting too hot
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 18, 2006
Messages
3,348
Reaction score
854
Age
64
Location
Ontario, Canader
Website
www.chumpletwrites.blogspot.com
I thought the DVC was okay, and Angels and Demons, too. They were a fun, light read. I figured out half the puzzles before stupid Langdon did, and laughed at all the writing rules he was breaking.

My kids bought me a copy of Holy Blood, Holy Grail and I find it interesting. It's non-fiction, right? Don't people use non-fiction for research? Did Brown copy sections word for word, or just use the information to move his plot along?
 

Elodie-Caroline

Banned
Flounced
Joined
Oct 6, 2006
Messages
1,021
Reaction score
186
Website
elodie.the.writer.tripod.com
Yes, it is non-fiction, and my most favourite book of all time. Maybe not copied word for word, but the whole concept was copied; even right down from the beginning of HBHG, where a man was found murdered in a library after searching for a certain book. Plagiarist Brown used Le Louvre instead. Still I guess he used his imagination for that bit then LOL :D

I thought the DVC was okay, and Angels and Demons, too. They were a fun, light read. I figured out half the puzzles before stupid Langdon did, and laughed at all the writing rules he was breaking.

My kids bought me a copy of Holy Blood, Holy Grail and I find it interesting. It's non-fiction, right? Don't people use non-fiction for research? Did Brown copy sections word for word, or just use the information to move his plot along?
 

seun

Horror Man
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 3, 2006
Messages
9,709
Reaction score
2,053
Age
46
Location
uk
Website
www.lukewalkerwriter.com
I love Brown...the colour, that is. The writer (and I use the term loosely), I'm not so keen on.



(Wow. That polite for me).
 

robeiae

Touch and go
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 18, 2005
Messages
46,262
Reaction score
9,912
Location
on the Seven Bridges Road
Website
thepondsofhappenstance.com
I read both. DVC was okay, but weak for many of the reasons already given, imo.

Angels and Demons was awful, imo. Clive Cussler has more believable plotlines. And the time thing in Angels and Demons was just so incredibly silly, I kept rolling my eyes while reading.