DAN BROWN - GOOD OR BAD - HELP ME DECIDE ONCE AND FOR ALL!!

Procasinator

Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

I couldn't appreciate Great Gatsby at the time I read it, for example, because I wasn't a good enough reader to "decipher" it.

By that line of thinking nothing is bad. You're just not good enough for it.

I could tell you that excrement is delicious. Don't believe me? You just lack a developed palate to appreciate.

Freds universe

eoin wrote: »

I find his writing very poor. Admittedly his books are normally real page-turners, but I tried to read a couple of them a second time and I just couldn't get past a chapter or two. The religious element doesn't bother me in the least - I think they could have been very good books if someone else had re-written them/

I agree to this wholeheartedly!

johnmcdnl

Maybe he's not a literary genius... but it is fun to read... nice simple fun - nothing exceptional in any sense of the imagination but fun..

just like that Hollywood blockbuster that you found yourself enjoying even though you knew you shouldn't - but it was fun..

sponsoredwalk

Regardless of what people think about his literary abilities, I thought most of his books were great!

What do people expect when they pick up a Dan Brown book? Proust? Thoreau? Kant?

The new book was ridiculous when it delved into the philosophy of quantum mechanics & the "What the Bleep" style rheteoric, but still his storyline and short chapters do hook your attention. They are a guilty pleasure

I'll readily admit I was more engrossed in Dan Brown than Marx or Freud because he knows how to write in that style like your watching a film.

That said, he doesn't even come close to any of the author's I've mentioned

calex71

I enjoyed his books for what they where, easily digested chewing gum for the eyes , until................. the ending / later portion of the lost symbol which I found to contrast totally to earlier stuff. It felt really preachy !!!!!

H. Flashman

'Good at what he does' is the best description of him alright
- personally I don't like him but hell he's obviously doing something right to get so many sales

H. Flashman

to add to that i actually used to think he was ok read da vinci code and angels and demons and another one by him the name of which escapes me but a few pages into the lost symbol I got fed up and stopped reading having realised "this is just the same old crap again"

Edinduberdeen

I don't like him.... I enjoyed Da Vinci Code as a youngster, but I read one of the other ones (Digital Fortress? Deception Point?) more recently and I felt really patronised by it. He kept explaining the same thing nearly every second page. Also, apart from the specific details, those two books seemed to be exactly the same (Code breaking professor dude teams up with sexy young female mathematician/physicist in order to solve some ancient mystery/code before the bad guys get it). It annoys me that he's so popular (and successful ).

H. Flashman

yeah patronising is the word alright .... he really talks down to his readers like he is some sort of all knowing genius privy to the secrets of the universe and you are a complete twit who needs every little thing explained to you

filmfan

johnmcdnl wrote: »

Maybe he's not a literary genius... but it is fun to read... nice simple fun - nothing exceptional in any sense of the imagination but fun..

just like that Hollywood blockbuster that you found yourself enjoying even though you knew you shouldn't - but it was fun..

I completely agree, am reading the new book now and it's a good popcorn read, if you understand that's what it's going to be it's enjoyable

xstatick

I agree with above posters that he's good at what he does.

I don't think he'd claim to write literary fiction. It's blockbuster thriller stuff. I enjoyed The Da Vinci Code. I haven't read his other books, so I can't comment on that.

Just take it for what it is, I guess.

The Mad Hatter

His main character is a professor of code-breaking-ology who doesn't recognise mirror writing or a Fibonacci sequence when he sees them. What. A. Moron.

siochain

take it for what it is, fiction. Easy going page turners that don't take much though, which some times can be OK.

killbillvol2

I read Angels and Demons during a couple of rainy days on holidays. It passed the time (despite the awful prose) but the ending was so godawful and ludicrously far-fetched that I'll never read another of his books.

Mill21

I read the Lost Symbol there 2 months ago. Recently I've gotten more into classics though I'll read most things as long as its not chick-lit (and I'm a girl btw). I first read all Dan Browns books in transition year in school (2005/06). At the time I found them quite enjoyable, but even then I could tell the writing wasn't anything special, but I got through them pretty fast although by the 4th one I knew exactly what was going to happen.

I picked up the lost symbol on my way home from work when I saw it was in a cheap paperback version. I had been reading Wuthering Heights but was finding it hard to get through and a trashy easy to read book was more what I was in the mood for. Even tho I knew I it wasn't going to be anything special, the writing drove me nuts! (not as bad as twilight but still bad). The characters were flat and I guessed the big twist from about page 100. The end is crap, everything gets wrapped up 80-100 pages from the end but it doesn't finish there.

Even the story doesn't salvage it, it's rather dull and theres not much urgency like the other books. The 1 page chapters are really annoying. I found myself skimming over the parts where langdon starts talking like a textbook. I think I'm gonna stick to my classics in future.

A Primal Nut

eoin wrote: »

Sorry, but he is not an excellent writer. I don't care if it's not actually true or not - doesn't bother me at all. I just find his prose very poor.

The only people who care about prose are probably people who study literature. I just want the writer to explain everything in normal language like anyone else telling a story which is waht he does. Its the characters, storyline, etc that matter.

I only read one book - the Deception Point - and enjoyed it up until the ending where he

took the least obvious guy people would expect to be the villain and selected him as the villain for the sake of surprise even though the writer failed to think of a decent motive that would actually benefit that person. The motive turned out to be the exact one expected of the most suspicious characters, he simply applied it to someone else even though it made no sense. He did something similiar in Angels & Demons (I only seen the film) which would make any other book I could read by him predictable, the most morally upstanding guy always turns out to be the villain.

I also didn't like the way he tries to impress the reader by explaining technologies that he obviously thinks are amazing. He is obsessed with National Security and the methods they use to keep information secure as if they are something amazing. An example would be biometric identification, a fairly standard technology which doesn't need explaining really but we got an in-depth one anyway in a pathetic attempt to impress the reader. Perhaps when the book was written it was seen as more cutting edge, but it still seems like a cheap, pointless way of trying to impress the reader.

That said I like the way he tells things from different people's point of views and it was overall, really fun to read, but I was expecting more from the ending.

dr.bollocko

The success of authors like Dan Brown merely adds wieght to the idea that the world is doomed to a banal oilless end.
Doomed!

The Mad Hatter

A Primal Nut wrote: »

The only people who care about prose are probably people who study literature.

o.O That's quite a statement.

Eoin

A Primal Nut wrote: »

The only people who care about prose are probably people who study literature. I just want the writer to explain everything in normal language like anyone else telling a story which is waht he does. Its the characters, storyline, etc that matter.

I am by no means someone who studies literature.

As I said before in this thread, I don't compare him to any of the literary greats - I compare him to other fiction authors, and I still find his writing awful.

You've only read one of his books - try the others, and you might see what I mean. Especially the second time around when you already know the plot twists. The Da Vinci Code really was a page turner for me, but when I tried to read it the second time, I just couldn't manage it.

Namabillion

Good

Hells Belle

I've just struggled through The Lost Symbol, finally finished it last night after 4 weeks of picking it up and putting it back down. To me it felt like he just used "Find and Replace" on his other books, especially The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons. Same plot, same villian, same save the world in a night crap, just a different city. Lazy attempt to flog a few more books imo.

calex71

Lost symbol had some good moments like the tense bit in the dark in the lab / hanger place. It also had its ridiculous bit's like R.L in the tank lmao.

It was also a very preachy book in terms of hope etc especially at the end

Asphyxia

I loved those books better than the film, My sister on the other hand hates them with a passion. Everyone is going to have different opinions though.

rebeve

Rubbish

JOSman

Hated the book (The DaVinci Code) but liked the movies. What I was as the problem was at the end of every chapter he makes a huge leap and you look forward to how he got there but that's it. No explanation. Tell me how you reached that conclusion.

E.T.

eoin wrote: »

The Da Vinci Code really was a page turner for me, but when I tried to read it the second time, I just couldn't manage it.

I agree - I read The Da Vinci Code when it was just published and found it very interesting. It made me go and read The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail which I found much more informative, but tough going to read through. Going back to reread The Da Vinci Code I couldn't get over how bad the writing was, I think the whole conspiracy was so new to me the first time that I actually didn't notice it.

Glowing

Dan Brown to literature is like Scooby Doo to cartoons.

Every book has the same template, and the 'new' characters invariably are the 'baddies'!

Having said that, I've enjoyed reading them, but they've gone straight to the charity shop after, they're not taking up valuable space in my bookcase!

Ectoplasm

eoin wrote: »

You've only read one of his books - try the others, and you might see what I mean. Especially the second time around when you already know the plot twists. The Da Vinci Code really was a page turner for me, but when I tried to read it the second time, I just couldn't manage it.

I found this really interesting. Like you I read DVC and tore through it. I then read his others and found them very samey. I can forgive that to an extent as I equate his books to what I call popcorn movies - you turn your brain off for them. The reason I quoted you though is that I have NEVER felt the remotest desire to reread his books - and I almost always do this. I can read a book many times and enjoy doing that but I just can't see myself doing it with these. I'd never realised this before!

I've very little time for those who spew a lot of vitriol at Dan Brown. If you (not you specifically the general you) don't like him that's fine, and I can appreciated that a lot of people didn't for various reasons but he sold a helluva lot. There was something in them that appealed to quite a lot of people and that's why I wouldn't dismiss him.

To the OP, read what you want to read and enjoy, and don't worry about other peoples opinions. If you're reading a classic and it's just hard slog with no redeeming features for you, why bother? Same if you are reading a contemporary bestseller and it's not appealing, move on. There are so many other books out there.

Joseph...

read it!!!!

veruca salt

I really dislike his style of writing. The Lost Symbol was very badly edited.