Doug Johnson
kickbox
Miss Shelf said:I think the controversy over "DaVinci Code" made people go out and get it just to see what the fuss was about, reminding me of what happened when "The Satanic Verses" came out.
Dan Brown gets compared to Rushdie. Let's discuss. I think it's valid. So many people believed the Davinci Code that the Catholic Church felt compelled to respond. To me that is a literary achievement. One that few writers have achieved. Rushdie is the only other recent writer who I can remember getting a strong response from religious authorities. (Historically, it was very easy to get the church riled up.) I don't agree that Brown has "no style," but even if you take that point of view, IMO it just makes his achievement that much more impressive.
If you want to argue that Brown lacks the literary finesse of say Margaret Atwood fine, but then again, to the best of my knowledge, the Catholic Church has never felt compelled to respond to Ms. Atwood.