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Dan Brown: Angels And Demons
- Thread starter Rogue
- Start date
Steph
New Member
I read Angels and Demons after The DaVinci Code and I don't think it matters. The first half was absolutely great, but it got a little "out there" if you know what I mean. It began to get really hard to pay attention to what was going on.
I hate to not finish a book, but I felt as if I was forcing myself to. That's not a cool feeling. Angels and Demons was dissapointing to me, although I loved 'Code, Deception Point and 'Fortress. Maybe in the next two years I'll start to read it again, with more patience then I had the last time.
I hate to not finish a book, but I felt as if I was forcing myself to. That's not a cool feeling. Angels and Demons was dissapointing to me, although I loved 'Code, Deception Point and 'Fortress. Maybe in the next two years I'll start to read it again, with more patience then I had the last time.
ions
New Member
I work at a bookstore as a seasonal schmo and everytime someone asks me for one of the Browns, it happens at least once a shift, I always always always point out Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum. For the first time today someone actually took my advice and put down Angels and Demons and bought the Eco. It's a small thing, but it's a nice thing. Made my shift.
ions
New Member
CDA said:
The shady part of it is I haven't read Foucault's Pendulum. Yet.
It's most likely the book I will choose to read after I finish The Brothers Karamazov. I would prefer something shorter but I want to be able to recommend something instead of Brown without lieing. I own a copy that I have flipped through and read excerpts here and there. The little bits I've read are far better than any of Brown's complete works.
Sergo
New Member
Oh, how long have I waited to post on Mr. Brown and his works...
Sorry, folks, those who like him very much, you should not read this, maybe.
I read DVC, Angels & Demons and Digital Fortress.
Really, the reason for reading three of Mr. Brown's books in a row was that I bought them together, so I decided to get it for the money spent.
I agree with Ell that to read Mr. Brown's books one may need to "put one's brain on hold". I have thought a lot about how to say it better, and found the same words.
Really, Mr. Brown writes well. He is a master of suspense. But what kills him for me - is his inability, or his reluctance to keep closer to reality, to common sense, to predictability in the scientific sense, i.e. when the Director of NSA and his high officers are faced with a problem to find a difference between Uranium and Plutonium, or later between two different isotopes of Uranium, NO ONE remembers the Mendeleev's Periodic Table of Elements, which should be the first alternative to check in that case.
That's good when you cannot predict what will be on the next page, but I am not willing to pay for it with my common sense, which says to me that what I am reading is impossible outside of lunatic asylum.
So: I can fill several pages with what I think is wrong with Mr. Brown's works. And if anybody is interested - I am ready to. But I do not think it is OK to do it here.
Errr... Ehhh... Really, when I succeeded at "putting my brain on hold", - I enjoyed the reading a lot. Maybe, if every book could be cleaned of all these things I do not like there, Mr. Brown could become one of my favorite authors. But there would be no book left with more than a hundred pages in it or so...
Sorry, folks, those who like him very much, you should not read this, maybe.
I read DVC, Angels & Demons and Digital Fortress.
Really, the reason for reading three of Mr. Brown's books in a row was that I bought them together, so I decided to get it for the money spent.
I agree with Ell that to read Mr. Brown's books one may need to "put one's brain on hold". I have thought a lot about how to say it better, and found the same words.
Really, Mr. Brown writes well. He is a master of suspense. But what kills him for me - is his inability, or his reluctance to keep closer to reality, to common sense, to predictability in the scientific sense, i.e. when the Director of NSA and his high officers are faced with a problem to find a difference between Uranium and Plutonium, or later between two different isotopes of Uranium, NO ONE remembers the Mendeleev's Periodic Table of Elements, which should be the first alternative to check in that case.
That's good when you cannot predict what will be on the next page, but I am not willing to pay for it with my common sense, which says to me that what I am reading is impossible outside of lunatic asylum.
So: I can fill several pages with what I think is wrong with Mr. Brown's works. And if anybody is interested - I am ready to. But I do not think it is OK to do it here.
Errr... Ehhh... Really, when I succeeded at "putting my brain on hold", - I enjoyed the reading a lot. Maybe, if every book could be cleaned of all these things I do not like there, Mr. Brown could become one of my favorite authors. But there would be no book left with more than a hundred pages in it or so...
Gem
kickbox
I'd have to agree with your comments Sergo. I'm not the most discerning of readers but i wish i hadn't wasted two hours of my life reading this.
Usually, if the story is gripping enough I have no problem getting past below par writing, but with this book even i was shaking my head in frustration. Sticking cliffhangers at the end of almost every chapter just highlights how little substance the chapters actually have (or i am thinking of the Da Vinci Code here? I don't know, they are both meshed together in my brain).
Having said all that however, i should probably admit that whilst i was reading it, i did find it hard to put down and read it in one sitting.
Spiralsky, what did you like about this book? My brother was a complete non reader but he read this and the Da Vinci Code, loved them and now spends a good part of his free time reading (so maybe i'm biased against Mr.Brown because he managed to do what i couldn't - get my brother into a bookshop).
So I suppose Mr. Brown has his uses.
Stewart, not sure the smiley softened the blow, you meanie
Usually, if the story is gripping enough I have no problem getting past below par writing, but with this book even i was shaking my head in frustration. Sticking cliffhangers at the end of almost every chapter just highlights how little substance the chapters actually have (or i am thinking of the Da Vinci Code here? I don't know, they are both meshed together in my brain).
Having said all that however, i should probably admit that whilst i was reading it, i did find it hard to put down and read it in one sitting.
Spiralsky, what did you like about this book? My brother was a complete non reader but he read this and the Da Vinci Code, loved them and now spends a good part of his free time reading (so maybe i'm biased against Mr.Brown because he managed to do what i couldn't - get my brother into a bookshop).
So I suppose Mr. Brown has his uses.
Stewart, not sure the smiley softened the blow, you meanie
Sergo
New Member
Gem said:I'd have to agree with your comments Sergo. I'm not the most discerning of readers but i wish i hadn't wasted two hours of my life reading this.
Usually, if the story is gripping enough I have no problem getting past below par writing, but with this book even i was shaking my head in frustration. Sticking cliffhangers at the end of almost every chapter just highlights how little substance the chapters actually have (or i am thinking of the Da Vinci Code here? I don't know, they are both meshed together in my brain).
Having said all that however, i should probably admit that whilst i was reading it, i did find it hard to put down and read it in one sitting.
Spiralsky, what did you like about this book? My brother was a complete non reader but he read this and the Da Vinci Code, loved them and now spends a good part of his free time reading (so maybe i'm biased against Mr.Brown because he managed to do what i couldn't - get my brother into a bookshop).
So I suppose Mr. Brown has his uses.
Stewart, not sure the smiley softened the blow, you meanie
Thanks, Gem.
I think that if somebody started reading after reading DaVinci Code - that's good. Though... Sometimes I think that reading in itself is not a virtue, as keeping a dog does not necessary mean the person loves animals.
Kenny Shovel
Active Member
Sergo said:
Stewart said:
I’ve noticed on a number of book boards that people seem to spend inordinate amounts of time posting about books and authors they don’t like; I must be missing something as I don’t see what they get from it.
Perhaps it’s a personal thing, but if I strongly dislike a book then it just doesn’t interest me in any way. I’ll probably ignore a thread discussing it, or at most make a quick post saying why I don’t like it. But some people, and I’m using your quote as an example rather than trying to single you out Stewart, seem to be almost offended that people have what they regard as poor taste. Well, if they do, so what?
Maybe it’s just something I’ve grown out of; as I used to be a bit of a music Nazi. But now I’m more relaxed about this kind of thing. So what if millions of people buy some soulless nonsense, if their lack of taste means I can find a Bessie Smith or Mahalia Jackson CD in the bargain bin for £4 so much the better for me.
I can understand the point about people not explaining why they like or dislike something, but that’s the same whatever their taste happens to be. I’m with Sergo on this; people do have all kinds of taste, sometimes good, sometimes bad. As long as I can find the books I enjoy I couldn’t care less what the rest of the world was reading.
Regards,
K-S
chris_2005
New Member
Angels and Demons - Dan Brown
I started reading Angels and Demons, after I read The Da Vinci Code, so I was used to the way Dan Brown plots his mysteries. I must say that he does not deviate much from his modus operandi. You can say that Angels and Demons is his blueprint for The Da Vinci Code because the structure did not deviate at all, even though the bad guys, the premise and the conclusions changes.
I liked the book, I liked the Da Vinci Code too. But it was just a real nagging feeling of: "been there done that" when I am reading the book. Brown repeated use the same plotting gets real tiring real fast. Now, I did enjoy the way he fleshes out his characters and the way he weaves historical facts into the story. He is an excellent writer of fiction. He knows how to build suspense, slowly give the reader details and he is very good at saving the big surprise for the end.
This story, however, has an apocalyptic moment that is really hard to swallow. I will just leave it at that.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I read it in a period of three days. But once again, there was a nagging feeling that we have seen the story structure before.
I started reading Angels and Demons, after I read The Da Vinci Code, so I was used to the way Dan Brown plots his mysteries. I must say that he does not deviate much from his modus operandi. You can say that Angels and Demons is his blueprint for The Da Vinci Code because the structure did not deviate at all, even though the bad guys, the premise and the conclusions changes.
I liked the book, I liked the Da Vinci Code too. But it was just a real nagging feeling of: "been there done that" when I am reading the book. Brown repeated use the same plotting gets real tiring real fast. Now, I did enjoy the way he fleshes out his characters and the way he weaves historical facts into the story. He is an excellent writer of fiction. He knows how to build suspense, slowly give the reader details and he is very good at saving the big surprise for the end.
This story, however, has an apocalyptic moment that is really hard to swallow. I will just leave it at that.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I read it in a period of three days. But once again, there was a nagging feeling that we have seen the story structure before.