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Dan Brown

Abulafia said:
lol, I guessed the plot on the fourth word in the narrative. ;)
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You're good. :)

There I was stumped as to why they suddenly started talking about the grail, and I had Indiana Jones at the back of my mind the whole time until the explanations came.

ds
 
direstraits said:
You're good. :)

There I was stumped as to why they suddenly started talking about the grail, and I had Indiana Jones at the back of my mind the whole time until the explanations came.
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lol, the fourth word was Sauniere - the name of the grandfather - but I just linked it immediately to the historical figure of Berenger Sauniere who - in some circles - is believed to have found the grail while digging about in his church in the French village of Rennes-le-Chateau.
 
lol, the fourth word was Sauniere - the name of the grandfather - but I just linked it immediately to the historical figure of Berenger Sauniere who - in some circles - is believed to have found the grail while digging about in his church in the French village of Rennes-le-Chateau
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Theres the crunch...Dan Brown had so obviously read "The holy blood and the holy grail" and had plundered it.For me the holy blood.. book was far more entertaining,although its very open ended and poses more questions than answers.

Haven't you ever heard that reading is escapism? Some people read purely to be entertained, not to have to think about it, and Dan Brown's books fit the criteria superbly. His books are much like going to see a summer blockbuster at the movies - you know you'll see every plot twist; you know the 'goodies' will win; you know the dialogue will be cringeworthy; and you know that it's likely to be a thoroughly good fun watch. Same can be said about Dan Brown
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I totally agree,i love the escapism of books,but i can think of hundreds or thousands of books that ive read that have offered pure escapism whilst at the same time giving a coherent plot and some semblance of intelligence.
Dont get me wrong,im not a book snob at all,I have a very eclectic book list,but if you want escapism and a plot that twists and turns then i 100% recommend Dennis lehanes "shutter island" or Matthew Kneales "English passengers".
 
i 100% recommend Dennis lehanes "shutter island" or Matthew Kneales "English passengers".
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Uhm, I think you're misunderstanding the concept of "escapism", chehughes. It's literally meant to "check your brain at the door". The mere fact that you're comparing the plot logic to other known works to achieve "intelligent" means you're overthinking the story far too much.

It's sort of like suspending knowledge of all prior vampire and werewolf movies, stories and folklore in order to enjoy the movie, Van Helsing. It's pure escapism. Entertainment at it's finest.

Your choices here are much more deep and thought-provoking than I would care for in a mindless, summer beach read like DVC.

Just my humble opinion!
Cathy
 
If the DVC is so mindless then I wish everybody would just shut up about it, stop believing the crap within, and consign it to the annals of crap.
 
Abulafia said:
If the DVC is so mindless then I wish everybody would just shut up about it, stop believing the crap within, and consign it to the annals of crap.
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I don't believe the crap within. But being mindless doesn't mean it's not a fun read. That's the point. It's a fun read, and not at all crap.

:) Cathy
 
But whether You can switch your brain off or not,its actually shoddily written in my opinion.I can aceept a contrived plot and weak characterisation no problem,but when the English is poor then it becomes a chore.
ultimately,Dan Brown has got a lot of people reading again so fair play to him,but It doesnt make his work any better.I might like to watch the terminator but it doesnt mean that Lawrence of Arabia isnt infinitely better.
 
chehughes said:
But whether You can switch your brain off or not,its actually shoddily written in my opinion.I can aceept a contrived plot and weak characterisation no problem,but when the English is poor then it becomes a chore.
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I agree with you on everything here. I don't count being talked down to as fun. Especially when its by a novice writer who can't emote and can't be bothered to get his facts correct.
 
Ah! We'll have to agree to disagree then, because I'd watch Terminator a dozen times before I'd remove the shrink wrap from Lawrence of Arabia! ;)

Cathy
 
Cathy C said:
Ah! We'll have to agree to disagree then, because I'd watch Terminator a dozen times before I'd remove the shrink wrap from Lawrence of Arabia! ;)
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And I suppose you wouldn't watch a non-English film because you had to read the subtitles?
 
can't be bothered to get his facts correct
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Uhm, what facts? Perhaps it's just me, but I consider this book to be a fictional novel, set in an alternate reality where current history doesn't apply. I think too many people are trying to bend it to fit the existing world, much like trying to bend Orwell's 1984 to fit today's world. Parts fit, others don't, which is what makes it fiction. Again, we'll have to agree to disagree. I have his next book on pre-order...

:) Cathy
 
Abulafia said:
And I suppose you wouldn't watch a non-English film because you had to read the subtitles?
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No, I'll read subtitles, provided I like the plot. However, I don't watch or read drama. Life is dramatic and thought-provoking enough for my taste. My goal is to escape reality, not relive it in another media. Not many foreign action films available in the U.S. unfortunately. I think I'd like some of the Japanese action films. I'm quite a fan of anime.

Cathy
 
Cathy C said:
Uhm, what facts?
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I'm not talking about all the Priory stuff. Or the lineage of Jesus. Or even the story of the Holy Grail. I'm talking about the silly little things that make a story authentic.

Things like dialogue: Teabing talking about a soccer game. No English person would call the game soccer - that's American crap. If you're going to put words into a character's mouth then you should put the correct ones in.

The London Metropolitan Police are responsible for Biggin Hill and not the Kent Police.

Langdon walks north along the Seine to the Sacré-Couer, north across the Seine to the ancient Paris Observatory. The observatory is south of the Sacré-Couer.

One of the characters - I can't remember who, states that England is the only country in Europe where they drive on the left side of the road. The character has forgotten about Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Malta, and Cyprus.

These are the facts that I'm talking about. Especially when the book states at the beginning that all descriptions of places are accurate. If this is true, when did Paris revolve?

It's a blatant ignorance of his subject matter. Americans - other than hardened anglophiles - most likely won't notice it but it should be correct.
 
And, of course, as an American, none of these things were evident to me. :eek: Point taken. I'd have the same reaction if someone used improper American slang (which I see a lot of), or put two cities of unreasonable distances near each other. My apologies.

Cathy
 
Cathy C,

I'm a Brit and I happen to agree 100% with what you're saying! And I'm not offended about all the stuff that's wrong or whatever with the book - to me, that's just being a complete snob!! I never read books and concern myself with what is accurate and what isn't. I always suspend my disbelief. The only thing that really gets my goat when reading, is spelling errors.
 
^^
What You are saying doesnt make much sense.While Im not offended by inaccuracies,they smack of laziness.Whilst a science fiction book can contain whatever wonderful flights of imagination the author can conjure,a book set in the contemporary world should at least get some basic facts right.
Right,Im off to continue my second world war book,im just writing the chapter where the Americans beat the russians at the seige of paris,after Churchill is assasinated by Ghandi.
 
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