NationStates Jolt Archive

I have just finished the recent best seller by Dan Brown and I have this to say:

The plot was a meaningless piece of transparent tripe that barely existed. It was nothing more than a poorly constructed vehicle for the author's bizaare beliefs regarding the Grail and a general attack on the Catholic church who (according to Brown) has secrets and evil flowing from everywhere. The characters are virtually non existent and they are all badly type cast - for example there's the eccentric British millionaire equipped with phrases like 'old boy' and also happens to be sexist and nationalistic as well as being a member of the aristocracy. The other two main characters, Langdon and Neveu, are transparent and featurelessly bland.

Brown conviently remvoes the French language from the book even though 2/3 of the action happens in France - apparently his reason is that Nevue prefers speaking in English. So the book has absolutely no realism whatsover.

Finally Brown claims that alot of his book is based on fact. What a travesty, to claim this piece of blatant fiction as historical fact. The Grail theory which he puts forward has been long disproved by most major historians and it has been proved that the Priory of Scion was a fake constructed by a mad Frenchman who wanted to prove he had links to the Merovingians.

That might be true, but it's still a damn good book ... ;-)


republicofgaea.tripod.com (http://republicofgaea.tripod.com)

for the author's bizaare beliefs regarding the Grail and a general attack on the Catholic church who (according to Brown) has secrets and evil flowing from everywhere. The characters are virtually non existent and they are all badly type cast - for example there's the eccentric British millionaire equipped with phrases like 'old boy' and also happens to be sexist and nationalistic as well as being a member of the aristocracy. The other two main characters, Langdon and Neveu, are transparent and featurelessly bland.

Brown conviently remvoes the French language from the book even though 2/3 of the action happens in France - apparently his reason is that Nevue prefers speaking in English. So the book has absolutely no realism whatsover.

In fact, if you look at his website, it is far from an attack on Catholiscism and many theologists have written congratulating him on this book. :rolleyes:

The character is a delibrate cliche.

Actually, I do not think that they are transparent, but that is a matter of opinion, I suppose.

So I take it you want to be translating French? This book is aimed at a BRITISH AND AMERICAN audience, and the book's hardly going to sell well if half of it's in French. :rolleyes:

It appears to me that you really haven't read the book well enough if you see it as a blatant attack on Catholiscism. And regardless of whether or not the theory is not good, it's still educational in parts. And of course he's not going to relate to real characters! :rolleyes:

While I agree with Tony Robinson that the theory put forward by the book is indeed untrue, the blood-line grail has never been convincingly disproven. And as for the Catholic Church having secrets and lies... Are you trying to say that's unrealistic? Have you not seen the last two thousand years?

Oh, and British aristocrats are sexist and nationalistic.

Great book. Period.

I loved the book 'cause it made me think... (well that wasn't the only reason)
Every good book does that to you. You shouldn't take
every word literally. The book raises the quoestion "what if..."

...And also if you check the paintings mentioned in the book
there's an extra arm and that other stuff... Maybe I'm just
easy... Or something :p

Its coffee culture trash. Read a classic like Dickens or Bronte.

Wasnt a bad book. Wasnt the best either.

I loved the book 'cause it made me think... (well that wasn't the only reason)
Every good book does that to you. You shouldn't take
every word literally. The book raises the quoestion "what if..."

...And also if you check the paintings mentioned in the book
there's an extra arm and that other stuff... Maybe I'm just
easy... Or something :p
:eek: Hmm! Where is it?
http://fits.depauw.edu/aharris/Courses/ArtH132/galleries/images/fullsize/fs_da_Vinci_Last_Supper_uncleaned.jpg

Its coffee culture trash. Read a classic like Dickens or Bronte.

Dickens was a talentless moron who couldn't write a sentence in less than a hundred words. Bronte was unforgivably and consistently dull. I managed to get an A at A level english with this argument, despite the tutors insisting we should be positive about the classics, so I figure I might have a decent outlook on this.

Dickens was a talentless moron who couldn't write a sentence in less than a hundred words. Bronte was unforgivably and consistently dull. I managed to get an A at A level english with this argument, despite the tutors insisting we should be positive about the classics, so I figure I might have a decent outlook on this.

Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights is a fantastic book.

Dickens was a talentless moron who couldn't write a sentence in less than a hundred words. Bronte was unforgivably and consistently dull.

Oh hell yes!

I've got to say that the Da Vinci code was bland, bland, bland. I was able to predict every plot development at least thirty pages ahead and I have to say that the author really does have something of a beef with the Catholic Church, or more accurately priests on an individual basis. Read one of his other books Angels and Demons and you really start finding a concurrent theme, as well as a certain lack of originality. Sure, there is always some minor rider in the dialogue ("Oh, the church ain't so bad... pretty buildings..." :D ) but otherwise the generalised negativity just gets on your nerves. And this from a protestant!

Personally, I'd rate Indiana Jones as a better example of the genre than these books,

That book is heresy and should be burned by all. Honestly it is libel so I don't see why it is regarded as a decent book.

I gave it a big fat MEH. Obviously, being a fiction, none of it was true. But it was easy to read.

That book is heresy and should be burned by all. Honestly it is libel so I don't see why it is regarded as a decent book.

Dude, it's cos the church did stuff like that in the past that makes people write things like the Da Vinci Code. And it's not libel because all the characters in it are fictional. Also, there's people who'd say the bible is libel (including Mr. Brown), so the church generally likes to keep it's head down when the words 'book' and 'lies' are in the same sentence.

Did anyone see Tony Robinsons program pulling the entire thing apart (even the bits labelled as "Fact" at the front)?

Yeah. And Tony Robinson IS MY GOD.

I have just finished the recent best seller by Dan Brown and I have this to say:

The plot was a meaningless piece of transparent tripe that barely existed. It was nothing more than a poorly constructed vehicle for the author's bizaare beliefs regarding the Grail and a general attack on the Catholic church who (according to Brown) has secrets and evil flowing from everywhere. The characters are virtually non existent and they are all badly type cast - for example there's the eccentric British millionaire equipped with phrases like 'old boy' and also happens to be sexist and nationalistic as well as being a member of the aristocracy. The other two main characters, Langdon and Neveu, are transparent and featurelessly bland.

Brown conviently remvoes the French language from the book even though 2/3 of the action happens in France - apparently his reason is that Nevue prefers speaking in English. So the book has absolutely no realism whatsover.

Finally Brown claims that alot of his book is based on fact. What a travesty, to claim this piece of blatant fiction as historical fact. The Grail theory which he puts forward has been long disproved by most major historians and it has been proved that the Priory of Scion was a fake constructed by a mad Frenchman who wanted to prove he had links to the Merovingians.

*Cheers*

This is probably one of the few things that I agree whole heartedly with you on ;) :)

(And Wuthering Heights is an awesome book)

-snip-
You're alive!
:fluffle:

You do realise the Da Vinci code is fiction right?

Dickens was a talentless moron who couldn't write a sentence in less than a hundred words.
you get payed by the word and see how much YOU write

Bronte was unforgivably and consistently dull. I managed to get an A at A level english with this argument, despite the tutors insisting we should be positive about the classics, so I figure I might have a decent outlook on this.
I DESPISE the Bronte sisters

That book is heresy and should be burned by all. Honestly it is libel so I don't see why it is regarded as a decent book.
Oh Commando2, you're always good for a laugh! :p

You're alive!
:fluffle:
:fluffle:

But Conceptualists is no more :(

I might ask why that nation was deleted though.

You do realise the Da Vinci code is fiction right?
You'd be amazed at the amount of people that don't realise that though (Dan Brown included).

I have sworn not to read the book but my wife asked me to buy it for her today and while I was waiting for the Tube train to set off I read the opening page (the one before the prologue). There's a glaring error on the first page, in fact it's the first word "Fact".

I haven't read the book, but I have read various reviews of it both published and on other message boards and my brother has read it and described it to me. It seems that Brown has taken some of the story in The Holy Blood And The Holy Grail and added in various other conspiracy theories to make the plot of his book. I read The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail many years ago. I have a couple of copies of the paperback kicking around somewhere. It's a good book, but it has a problem. A lot of it has been disproved. Most importantly the whole Priory of Sion part was shown to be a hoax (or at the very least the veracity of it is hotly debated, mostly by people with conspiracy theories to sell).

:fluffle:

But Conceptualists is no more :(

I might ask why that nation was deleted though.
http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=397696
The video with the gay guys.

http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=397696
The video with the gay guys.
I know that. But originally it was just a three day forum ban.

Must have been upgraded or some such. Shame, I liked Conceptualists.

I agree that The Da Vinci Code is terribly written and factually incorrect. But the idea of creating fake history in order to sell a product is nothing new. It may be new to books, but it is following in the trend begun by "The Blaire Witch Project" and continued in "September Tapes", "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (the new version), and to a lesser extent "Open Water". It is a marketing strategy that has proven very effective. The average person is very gullible and will believe anything presented to them as if it were fact. We saw how "The Blaire Witch Project" had many people believing that this movie really was footage recovered under mysterious circumstances, and other people who did not believe that obvious fabrication still believed that there really was a Blaire Witch myth (there wasnt, it was invented for the movie). Again, in "September Tapes" a lot of people really believe this is real footage captured in Afghanistan by a documentary film maker. Texas Chainsaw Massacre has people believing that the so called evidence footage at the end is real crime footage, and that the events in the movie really happened. This has been done before and has proven very effective, so its not a big surprise to see it done in the book arena to promote an otherwise terrible book.

:eek: Hmm! Where is it?
http://fits.depauw.edu/aharris/Courses/ArtH132/galleries/images/fullsize/fs_da_Vinci_Last_Supper_uncleaned.jpg
On Mary Madeline's shoulder.

i totally agree that this book was written horribly. it annoyed me from the first page to the last. but i have to admit that i did find it interesting. none of his theories were original, and of course much of it is false hence the word fiction. the conspirecy theories make it an interesting story.

that being said the stuff with da vinci's art has been discused in the art world for quite some time. much of his discussion on the art itself is pretty accurate. what it means and the relevance or involvement with secret societies and such comes from different theories not necessarily related to the discussion in the art world.

anyone who is insulted by this book should really get a hobby!

It was a fun read, but it's fiction, and supposed to be fun.
The only truth to it is that The Freemasons, the Templars and the Iluminatti know the true secrets of the Priory of Sion and the Grail Blodline and we really do control the world. :eek:


BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! :)

anyone who is insulted by this book should really get a hobby!

It isn't the book that insults me, it is the people that act as if there is fact in it. And the people that say it is a good book (honestly, if you want to read a decent book on the same theme try Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco).

It's fun as long as the readers remember that the Da Vinci Code is a FICTION. As in "Not Real". I've been reading this book just for fun (once in Korean, and currently in English, since the translation didn't satisfy me) while laughing at the number of books that dissect the novel. I mean, it's FICTION, for heaven's sake! LOL!