NationStates Jolt Archive

Dan Brown wrote some excellent novels, that I thought seemed fairly credible. I was wondering if you guys thought the same. Please choose an option in the polls. Please also give a reason as to why you think this way. Just because this is a trivial thread, do not ignore it.

Dan Brown propagates trash, worse than fiction or fantasy because he pretends there is truth buried in it.

I may have been ruined for Dan Brown because the first book I read of his was The Da Vinci Code, which I found to be a) a generic, reasonably predictable thriller, b) a childish and plaigiarized critique of the Roman Catholic Church, and c) proposing an offensively reductionist strain of pseudo-feminism.

Angels and Demons was amusing, comparatively, but the DVC was blech, so I couldn't enjoy A&D, and I gave up on Dan Brown.

Any Dan Brown fans are welcome to chime in with suggestions for what of his I should read.

I may have been ruined for Dan Brown because the first book I read of his was The Da Vinci Code, which I found to be a) a generic, reasonably predictable thriller, b) a childish and plaigiarized critique of the Roman Catholic Church, and c) proposing an offensively reductionist strain of pseudo-feminism.

Angels and Demons was amusing, comparatively, but the DVC was blech, so I couldn't enjoy A&D, and I gave up on Dan Brown.

Any Dan Brown fans are welcome to chime in with suggestions for what of his I should read.

Digital Fortress is good, but if his talking about women and sex is too adult for you or simply bugs you, I do not think you could handle his books.

I have only read The Da Vinci Code, which was hysterically funny. I especially liked the forty or so climactic pages of assorted supposed geniuses trying desperately to solve the easiest riddle ever. Oh, and the bit where they translate French words to the Frenchwoman is also quality. For the matter, the French in the book in general is delightfully pidgin-y and absurd; I love how the French people just sort of interject token French words into their English conversations with each other, creating insane sentences like "Le capitan wishes to talk with vous about the dead homme." Oh, and I mustn't forget the sheer hysteria of every single description of Brown's insanely Mary-Sueish protagonist (his voice is "chocolate for the ears!"), or the brilliance of dozens of presumably educated people being totally unaware of the Fibonacci sequence, or the ludicrously implausible idea that a super-secret organization would keep its super-secrets by forcing one to answer questions about very very very basic math and science, and even (gasp!) use the super-secret code known as WRITING BACKWARDS. Very funny stuff, really, and Brown should really be given some credit as a comedy writer.

Of course, he shouldn't be given any credit for insisting on calling completely fictitious things "facts" outside of his novels simply because he wasn't creative enough to think them up himself. That's pretty asinine behavior.

....if his talking about women and sex is too adult for you or simply bugs you, I do not think you could handle his books.

Too adult for me? That's a bit too close to a personal insult, innit, especially as you went out of your way in the OP to solicit opinions.

Really, darling, "too adult" isn't the problem. More like the other thing.

I have only read The Da Vinci Code, which was hysterically funny. I especially liked the forty or so climactic pages of assorted supposed geniuses trying desperately to solve the easiest riddle ever. Oh, and the bit where they translate French words to the Frenchwoman is also quality. For the matter, the French in the book in general is delightfully pidgin-y and absurd; I love how the French people just sort of interject token French words into their English conversations with each other, creating insane sentences like "Le capitan wishes to talk with vous about the dead homme." Oh, and I mustn't forget the sheer hysteria of every single description of Brown's insanely Mary-Sueish protagonist (his voice is "chocolate for the ears!"), or the brilliance of dozens of presumably educated people being totally unaware of the Fibonacci sequence, or the ludicrously implausible idea that a super-secret organization would keep its super-secrets by forcing one to answer questions about very very very basic math and science, and even (gasp!) use the super-secret code known as WRITING BACKWARDS. Very funny stuff, really, and Brown should really be given some credit as a comedy writer.

Of course, he shouldn't be given any credit for insisting on calling completely fictitious things "facts" outside of his novels simply because he wasn't creative enough to think them up himself. That's pretty asinine behavior.

lol, true. Suspension of disbelief can be difficult. If there is a book that has messed up, laugh at it. Can make a book even better. Anyone read Old Man and the Sea? Most boring master-piece I have ever read. Gotta laugh at the idiocy of the old man who insists on catching giant fish.

Too adult for me? That's a bit too close to a personal insult, innit, especially as you went out of your way in the OP to solicit opinions.

Really, darling, "too adult" isn't the problem. More like the other thing.

Fine it bugs you.

lol, true. Suspension of disbelief can be difficult. If there is a book that has messed up, laugh at it. Can make a book even better. Anyone read Old Man and the Sea? Most boring master-piece I have ever read. Gotta laugh at the idiocy of the old man who insists on catching giant fish.

....I'm no great fan of Hemingway, but comparing him to Dan Brown is just mean.

And suspension of disbelief isn't particularly difficult at all if the author is halfway decent, but that doesn't exactly apply to something like The Da Vinci Code.

Too adult for me? That's a bit too close to a personal insult, innit, especially as you went out of your way in the OP to solicit opinions.

Really, darling, "too adult" isn't the problem. More like the other thing.

Is it possible for Dan Brown to be too "adult" for anyone? I mean, maybe a severely mentally retarded three-year-old might have trouble with riddles as complex as "Hey, what's a five-letter word for a vaguely spheroid red thing associated with Newton and religious myths about women?"...

Is it possible for Dan Brown to be too "adult" for anyone? I mean, maybe a severely mentally retarded three-year-old might have trouble with riddles as complex as "Hey, what's a five-letter word for a vaguely spheroid red thing associated with Newton and religious myths about women?"...

lol, I live in Southern US and you just described a lot of the middle aged men and women I meet.

Dan Brown is a crap writer.


But he's excellent at pissing Christians off. Which I applaud him for.


Its ironic really. If the Catholic Church hadnt flipped out and told everyone to not read the book and gone off on how offensive it was, no one probably would have read it. Because its crap.

Love it, not to mention the movie.

Dan Brown is a crap writer.


But he's excellent at pissing Christians off. Which I applaud him for.


Its ironic really. If the Catholic Church hadnt flipped out and told everyone to not read the book and gone off on how offensive it was, no one probably would have read it. Because its crap.

Love it, not to mention the movie.

Thats unfortunate.


I personally am anti-crap writing. But I realize others might disagree.


I have read The Da Vinci Code (crap) and Angels and Demons (humorus and slightly less crap).

Dan Brown, Did Not Do The Research (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DidNotDoTheResearch). Oh he can put together a decent novel, if you ignore the Marty Stu (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MartyStu) characters. The dull writing and tedious overblown plots.


So yeah, if you ignore the bad writing, lack of research, and horrible characters then he writes a gripping tale.

So yeah, if you ignore the bad writing, lack of research, and horrible characters then he writes a gripping tale.

I found his choice of font to be absolutely thrilling. Although that was probably up to the publisher, wasn't it?

Dan Brown's Novels are Indiana Jones mixed with pretension.

Quick question, Kylamus: Even after your credibility was entirely consumed in that pathetic abortion thread, why do you keep starting threads? This one is even more inane and irrelevant than all of its predecessors, and that's saying a lot.

I've read all four and they all had the same plot.

The shadowy organisation that appear to be the villain are not - the villain is whoever assists the protagonist most (except the romantic interest)

where is the it is okay fiction but anyone who thinks it is more is a dumb ass option.

Thats unfortunate.


I personally am anti-crap writing. But I realize others might disagree.


I have read The Da Vinci Code (crap) and Angels and Demons (humorus and slightly less crap).

Angels and demons is better. If you had read the quote my "I luv it" could be taken into context.

I have only read The Da Vinci Code, which was hysterically funny. I especially liked the forty or so climactic pages of assorted supposed geniuses trying desperately to solve the easiest riddle ever.

The same thing happens in... either Deception Point or Digital Fortress, I can't remember which. Maybe both of them. Something to do with the atomic number of uranium if I remember correctly. I think this must be one of his favorite gags. And Cosmopoles, that plot breakdown is spot on.

Brown shouldn't even be notable within his own genre though. He owes his fame to hysterical fundies.

Anyone read Old Man and the Sea? Most boring master-piece I have ever read. Gotta laugh at the idiocy of the old man who insists on catching giant fish.

Did...you just compare...Ernest Hemmingway...with Dan Brown?

Are you fucking shitting me?

The same thing happens in... either Deception Point or Digital Fortress, I can't remember which. Maybe both of them. Something to do with the atomic number of uranium if I remember correctly. I think this must be one of his favorite gags. And Cosmopoles, that plot breakdown is spot on.

Brown shouldn't even be notable within his own genre though. He owes his fame to hysterical fundies.

Digital Fortress that was. Deception Point was just god awful