The Da Vinci Code

[cameron]

The plot is:

Louvre curator Jacques Sauniere is murdered in the gallery but before he dies he leaves a number of cryptic clues to a secret that he has been guarding. Robert Langdon, Professor of Religious Symbology at Harvard - together with the curator's grandaughter Sophie (a trained cryptographer) set out to unravel the mystery. It turns out that Sauniere was the Grand Master of the Priory of Sion.

This book is flying off the shelves. It is also bringing hordes of 'pesky Americans' (LOL) to the UK in search of the places mentioned in the book.

Anyone read it?

Cam

[Bombadil]

YUP. About a year before the hype. Its a page turner, just like its prequel, Angels and Demons (which is, I think, better written). But while its enjoyable to see the various twists and turns of the plot, many people have had trouble excepting that it is in fact a work of fiction--in all senses of the word--including the author himself, who claims from the very beginning that all of his historical facts are correct (without bothering to reference anything).

E.B. White said in the children's book Charlotte's Web as Charlotte the spider: "People are very gullible Wilbur, they'll believe anything they see in print."

The trouble with the book is that too many people believe it to be the exact thing it criticizes--the "Gospel Truth."

Still, with a grain of salt, a very fun read.

[Arcadian]

Cam,

I read the book in January 2004 ( our summer) and it was a page turner , could not put it down ( a few months ago 1 million copies were sold in Australia alone in paper back )

There are hollywood rumours a film will be made soon with Tom Hanks - cast as Robert Langdon...i think this is a miscasting of the character LOL

The plot is fast paced, exceptionally learned and though a fun novel: ideas are touched on the Henry Lincoln (BBC) & Michael Baigent book - "The Holy Blood and Holy Grail which caused some controversy in the UK many years ago( and incidentally from the flow on effect of Dan's book back in the best sellers lists again ).

Needles to say Lincoln & Baigent spent years researching uncommon tantalising facts...their conclusions are debatable

I agree with Keith: Angels & Demons is probably the better book as is Digital Fortress...apparently Dan Brown' s next book is about the Temple of Solomon/Key ?... there some text to that effect on the cover of Davinci Code...but i havent managed to find it yet ...rumours..rumours... LOL

Arco

[cameron]

Just about finished reading it now, and I have to say that it is hugely enjoyable. The suspense is sustained cleverly and there are some great twists in the plot. Interestingly there is a scene in the Temple Church, Fleet St. where Oliver Goldsmith is buried. Alexander Pope is also involved (not personally of course) in the solution to one of the clues.

However, Mr Brown did commit the heinous crime of suggesting that brass rubbing was allowed inside Westminster Abbey - whereas, in reality, tourists are hardly allowed to breathe.

See this Guardian article which highlights other inaccuracies

http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articl ... 06,00.html

What the hell - it is fiction after all. Or is it??

Cam

[The Ghost of Brian Jones]

Good lord, you must be kidding. This book was horrible! It was written as badly as the Harry Potter series. The elements of a story should be transparent and add to its effect not jump off the page, slap you in the face, and say, "LOOK AT ME, I'M A PLOT POINT." or "I'M WITTY, ADMIRE ME." this is an example of inferior literature and it makes me sick to think that society has sunken to the level of reading it as greatness.
I wash my hands of the matter.
I wipe it off the bottom of my shoes.
any way I could show my contempt for this book I do now.

[susie g]

Have to say that I have read this and the other books mentioned and found them all to be "Ripping Yarns". I don't think they purport to be Great Literature, but they are significantly better written than most of our newspapers, magazines and much of the stuff hitting our book shelves.

I am quite happy to be a nit-picky as the next one about issues of spelling, punctuation and grammar... presupposing The Great British Public actually has any concept of these trivialities.......... but I would rather see these books being read than what is being passed off as "literature" in some of our schools and universities.

If this is rubbish, then what does Ghost think is good?

Sue

[The Ghost of Brian Jones]

If I had to propose a substitute for these miserable tales. I'd say try some Dickens or Hemingway. these guys wrote fucking brilliant stories. but even if you must have something modern, at least look to authors such as Tad Williams or Anne Rice. (sorry, to be biased slightly toward the horror fantasy genres i'm an escapist but really these two authors are quite good at forming effective prose.) Or for God's sake even bloody Stephen King turns out some decent ones (Salem's Lot, The Dark Tower Series[particularly 1, 3, 4, and 7], and Hearts in Atlantis are good ideas). now, i am not a great authority on other genres. not that i haven't read them, just i haven't enjoyed them much. other authors to see are: Andre Dubus, Flannery O'Conner, E. A. Poe, J.R.R. Tolkien, Nathaniel Hawthorne, or John Cheever. This is just a small list. there are innumerable works of great fiction in existence, persons simply need to look.

[Bombadil]

Brace yourselves! We have a Hemingway and Dickens fan!

I have the complete works of both authors, gifts they were. I have not been able to suffer the trudge through any single work from either of them. I know why Hemingway blew his face off a few pages into every story.

No accounting for taste I suppose.

I do love Tolkien, though.

[pseud]

The elements of a story should be transparent and add to its effect not jump off the page, slap you in the face, and say, "LOOK AT ME, I'M A PLOT POINT." or "I'M WITTY, ADMIRE ME."

This is a great point I hadn't considered till you articulated it. One question: couldn't some of it simply be in the kind of writing? i.e., action-genres and children's stories often don't need to conceal their plot points as well as the rest.

I agree, we should run as far away from the "I'M WITTY ADMIRE ME" tone as possible.

[The Ghost of Brian Jones]

true, but action genres are generaly considered "cheap" literature. i'm not saying every element of the story must be seamlessly synthesized into the story, it was just bad in the da vinci code. the real problem i had with it was that it has gotten so much praise from so many critics when real critics should have seen through it. as far as children's books are concerned, i still enjoy some of the books i read as a kid. the plot points are obvious so that children grow up to be accustomed to the standard format of stories. as they develope, so should the stories they read.

[susie g]

I've read some Dickens, which is a challenge as he was writing for a time when there was no tv and people had an attention span somewhat longer than a goldfish's.
I've read some Hemmingway-Old Man of the Sea? For Whom the Bell Tolls?- which I enjoyed, but other stuff I don't remember so presumably it didn't grab me.

Steinbeck, anyone?

Margaret Attwood?

Tolkein-----euch!! I found him irritating and pretentious, talk about "Look at me aren't I clever...!" Rather as I found DH Lawrence to be, very self-absorbed, too much stream of consciousnes, but in fairness I did enjoy The Rainbow, The White Peacock.

I love Pratchett and the DiscWorld books, some Ray Bradbury and Asimov, and historical novels.


So what constitutes "Good"literature? A good tale well-told I'd have thought, decent vocabulary? Proper use of grammar? Punctuation?

At what point does it stop being "Good"?

Just a thought?

Sue

[Rachel]

Salman Rushdie
Haruki Murakami