So I finally read Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol"

It needs a lot more than just an editor, but that would have helped. However, I think with The DaVinci Code, Dan Brown entered the ranks of the uneditable. Editing his texts would delay publication, have an unnoticeable effect on sales volume, and run a risk of alienating Mr. Brown. I don't know how long his contract with his current publisher runs, but he has already made them a heap of money, and he'll make a heap of money with his next book even if it's The Hidden Number: The Complete Phone Catalog of the State of New Hampshire; they will go to almost any lengths to keep him in the house.

What's more, after The Hidden Number is out, all the semi-literates who worship him now would say something like "Yeah, it's not quite as great as his previous books, but I'm sure the next one is better. I hear it's going to be about a similar theme, and that he's doing research for it in Boston. I can't wait until it hits the stores."

Oh, and thanks for the nominations, folks. Now, go to the Community forum and VOTE FOR ME!!



... please? I've never made it to the voting stage in TLA before.
 
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I'm reminded of a comment by Jon Stewart. He stated something to the effect that a thousand monkeys typing for a thousand years would eventually write a Dan Brown novel......well, not so much write as smear it on the walls. :)
 
tiktokman said:
I read 'The Da Vinci Code' and would literally swear out loud at the book while reading. When I was done I threw it across the room in disgust. Never again will I soil my mind grapes with Dan Brown's tripe.
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It was fiction. :boggled:

Just what was it that you expected but didn't see?
 
I liked the Angels & Demons, and The Da Vinci Code better than The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Talk about bad writing, cliches, tedium, blech!
 
Skeptic Ginger said:
It was fiction. :boggled:

Just what was it that you expected but didn't see?
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Dan Brown himself, and many of his fans, stated that what was in the book was not only the truth, the truth, and nothing but the truth, but that it would be a huge blow to Christianity and probably religion in general. It wasn't until he was called on his lying by the experts that he backpedalled to "it's just fiction, geez, why do so many of you people take it so seriously".

RhodyDave said:
I liked the Angels & Demons, and The Da Vinci Code better than The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Talk about bad writing, cliches, tedium, blech!
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:jaw-dropp

Larson's ghost will surely smite you.
 
So, no one's reading this thread, right? I can sneak a question in without embarassing myself, too much?

I watched Angels and Demons or whatever it's called.... last week off of HBO. There! It's out! Don't tell all those JREF Book Club literary types, okay?

So, does the movie denouement follow the book's.
e.g. that there ain't no Illuminati, but it's a decidedly human whackjob using them as a ruse so he can take over the vatican - or Rome - or Europe - or the world(bwahaha)....


If so, then there may be at least some hope for Captain Woo Woo.

I don't mind his plots - it's fiction and I don't need to give his symbolic interpretations any more credence than, say, National Treasure, or any work of fiction. But it's the writing; his writing is painful to endure. Makes Ludlum look like Updike.
 
The difference between National Treasure and Dan Brown is that National Treasure doesn't take itself seriously, and doesn't make any claims about the 'history' in the films being real. It's like Indiana Jones history minus the supernatural elements, Golden Age Westerns in another setting, or the Hollywood version of Cleopatra and Mark Anthony.

As for Brown, he's ambiguous about it even at the best of times; at worst, he does what he does in the latest book and proclaims in the preface that the history, science, etc. in the book are all real.

And as for Stieg Larsson, he's no Shakespeare, but compared to Dan Brown, he might as well be.
 
I've read neither of the "symbol" books (it isn't a trilogy, is it?), but I was loaned the CD set of "The DVC" which kept me adequately amused during a lone drive to the south of England and back" . The Screenplay of DVC was dim, but I thought Hanks did his usual competent job. "Professor Jones and the Lost symbol of the crystal skulls" was at least as bad, I felt, but I didn't watch it all, as KLM was ahead of schedule into Schipol, so I guess I'll never know how it ended. Nor do I greatly care.
I rather liked parts of the sound track to DVC. , so it wasn't a total waste of time.
 
See also here http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=162452.

I read my sister's copy of The Lost Symbol. I made some notes.
It was the Dutch translation. I would have preferred the original English but that wasn't available. Apparently 6 translators worked on it at the same time - each a portion to shorten to time to market. First off, I didn't notice any changes in style throughout the book, so at least kudos to the translators for that. One mistake I did spot was the translation for a sleek car (probably) with a skinny car. They should have used something like elegant, because they were talking about a Lincoln Town Car - hardly skinny.

Yeah, the prose is really bad, but I am more concerned with the practical mistakes. For example, Mal'akh covers a fresh tattoo with make-up. This would be painful I guess.
Then, the story takes place on a sunday night (Superbowl night IIRC) in the visitors centre of the Capitol. Uhm yeah http://www.visitthecapitol.gov/. While googling for the opening hours, I found this site: http://www.slate.com/id/2228587 (But after my own Langdon-esque sprint to read the entire book in a day, I am sorry to report The Lost Symbol turns out to be perhaps the strangest novel ever written about Washington. It is awesomely wrong about what makes the city compelling.)

p.s. And he has tyres squeling on grass. I'll stop now and go do something constructive.
 
Shrike said:
See also here http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=162452.

I read my sister's copy of The Lost Symbol. I made some notes.
It was the Dutch translation. I would have preferred the original English but that wasn't available. Apparently 6 translators worked on it at the same time - each a portion to shorten to time to market.
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I'd like to make a witty reference to Monty Python's Killer Joke sketch, but I'll spare you.

Shrike said:
Then, the story takes place on a sunday night (Superbowl night IIRC)
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It's not Super Bowl night. The game that gets mentioned a lot up until no guards need distraction is a lesser play-off game, so it could be Saturday as well.
 
At the risk of being pummeled with rotten fruit, tomatoes and eggs, in the JREF stockades, I'm going out on a limb here.;)

So help me, I think the Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons were witty, crisply written, well paced, and entertaining Fantasy thrillers.

Dan Brown had me along the ride for most of The Lost Symbol, but the denouement was appallingly lame. After a cracking climax (which I admit I saw coming about a quarter of the way into the book), the ending was flatter than a warm cola on a hot day. I was actually hoping for some Super-Wooish finale that would have made it all worth it. But no, nothing at the end but humdrum reality.

In case you haven't guessed, I like my Fantasy to be over-the-top. The Lost Symbol was not.

GB
 
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