Bonjour! I'm thinking of reading the Da Vinci Code, and was just wondering if it is any good from a writers point of view. I have read plenty online but none were authors. So, what do you think of The Da Vinci Code? ? (No spoilers thanks)
I found it to be very suspenseful, all the way through, but when I had finished it, it felt like there wasn't much to think about. The characters felt unremarkable and without finer nuances. Language was straightforward and adequate. Descriptions were simple and adequate. Except building suspense through mystery, I don't think there's much a writer can learn from the book.
For me The Da Vinci Code is a Big Mac. It's cheap, tasty and satisfying; but there is a reason you prefer a Chinese.
I read it when it came out. The subject is interesting in part, but, for me, the writing is nothing special. Certainly better than Angels and Demons though. I soon gave up on that one...
It was bad enough that I didn't finish it (which is somewhat unusual for me). Angels and Demons was better, though that's not exactly high praise.
I agree: it's pretty bad, but I think it's worth reading because the aspiring writer can study how to avoid Brown's mistakes.
^ A mistake assumes Brown didn't intend to make the poor decisions in the novel. Reading it you don't get that sense.
He made a lot of factual errors (mistakes?) due to poor research. Than you have cheap plot devices that are narrative mistakes, goofy expressions that are grammatical mistakes and so on...
Cheap plot devices and narrative mistakes are what I'm talking about really. Judging by the way the thing is written I don't think they are 'mistakes' per-say, I don't think Dan Brown cared enough to think about it.
I consider the factual errors the worst because they indicate lazy writing and lazy editing, for instance, in a scene when the two protagonists are escaping they take a Smart, and Brown stops the scene to inform the reader that it consumes 1 lt of gas for 100 km. It's already stupid to give an information like that in the middle of an action scene, but finding out that it's 3 lt/100 km makes the reader think to be smarted than the writer.
I loathe The Da Vinci Code. The idea behind it is interesting, even fascinating, but Dan Brown is certainly not the writer to tackle it. He sets up an absurd, lurid plot, full of cliff-hangers and ludicrous coincidences and bizarre, unbelievable characters, and presents all this in prose that any high-school graduate could better. A more thoughtful, more technically sophisticated writer could have done so much more with this material. It seems like such a waste. I won't read any more Dan Brown.
