Thread: the davinvi code

I really enjoyed Brown's book about cryptography - another "Crichton formula" novel, but much better done - Digital Fortress.

Digital fortress was the first of his books I read. It was the most enjoyable read out of the three I read.

I'm 36 pages into the book and so far I'm not that impressed. His writing style is halfway between juvenile and professional and it kind of grates on my nerves... also because it reminds me of the quality with which I've written some stories in the past and have hoped to change. I mean, if you're going to write a book, make it high quality, or at least as good as you possibly can.

I don't want to sound overly-critical, though. I just think that Dan Brown probably wrote this to be turned into a movie. But so far it has about as much literary detail as a movie would. I'll mention Crichton again because I have read some of his books and they are spectacular. An author shouldn't have to sacrifice the quality of the book for the success of the movie.

Again, I'm only 36 pages in, so I'm still waiting for something to impress me.

The prologue just tasted funny in my mouth.

After seeing the movie, a few distracting elements came up. To be fair to Brown, maybe some of these weren't in the book.

Possible spoilers ahead:

-Considering the amount of time Sophie's grandfather had, why couldn't he just place more clues on the floor instead of ruining all those priceless paintings with his blood?
-Are there no surveillance cameras at the Louvre?
-Silas is so cool plus he has a neat car, is a fast driver and shooter. When he got gunned down towards the end I was expecting to hear the sound of his keys.
-How did he escape the plane being searched by the police? He didn't join Langdon and Sophie in their escape, but he apparently got out of there and reached them at the cathedral?

I never read the book, but I saw the movie yesterday. What a complete waste of time. Probably one of the most dull movies I've ever seen.

i have both seen the movie and read the book. they are both entertaining if you take them for what they are, which is mindless entertainment. i agree that people are blowing it way out of proportion when they talk about what a brilliant book it is and how much of a genius Dan Brown is. his writing style is poor, his characters are underdeveloped, and the plot is predictable at times. however, it is fast-paced and keeps you interested, as long as you only consider it to be mindless entertainment, like it is, and not some ground-breaking new thing.

my biggest problem is that so many of the things that Dan Brown calls "FACTs" are really just complete bullshit - either totally made up, or taken out of context, or interpreted oddly, or whatever.