Dan Brown

[flip_flop]

Why is there so much intellectual snobbery about Dan Brown?

The News Quiz on Radio 4 are always having a pop at him - he may not be a Rushdie or a Keneally, but as a page-turning story-teller when all one wants is an entertaining read, I beleive there are few better.

So, why the intellectual snobbery? Or is it simply a case of jealousy?

[ummmm]

I don't know but I like him.

[pingping]

I think most of the criticism relates to his clumsy writing style, his grammatical errors, sentence structures etc, rather than his story-telling ability. If you compare his writing style to other (great) thriller/crime novels, you'll spot the oddities in Dan Brown's writing. Example below (taken from here http://www.telegraph....orst-sentences.html#)

The Da Vinci Code, chapter 4: A voice spoke, chillingly close. "Do not move." On his hands and knees, the curator froze, turning his head slowly. Only fifteen feet away, outside the sealed gate, the mountainous silhouette of his attacker stared through the iron bars. He was broad and tall, with ghost-pale skin and thinning white hair. His irises were pink with dark red pupils.

how can someone be chilling close, yet be 25 feet away? How can a silhouette have colour definition?

[pericat]

When I read a book I like to forget for a while and lose myself and would not involve myself in proof reading the book. I say if you enjoy it read it and forget the nit pickers, there are more things in heaven and earth as 'they ' say! What is his new book like btw?

[albaqwerty]

agree with you peri Books are for enjoyment, similar ideas to soaps I s'pose.

ping ping, one minute he's 15 ft away then you have him at 25ft lol

I reckon intellectual snobbery

[andy-hughes]

I'm with the News Quiz people on here - I find DB's plot-lines to be too complex even for a fantasy, and his prose is as clunky as a Datsun with a broken gearbox.

That said, they also have a pop at Jeffrey Archer as a writer, and I find his books to be excellent reading.

[pericat]

yep i do reckon so

[saxy_jag]

There will always be literary snobs. Those who will tell you such and such a book isn't worth reading, and that you should read something more challenging/improving/intellectual. But many people read purely because they like to escape, relax or just idle some time away, so if they want to read Brown/Archer/Koontz etc, then they should be able to do so without being made to feel inferior. The same goes for those who read Mills & Boon, Catherine Cookson or whoever. Not my thing, but then no-one's forcing me to read them.

One of the quintessential rights of the reader is the right to read what you choose.

[burbie]

Ive just finished reading his latest book The Lost Symbol, and thought it was really good. Far fetched, and I didnt get most of the sybolic codes, but I couldnt put it down as I wanted to know what would happen next.
Ive enjoyed reading all his books, as you say, very entertaining.