Not that well, apparently. It’s “the codes.”
Oh, and here I was thinking it was “The Coeds.”
Because it’s pretty goddamn simple for a professional author (or his editor) to ship the sections of the manuscript containing Italian off to someone who speaks the language and get it proofed. It’s horribly sloppy work, on par with leaving spelling and grammatical errors all through the book. It would not be okay to cite the Statue of Liberty as inviting “your tired, your poor, and your huggled masses,” either. If he’s going to pepper his book with foreign languages, mostly spoken by Italian characters or a supposed expert in the works the Italian phrases refer to, they should damn well be correct.
I have a similar peeve about actors in spy thriller films who mangle foreign phrases with such heavy American accents and mangled phonetics that there is no way the person in front of them could possibly understand what they are saying, let alone mistake them for a native speaker. I’m looking at you, Sidney Bristow.
It would not be okay to cite the Statue of Liberty as inviting “your tired, your poor, and your huggled masses,” either.
That would be the greatest typo ever. :-D
He claims it’s true right here: The Road To Success And Personal Happiness Is Litt - Beliefnet - Tara Dawn Christensen Quote - The road to success and personal happiness
Gav
Fuck that. It’s got less in common with John Grisham or (I can’t believe I’ve actually been pushed to defend these books) Rowling than with the Hardy boys and the demographic that never really outgrew them.
Brown plays that sly little game of letting people build a bizarre mythology around his fiction without often directly saying a great deal to the mainstream media. That’s entertaining as a phenomenon when it’s Harry Potter, but it’s fucking obnoxious when it’s attached to religious fanaticism.
The Da Vinci Code is a symptom of much that is wrong with America. 20 years from now, it’ll probably be the cause.
Plus, someone already writes excellent Biblical conspiracy thrillers that are 100% palatable to atheists and religious folks alike. His name is Arturo Perez-Reverte, and his Seville Communion is an excellent example (heard the english version was solid, loved the spanish original). Not to mention what they did to his excellent Dumas Club in “The Ninth Gate” does not bode well for moviezations of this genre…although maybe there is some inverse proportion of how bad the book is to how much better the movie is. Not likely though.
I’ve read The DaVinci Code & Digital Fortress, and both included a preface that claimed some kind of authenticity. For DaVinci, it was about the reality of the Catholic group Opus Dei & their recent expensive NYC location. For Digital Fortress, it was that he’d consulted with multiple NSA experts via anonymous communication. The latter is certainly bullshit given how badly his imagination of encryption revealed in the story matches reality.
Lots of movies claim “based on a true story” for similar reasons - to give the gullible an extra nudge to suspend disbelief for what is usually a silly story.
I still can’t figure out the casting of Tom Hanks as Langdon. Incredibly strange choice, given Langdon is described essentially as a more bookish Indiana Jones.
Can’t wait for the Take Two videogame, either. ¬_¬
Opus Dei is a real Catholic religious group known for its far right conservatism even within the Catholic church. No doubt making it a great target for hack writers looking for stock conspiracy villains.
Why? So your average American reader can go look them up in a travel phrase guide and assure himself that they are, indeed, correct? So that your average American reader doesn’t look like a fool using appropriated phrases while travelling abroad?
I get your intellectual objection, but it’s nothing like spelling or grammatical errors, because I notice those when I’m reading through the book being reasonably conversant in English. I don’t give a damn if the italian is correct unless I speak it, however. I’m sure there’s some subpopulation of folks who speak Italian and therefore are annoyed by it, but the vast majority simply don’t. I agree the author should have done the extra work, but the lack thereof certainly doesn’t seem to be a ringing indictment given the sales of the book, y’know?
I have a hard time drawing a parallel between religious fanaticism and the subject matter of either of the vaguely religiously related books Brown has written. Whether or not you like the plotline or the writing, the Da Vinci Code is only tangentially related to religion, in that it talks about the Holy Grail. There’s no proselytizing and it’s certainly not pushing any religious viewpoint. Alt religious history, sure, but it’s hardly Left Behind here. Angels & Demons was even more non-religious (or anti religious, perhaps), despite the highly religious settings.
The Da Vinci Code is a symptom of much that is wrong with America. 20 years from now, it’ll probably be the cause.
Care to elaborate? If you’re basing this statement on the embracing of mediocrity, then I guess you have a point, but goodness knows that’s not a new trend anywhere in America. If you’re talking about your perceived religious fanaticism, I’m going to guess that you’ve either not read the book, or have an extremely twitchy knee when it comes to any subject that’s in any way related to religion.
Not to mention what they did to his excellent Dumas Club
Fantastic book. Far more literary and intelligent than Brown’s stuff, and a great read. Thanks for reminding me of this; I need to read more of his stuff!
The sales of the book are entirely due to the success of The Da Vinci Code. Angels & Demons was pretty much nothing until DVC made Dan Brown a household name. Not saying that had anything to do with the Italian phrases, but it’s just another drop in the bucket of amateurish problems with A&D.
Vaguely religiously related? I can understand your difficulty drawing that connection, but that is a pretty open mischaracterization of the book. It is essential Oliver Stone for edgy Christians, and the source of misbegotten history for ignorant unbelievers.
Whether or not you like the plotline or the writing, the Da Vinci Code is only tangentially related to religion, in that it talks about the Holy Grail.
Sure, a lot of the book is merely unravelling Brown’s enigma within a mystery within a big sack of stupid. That does not make a book where the punchline is the truth about Jesus and the main conspirators biblical cabalists a tangential ride to religion.
There’s no proselytizing and it’s certainly not pushing any religious viewpoint. Alt religious history, sure, but it’s hardly Left Behind here. Angels & Demons was even more non-religious (or anti religious, perhaps), despite the highly religious settings.
Fundamentalist Christians correctly regard books that spur children’s imaginations and such like Harry Potter as a threat to their ability to raise further generations of ignoramuses. While Da Vinci is hardly a similar gateway drug (unfortunately for them, it is a little harder to close minds than open them through such an indirect manner), it promotes a veritable special olympics of half assed tinfoil hatting for the educationally deprived.
Care to elaborate? If you’re basing this statement on the embracing of mediocrity, then I guess you have a point, but goodness knows that’s not a new trend anywhere in America.
Glad we agree on that. Murder is pretty common here too, but I’ll still feel free to single out cases that are particularly obnoxious to me as outliers whether it be a matter of concrete distinction or taste.
If you’re talking about your perceived religious fanaticism, I’m going to guess that you’ve either not read the book, or have an extremely twitchy knee when it comes to any subject that’s in any way related to religion.
It’s possible, sure. My vendetta could be based on a mostly emotional reaction due to personal trauma related to close quarters existence with Danatics. That doesn’t make his book any less shit, his closet pandering to religious folk any less sickening, and his butterfly effect on American stupid any less offensive.
Fantastic book. Far more literary and intelligent than Brown’s stuff, and a great read. Thanks for reminding me of this; I need to read more of his stuff!
Well, if I revive only one Perez fan with this thread, then it is all worth it. I pity people that mistake the Ninth Gate for an accurate description of his work. It’s a much higher grade of airplane reading.
I love how when Sidney shows up to “Beijing” it ends up being the Bund (Shanghai) which is the most fantastic city skyline in China. That made me realize that when they claim to be in St. Petersburg, they probably just filmed St. Petersburg, New York.
St. Petersburg, New York? Has Alias gotten that extravagant with on-location shots much since I stopped watching? One of the things I always liked about the shoe, in a camp way, was how they used stock footage to set up the locale, but it looked like the actual scenes were filmed on a backlot in LA.
I’ve never read Perez-Reverte in the original Spanish, but I have read four or five of his translated novels. And I don’t find him excellent; seems like pretty much the same potboilerish genre thriller nonsense. He reminds me a lot of a talented, more kultoored version of Wilbur Smith. Better than Brown, but the stuff on bathroom stalls is usually better written than his garbage. That Hardy Boys comparison is dead on.
Also, I actually liked Ninth Gate the movie better than Club Dumas. Polanski did a great job. Well shot, creepy sense of menace, Depp is great as Corso. Very underrated flick, IMO. The novel is excellent in spots, but it goes nowhere and the ending is a huge letdown. One of those “Gotcha!” endings that makes it seem like the entire books was a joke being played on the reader by the author.
Fair enough. I suppose as with so many authors like Anne Rice that have (had) a devoted following and a whole bunch of otherwise similar people scratching their heads wondering what the fuss was about.
Also, I actually liked Ninth Gate the movie better than Club Dumas. Polanski did a great job. Well shot, creepy sense of menace, Depp is great as Corso. Very underrated flick, IMO.
In that sense it is quite similar to From Hell where a great deal of artistic effort went into producing something that was ultimately incoherent. I suppose for me the best part of the book was the insane detail and the examination of the bizarre world of old books that does not really translate well to film. Were it from another director I’d probably give it higher marks, but I like some of his other movies too much to hold him to such a generic standard.
The novel is excellent in spots, but it goes nowhere and the ending is a huge letdown. One of those “Gotcha!” endings that makes it seem like the entire books was a joke being played on the reader by the author.
I guess I only mind those when it’s a bad joke. Oddly enough, I am in total agreement when that sort of cheating happens in movies most of the time, but I suppose in books I find it less blatant for some reason.
But the main reason I resurrected this corpse of a thread (I was in the field all last week or I would have brought it up sooner), what about the Historian by Elizabeth Kostova? I’ve avoided in depth reviews so as to not get hit with spoilers, but it seems to be headed in a similar direction. I’m just finishing the first chapter and it seems exceptionally promising if a little earnest…any thoughts or comparisons?
This is the most predictable and poorly written book (much less mystery) I have ever read.
“what about the Historian by Elizabeth Kostova”
Don’t do it. Not worth the time.