DA Vinci Code

[Hank77]

nm

Tell that to Albion, I was quoting him.

.all the while he's promoting the storyline as factual.

 

[Radagast]

Of coarse they are, it's Fiction.
If one wants facts you don't expect fiction to be facts you read non-fiction.

The reason the book created so much debate is that people assume that the geographic and historical setting of a novel is roughly accurate, especially if the author claims to have based the novel on research.

So, for example, the readers of Angels and Demons expect the descriptions of Rome to be accurate. They are not. The background history is wrong too.

 

[Hank77]

Dan Brown borrowed heavily from Holy Blood, Holy Grail and at least suggests that the nonsense in that book is factual.

Where does he suggest that?

 

[Hank77]

The reason the book created so much debate is that people assume that the geographic and historical setting of a novel is roughly accurate, especially if the author claims to have based the novel on research.

So some people who want to believe an alternate reality should stay away from well written fiction.

 

[Kenny'sID]

Yes...but Dan Brown is not simply using a certain setting. He is promoting an historical theory by having the main character discover a series of supposed facts.

The author thereby preserves the idea that he was simply writing a work of fiction, while he salted the escapades of the main characters with "facts" that the reader is supposed to think are genuine even if the events and the characters in the book are understood to be fictional.

Dangerous not only for him but others.

 

[Radagast]

well written fiction.

Actually, in this thread we're talking about Dan Brown, not well written fiction.

 

[Hank77]

The reason the book created so much debate is that people assume that the geographic and historical setting of a novel is roughly accurate, especially if the author claims to have based the novel on research.

Books that aren't based on research of some kind and attempt to be totally fiction are not very interesting books, imo.
Patricia Cornwell's books wouldn't be and neither would John Grisham's.

Hanta Yo, is a book rather like The DaVinci Code in that it is fiction laced with some truths and some Native Americans objected to it. But they rightly could because Ruth Beebe Hill did make claims that certain customs were fact that were not, etc.

 

[Radagast]

Books that aren't based on research of some kind and attempt to be totally fiction are not very interesting books, imo.

Indeed. Good detective novels explicitly or implicitly claim to be accurate regarding police and legal procedure; good military novels explicitly or implicitly claim to be accurate regarding equipment and tactics; etc.

Dan Brown purports to be accurate regarding city geography, historical backgrounds, and quotes from literature -- yet all those things in his books are wrong.

 

[Albion]

I haven't heard or read anything where he is promoting the story line as factual.

I believe you misunderstood what I wrote, but I'll take the blame for not choosing my words better.

 

[Hank77]

I believe you misunderstood what I wrote, but I'll take the blame for not choosing my words better.

I might have misunderstood you?

Oh, I wouldn't put it that way. Yes, he seems to be insulating himself against criticism over his historical revisionism by insisting that it's just fiction...all the while he's promoting the storyline as factual. You can see that it works on many people

And I just said I hadn't heard or read where he promoted the story line as factual.

I don't think either one of us said anything that we need to be blamed for, do you?

 

[Hank77]

Dan Brown purports to be accurate regarding city geography, historical backgrounds, and quotes from literature -- yet all those things in his books are wrong.

All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this
novel are accurate.
My daughter lives about 10 mins. from his house. Do you suppose if I knocked on his door he would tell me why he wrote that these things were accurate? No, I don't suppose so either, but if he did, he might say something like, '' In the 1980's the French newspapers reported that there was 666 panes of glass in the Louvre Pyramid. It was a conspiracy theory of coarse but it worked well in a fiction novel." Yike..Fake News!

Seriously though, I'm seeing in articles where a lot of people got upset. I can appreciate that and I should be more understanding.

After all we all know, fake news isn't accurate. You'd think the author would take that into consideration.
And those Les Dossiers Secrets, didn't he know that those had been debunked by their author himself? Some people just don't do their homework.

 

[Radagast]

All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this
novel are accurate.

That's a clear claim. And one that's clearly false.

 

[redleghunter]

Books that aren't based on research of some kind and attempt to be totally fiction are not very interesting books, imo.
Patricia Cornwell's books wouldn't be and neither would John Grisham's.

Hanta Yo, is a book rather like The DaVinci Code in that it is fiction laced with some truths and some Native Americans objected to it. But they rightly could because Ruth Beebe Hill did make claims that certain customs were fact that were not, etc.

You mean like this stinker:

The Last Templar (Templar, #1) by Raymond Khoury

Had a 16 hour flight back to Iraq in 2006 and this was on the shelf at the airport book stand. Such a stinker I threw it in the donation pile at the Al Faw palace.

 

[Hank77]

You mean like this stinker:

The Last Templar (Templar, #1) by Raymond Khoury

Had a 16 hour flight back to Iraq in 2006 and this was on the shelf at the airport book stand. Such a stinker I threw it in the donation pile at the Al Faw palace.

Every genre has good ones, really bad ones, and those in between. I'll remember you rated Khoury, at least this one, as really bad.

 

[Almost there]

Dan Brown said it was a work of fiction yet his readers take it a true history saying that church lied about Jesus. What are your views on the book series?

Don't tell anybody, but "the force" doesn't really exist either.

People are sheep.

 

[Albion]

Every genre has good ones, really bad ones, and those in between. I'll remember you rated Khoury, at least this one, as really bad.

I don't have any familiarity with this book but, after reading these posts, I decided to take a look at the Amazon reviews.

My basic impression about Amazon reviews is that people who like whatever the book is will tend to give it 5 stars--to exaggerate, in other words. But with this one, only 20% of the readers gave it 5 while 1 star and 2 stars tied for the highest percentage of the reviews (44% between the two of them).

 

[redleghunter]

I don't have any familiarity with this book but, after reading these posts, I decided to take a look at the Amazon reviews.

My basic impression about Amazon reviews is that people who like whatever the book is will tend to give it 5 stars--to exaggerate, in other words. But with this one, only 20% of the readers gave it 5 while 1 star and 2 stars tied for the highest percentage of the reviews (44% between the two of them).

Oh it was a stinker. Shallow characters is only the start. I did not know there were books after this making a series. Wow!

 

[tulc]

You want a good one try this one:
Foucault's Pendulum - Wikipedia
it's one of those books you have to read every word and pay attention to follow, I really enjoyed it. As for Dan Brown, I got about 4 chapters into the first book,got bored, and never went back.
tulc(Dan Brown is no Umberto Eco)

 

[Radagast]

(Dan Brown is no Umberto Eco)

Ain't that the truth.

 

[The Barbarian]

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