DAN BROWN – An overrated novelist

I read Da Vinci code and Angels & Demons roughly 2 years back. It was around the time my orgy of reading novels reached its peak. Im giving my honest opinion on the Dan Browns 2 famous works. Here it goes.

Selling 60 million odd copies of any book is no mean task. Many writers wouldnt dare to dream of that. But that is precisely what Dan Brown managed to achieve with the 2 famous books. Why did they become best sellers? The reason is Dan Brown broght into light, some intriguing facts about jesus, christianity and the church. The reading public always loved such kind of conspiracy thoery related writings. How many of us suspected that jesus was married? How many of us noticed that one person in the famous Last Supper painting, was infact a lady?. Not many i guess. I remember asking a christian friend of mine about the Last Supper painting. Only after reading Da Vinci code did he notice Mary Magdalene in the painting.

But does selling millions of copies make Dan Brown a good author? Im afraid not. I would say is novels are well researched but not well written. New york times famously reviewed the book as “Dan Brown’s best-selling primer on how not to write an English sentence”. For one, the first noticable shortcoming of Dan Brown’s books is that they are badly plotted. Langdon could be a famous professor of symbology and Iconology. But Langdon solving various puzzles and breaking codes within a short time is pretty farfetched. Beyond a certain point things become too predictable. It doesnt need a genius to guess that Langdon is going to break another code or solve another puzzzle in the next few pages. Its like the southindian movies in which our hero drives the guts out of numerous thugs he encounters, without a tiny scratch. One gets tired of the never ending treasure hunt. Another shortcoming is the flatness of the main characters in his books. His writing doesnt strike any emotional chord with the readers.

So Dan Browns mantra is simple : ‘ Pick on a sensitive topic. Create a conspiracy theory. Cash in on it’.

Several years from now, modern writers of fiction like Stephen King, J.K.Rowling , Grisham would still be remembered for their literature while Dan Brown would sink into oblivion once the interest in christian conspiracy theories fades off.

If you are a beginner then dont bother to read Dan Brown’s books ( atleast defer it to a later date). If you are a voracious reader and havent read the Brown’s books then forget that a person named Dan Brown even existed. If you are into cheap thrills, then ‘Da vinci code’ and ‘Angels and Demons’ are your cuppa.

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