Just Finished Reading- The Da Vinci Code

"whose skin resembled a sheet of parchment paper punctured by two emotionless eyes" -- this is really not defensible; it's not the image, it's the confusion about what the second half is meant to modify

haven't read the article so don't know if it makes that point ah well

What they choose to complain about is 'precarious', which I guess Brown means to mean "precariously positioned":

"Overhanging her precarious body was a jaundiced face whose skin resembled a sheet of parchment paper punctured by two emotionless eyes."

But that's at best the third-worst howler there.

dark
light
religious
grand
famous
secret
enormous
female
French
red

repeating these words over and over again can only be effective in keeping people's attention

that reads like a Fiona Apple album title

The dark-skinned light fitter was religious, but his not-so-famous secret was that he liked enormous females and the odd glass of French red.

Someone give me a million dollar book contract.

Slightly overweight medical student Buck Mulligan walked up the historical stairs of the Martello tower

ha my very-forgiving-of-bad-prose wife is just as fed up with this book as I was

http://nymag.com/arts/books/bookclub/lost-symbol/

this was entertaining

"influential family dynasty"

i like how a leading symbologist and france's leading code cracker can't recognize what language a paragraph is in when it's just english printed backwards

out of all the shitty things in this (going ahead and mentioning how you can see the word "sex" in the lion king...omg), the shitty "codes" were the worst. all of them were way too obvious and suspension of disbelief was impossible. you can't help but think "these 'academics' are dumb, and the person who wrote this is dumb." the answers to all of them were immediately clear. if this were real, everyone and their fuckin mom would be showing up to get the grail.

i read this because i was stuck volunteering in a place and there was nothing to do, but a copy of this book was there.

i've only seen the moovie, but i think when yr big shock ending (okay i already knew what it was gonna be cos i'd read the source material but) is kinda "sfw? you were killing dudes over this??" then u have a problem too

"oh? jesus is my grandad? thanks for the info, i will get back to work now cheers"

otm. all the shit thats supposed to be shocking regarding religion is classic type 2 challops

it made me think about this a lot: what does it say about people that we WANT to believe in stupid conspiracy theories? is it about wanting to feel superior?

simplistic explanations for frightening randomness of life? sense that even tho yr life is mundane there is an exciting world hiding within reach? liking to be in on big secrets? not being real bright?

also maybe it's hard in a "secular age" for people to understand the complexities of how major religions became major and religious conspiracy theories provide a recognisable modern world reason, however ridiculous

that last point is pretty tangy, imo - i think that's a good explanation.

http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000844.html

^ always a good read. this might be the most ridiculous set of sentences in any popular work of fiction:

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.

I was surprised to open this thread and see it beginning with someone talking about how great the DVC is.

lol comparing it with eco

"The Templar Revelation, a MUST read"

also

I wouldn't call it 'a dumbed-down' version of Eco's work (in general). Maybe you could say it's 'not as scholastic' or 'more plot-centric' (as opposed to a novel basically being 500 pages of regurgitated research). Dan Brown put a lot of research into The Da Vinci Code but equally blends it with suspense and murder.

O_OOOOOOOO