Critique Dan Brown

[Roadieeeeeee]

Ellipsis class....

<Raising my hand>

Um...Professor? Do you mean...that writers...um...sometimes mis-use the three-dot ellipsis mark? Does that also mean that it could be over used...? Is it...um...permitted to add a period at the end of an ellipsis when the conversation trails off into oblivion....

Tee hee hee

Roadie

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

Penny,

That passage from A&D was not one I selected with great care. It's sole criteria was that someone on another site used it as an example of DB's good writing skill.

==

Roadie,

To paraphrase the immortal words of Prof. Henry Higgins, "By George, I think you've got it."

Rumple Foreskin

 

[Penelope Street]

That passage from A&D was not one I selected with great care. It's sole criteria was that someone on another site used it as an example of DB's good writing skill.

Too funny!

 

[Black Tulip]

I just finished the Da Vinci Code.
In the original language so no confusion there.
I enjoyed the story, but I was not able to figure out why it is such a hype.

Apart from the plot and the bending and twisting of common symbols to fit new theories. I like that kind of thing very much and he did some clever thinking there.

But as for his writing? I saw a lot of cliché type of thingies.
The ones you can find in the don't lists.
One example: description by a mirror scene.

I will go on hoping. LOL

 

[Penelope Street]

One example: description by a mirror scene.

A mirror scene! Do we dare tell Black Shanglan?!

Come to think of it, can we discuss when a mirror scene works and when one doesn't?

Is this the one?

Excerpt from The Da Vinci Code

“If you would be so kind,” Langdon said, doing his best to remain polite, “could you take the man’s name and number, and tell him I’ll try to call him before I leave Paris on Tuesday? Thank you.” He hung up before the concierge could protest.

Sitting up now, Langdon frowned at his bedside Guest Relations Handbook, whose cover boasted:

Sleep Like a Baby in the City of Lights. Slumber at the Paris Ritz

He turned and gazed tiredly into the fulllength mirror across the room. The man staring back at him was a stranger—tousled and weary.

You need a vacation, Robert.

The past year had taken a heavy toll on him, but he didn’t appreciate seeing proof in the mirror. His usually sharp blue eyes looked hazy and drawn tonight. A dark stubble was shrouding his strong jaw and dimpled chin. Around his temples, the gray highlights were advancing, making their way deeper into his thicket of coarse black hair. Although his female colleagues insisted the gray only accentuated his bookish appeal, Langdon knew better.

If Boston Magazine could see me now.

Last month, much to Langdon’s embarrassment, Boston Magazine had listed him as one of that city’s top ten most intriguing people—a dubious honor that made him the brunt of endless ribbing by his Harvard colleagues.

 

[Black Tulip]

Yes, it is. LOL

 

[Alex756]

OK, coming into this late.

Also I prefer my history in non fictional form with proper footnotes

The scene seemed to be wrong to me. The only time I ever had a prof like that the guy was full of himself and was the butt of the department's jokes. The most knowledgeable, world reknown professors were much differant than that.

Also come on, how can I be favorable to a freaking historical inacuracy in THAT small of a piece. The date of December 25th for Christmas was set in what 300AD something? by a POPE! it was designed to bring the christian holiday closer to the solstice *sighs and shakes head*

But then again people get their legal advise from law and order and knowledge of forensics from CSI, If you're writing fact and your interpretations of fact, write fact. Give the reader the ability to check your data to see id your theory holds any water.

Then again I don't read alot of what is popular, oh well

--A