Since everyone else is doing it....
I too have succumbed to the pressure and read Dan Brown's massive bestseller The Da Vinci Code. I read it for my book club, which happens to be meeting right now without my participation. After looking over my list of to-dos to accomplish before classes start tomorrow, I came to the unfortunate conclusion that 3 hours of coffee and critiquing with my fellow young alumni wasn't an option. Since I was planning to read the book anyway, it's not a huge loss. Still, I hate being 'that girl who only shows up sometimes.'
For the one person still living under a rock in an abandoned cave in the middle of the Rocky Mountains that hasn't yet heard about this publisher's wet dream, a brief synopsis. Symbologist Robert Langdon, still reeling from the roller-coaster that was Angels and Demons, receives that dreaded late-night phone call that never indicates that you've just won a million dollars in the Publisher's Clearinghouse Sweepstakes. This time he's awakened at his hotel in Paris to discover that the Louvre curator he was scheduled to meet earlier that evening in fact did not stand him up, but rather had the misfortune of being dead. Murdered, to be exact. The murder has a heavy ritualistic overtone, and the French police contact Langdon for help. Unfortunately for him, it quickly becomes apparent that he's the primary suspect in the murder. With the help of the murdered curator's granddaughter, Langdon races against time to find the true culprit. Add to this already potent mix a centuries-old struggle over documents that could prove the existence of direct blood descendants of Jesus Christ and you've got a breakneck plot sure to spin Langdon's life wildly out of control.
It's hard to say whether The Da Vinci Code is worthy of the hype that surrounds it or not. While I certainly enjoyed it, I have the feeling that my opinion would probably be higher if it weren't colored by the fact that no book could possibly live up to the expectations that come along with this one. I think the book struck a huge chord with readers because it gives you the sense that you're terribly clever for figuring out the rather by-the-numbers plot. By making the choice to write about Vatican-centered conspiracy theories instead of a ludicrous Bond-esque Spy vs. Spy bullshit, Brown manages to convince readers that they're reading something edifying instead of the latest potboiler. It's a neat trick.
For some reason there's a deep-seated part of me that's convinced that anything that's popular is by definition crap, even though I know that's not always the case (see also - the Harry Potters). I think it's my latent hipster, who loves nothing more than to bandy about the names of bands and authors no normal person has ever heard of. Hey, I'm not proud of it, but acknowledging my problem is the first step to overcoming it, right? I try not to be an asshole about it - I pretty much keep my derision towards other people's tastes to myself. Or at least I was until just now. Whoops.
For the one person still living under a rock in an abandoned cave in the middle of the Rocky Mountains that hasn't yet heard about this publisher's wet dream, a brief synopsis. Symbologist Robert Langdon, still reeling from the roller-coaster that was Angels and Demons, receives that dreaded late-night phone call that never indicates that you've just won a million dollars in the Publisher's Clearinghouse Sweepstakes. This time he's awakened at his hotel in Paris to discover that the Louvre curator he was scheduled to meet earlier that evening in fact did not stand him up, but rather had the misfortune of being dead. Murdered, to be exact. The murder has a heavy ritualistic overtone, and the French police contact Langdon for help. Unfortunately for him, it quickly becomes apparent that he's the primary suspect in the murder. With the help of the murdered curator's granddaughter, Langdon races against time to find the true culprit. Add to this already potent mix a centuries-old struggle over documents that could prove the existence of direct blood descendants of Jesus Christ and you've got a breakneck plot sure to spin Langdon's life wildly out of control.
It's hard to say whether The Da Vinci Code is worthy of the hype that surrounds it or not. While I certainly enjoyed it, I have the feeling that my opinion would probably be higher if it weren't colored by the fact that no book could possibly live up to the expectations that come along with this one. I think the book struck a huge chord with readers because it gives you the sense that you're terribly clever for figuring out the rather by-the-numbers plot. By making the choice to write about Vatican-centered conspiracy theories instead of a ludicrous Bond-esque Spy vs. Spy bullshit, Brown manages to convince readers that they're reading something edifying instead of the latest potboiler. It's a neat trick.
For some reason there's a deep-seated part of me that's convinced that anything that's popular is by definition crap, even though I know that's not always the case (see also - the Harry Potters). I think it's my latent hipster, who loves nothing more than to bandy about the names of bands and authors no normal person has ever heard of. Hey, I'm not proud of it, but acknowledging my problem is the first step to overcoming it, right? I try not to be an asshole about it - I pretty much keep my derision towards other people's tastes to myself. Or at least I was until just now. Whoops.
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