Why Do People Like "The Da Vinci Code"?

[JenniferL]

Because it makes them feel smart.

 

That probably bothers some of you. You know who you are. Let me guess, you hold a college degree and you read novels for pleasure. You are not other people

 

I have no idea why we expect the entire world to share our preferences. We justify it by saying "Well, every I know does it this way..." We choose our friends because they reinforce us. They drive the same cars we do, eat the same kinds of food, make the same kind of money. Its the same reason so many people were horrified that George Bush won reelection. You don't know anyone who voted for him, because you don't hang out with those kind of people.

 

But I digress. Around three quarters of adult Americans have never been to college. Not "didn't finish college". Never went. And of these, most of them don't read. They'll read magazines, and the ticker at the bottom of CNN Headline News, but not a newspaper, or a novel.

 

So you get "The DaVinci Code". Its a novel, yes. But the chapters are, no joke, two pages long. I remember when I was reading it, realizing that I was on Chapter 33 and I was less than half way through. Shorter chapters are easier to comprehend. You feel like you're just flying through the book. Along the way, you get treated to fantastic descriptions of art you'll never get a chance to see for yourself, the history of places you'll never see and just enough of a real life mystery to make you feel like you're being included on a secret.

 

Couple this with a series of puzzles that You Can Solve Too! and you've got one hell of an addicting novel. Hell, I managed to solve one of the puzzles before the guy with a Ph.D. in Art History did, so I got to feel smug and self-righteous for about twenty pages.

 

Think of the happy feeling you got the first time you realized Tigraine was Rand's real mother. Remember how accomplished you felt? How you wanted to rush right out to the internet and tell everyone about your discovery? Eventually, that feeling fades. After you've solved dozens of puzzles like that, it looses its luster.

 

But remember that first time. Remember how smart you felt. Now think of how you'd feel if it was the only time.

[Tessandra]

Good point... but kind of depressing :?

[MsDanya]

ooh! funny!!

 

but thats not why I liked it.. I just thought it was amusing :D

[JenniferL]

Good point... but kind of depressing :?

 

You think thats depressing? Try being the woman who has to tell the middle schoolers not to turn in papers written in "leet".

[Jhaenara]

I dunno... I liked it (not loved it). If it makes me stupid, oh well... 8)

[Maria]

The first time I read it I really loved it. Not because I so wholeheartedly agree with the conclusions he makes, but because all the cheap little tricks he uses to pull us in really did work. The chapters are short, the story is thrilling, and there is enough "stuff" happening at all times to keep you going.

 

That being said it's not a very *good* book in the sense that it's a literary masterpiece or anythin, and I don't think I'll read it again as I do with a lot of other books. But like my English lit. teacher said: "once you start reading you better be prepared to not do anything for three days cause this book takes over your life".

[Kiara]

You think thats depressing? Try being the woman who has to tell the middle schoolers not to turn in papers written in "leet".

 

If you think that's bad' date=' you should try getting a corporate email in net speak with no caps or punctuation. If I get one more email that looks like:

 

[i']pls create john smith's account tks [/i]

 

I'm going to KILL someone. :evil:

 

How unprofessional is that for an ADULT businessperson??

[JenniferL]

I dunno... I liked it (not loved it). If it makes me stupid' date=' oh well... 8)[/quote']

 

You aren't stupid if you enjoyed it. I enjoyed reading it quite a bit. But I hear quite a bit of whining from people who are offended by the popularity of this book. They just don't get why people like it. These people usually have college degrees and go through books like candy. The idea that a book based on shakey history and bad prose could be a bestseller drives them wild.

[Guest Majsju]

I found it fairly entertaining. It's the kind of book that's perfect to take to the beach or on a plane.

 

What really bugs me though are people who claim that "it's based on a true story". I'm sorry folks, but C'mon!

[JenniferL]

Well, it is based on a true story. Loosely based. Very loosely based.

[Dwynwen]

It is definitely sad that so many Americans (and not just Americans, but people worldwide) do not enjoy reading. Short chapters and books that are "popcorn for the mind" may not be my cup of tea, but if it gets people to read who wouldn't read otherwise, I'm glad.

 

Mother made a valid point about how it may be hard for us to understand people who are not like our peers. It's often hard for me to believe it when I read about students turning in papers written in leet, or that the majority of the population has not gone to college. My parents purposely took me out of the public school enviroment at a young age and put me in a private school where 99% of the students attend college. Slightly more than half of the students in my high school class alone are almost done with our doctorate degrees (medical, dental, psychology, etc.). Part of me is relieved that I was sheltered from the rougher public school life, but part of me is ashamed that I cannot relate very well to the typical public school student. I am amazed and saddened at the disparities.

[Jhaenara]

Sorry, I think I totally read the post wrong. My brain is... not around. I read it as you disliked it and that people who did were dumb... lol.

 

Yeah... sooo... anyway...

[JenniferL]

Nope, I'm just trying to figure out the mass appeal of these books. I've actually read all of Dan Brown's books. I kick myself for doing it, because his writing is so blatantly manipultive. (How many chapters end with "Little did Langdon know, that within 24 hours, all his companions would be dead." You can't really put a book down after reading that.)

[Guest Majsju]

Well, I feel compelled to point out the benefit of short chapters, at least for myself. I find it close to impossible to put down a book mid-chapter, it'd take something close to a natural disaster for that to happen. So short chapters means I miss less things because I was busy reading.

 

Heck, I've even missed a plane to Rome for being stuck in a book slightly too long... :lol:

[Muirenn]

The idea that a book based on shakey history and bad prose could be a bestseller drives them wild.

 

And this is different from any other bestseller how? :P Stephen King, anyone? Nora Roberts? Laurel K. Hamilton? Nicholas Sparks? J. K. Rowling? Dare I say, Robert Jordan?

 

Bestsellers are bestsellers because they appeal to the masses. Most of whom couldn't care less about the prose, or the sentence construction, or the actual historical accuracy. They want an entertaining story, and all of those authors on the lsit above deliver. Jordan will never be a Tolkien. King will never be a Hitchcock. Sparks will never be a Jane Austen. Dan Brown will never be a Stephen Lawhead. But the latter authors will rarely have bestsellers. And there is nothing wrong with enjoying the work of a popular author, or one who really can't write a grammatically correct sentence if his life depended on it. That's what we editors are there for. :P What matters is the ability of an author to engage the reader, to hold her interest and take her on a journey, however brief, to a world not her own. All fiction is escapism, regardless of genre.

 

And nothing pleases me more than being able to give a copy of Pride and Prejudice or Emma to a Nicholas Sparks fan and watch their eyes light up when they have finished reading it and realized that this isn't just a boring old book.

 

That said, anything that gets more people to read is good in my opinion. I don't care what the critics say. And The Da Vinci Code, weighing in at 454 pages, is nothing to sneeze at. Regardless of how short the chapters are. Or the fact that it's based on a hoax. It's a fun read, and I don't think anything less of those who truly enjoyed the book.

[Cleopatra Narisse]

I cannot agree with you more on this:

What matters is the ability of an author to engage the reader, to hold her interest and take her on a journey, however brief, to a world not her own. All fiction is escapism, regardless of genre.

 

The problem lies in that the concept of what you read become convincing enough to change your life, way of thinking, or makes you suspicious of what you may have believed, up until 'that' point, was shaky at the least.

 

I believe we all have the right to believe what we think or feel. Hopefully your belief is founded on something substancial or note from God. Which ever. But even if it's not, you own it. *G*

The book is written off the back of another book, and just like any other thriller I totally enjoyed what I read.

 

I don't believe Harry Potter is real. But I still enjoy reading about his life as if he were.

[Maria]

The problem lies in that the concept of what you read become convincing enough to change your life, way of thinking, or makes you suspicious of what you may have believed, up until 'that' point, was shaky at the least.

 

Or maybe sometimes that is exactly what we need to reaffirm exactly what it is we believe in, or why we believe in something. I read 1984 a couple of months back, and that made me question a lot of things that I have always taken to be true (my faith, what people in church told me every week.. mainly stuff like that). And I spent some time thinking "is my faith a result of having had the same things being indoctrinated to me every week for 20 years, or is my faith something I really honestly believe because it's what I believe to be the only truth?". And I came to the conclusion that I believe because it's *my* decision, not someone else's.

 

Anyway, my point in this is that if a book brings up something that makes you think about why you do stuff, or why you believe in something, then that's good. After having read the DaVinci Code I had a long discussion with my friend because she is so intent on finding something, anything, to disprove Christianity, that she grasps any and all ideas she can find. So of course she believed the DVC to be true. And *that's* what scares me with books like the DVC, books that become so popular and that has ideas which are so totally off; it's not that it makes people think for themselves, but rather that some people will *not* question what the book says, and will follow the crowd without thinking for themselves.

[Cleopatra Narisse]

It can be a hinder or an epiphany

[Roxinos]

In my case, that isn't true. At least I severely hope it isn't (but then again, most of us are blinded by our own self-delusions that we can't define who or what we are, that's why therapists and psychiatrists exist :D).

 

My friends range in every spectrum. I have the stuck-up rich boy friends. I have the poor emo kid friends. I have the asshole friends (who're like me). I have the average middle class friends who aspire for more.

 

Quiet, reserved, smart friends. Loud, obnoxious, stupid friends (don't have too many of those). Unnoticeables. People who can't help but be noticed.

 

Gays, lesbians, straights.

 

Hell, I go to high school. I have no choice but to make friends with everyone. Everyone I've asked can't seem to put me into a certain clique. Though, they're my friends, so perhaps the fault lies there.

 

As such, your reasoning behind why people read "The Da Vinci Code" doesn't apply to me because that's one of the reasons I refuse to read it. The same line of thought that shuns me from picking up "The Da Vinci Code" also prevents me from tearing through the "Lord of the Rings" series.

 

I've heard too much about them, simply. When I see people who simply refuse to pick up books start picking up "The Da Vinci Code", I feel a part of me die. Nothing can be that good. If I hadn't picked up Harry Potter when I did, I'm pretty sure I never would've picked it up.

 

And at the same time I have people telling me that it's amazing (as well as "Angels and Demons" and other Dan Brown books), I find other people who tell me that it's sub-par. Nothing jaw-dropping. A predictable adventure that follows the lines of a formula novel. In that I mean that all of Dan Brown's books are essentially the same.

 

And as such, I was referred to read "Foucault's Pendulum" by Umberto Eco. It follows a storyline much the same as "The Da Vinci Code", or so I've heard, but where Dan Brown fails, Eco picks up and polishes off. I've yet to pick it up, but because it's an alternative to "The Da Vinci Code", I know for sure that I will pick it up.

 

Anyway. That's my two cents.

[Twitchy]

2 cents?

Thats like 20 F....er...

Thats like 20 stinking million!

Well, maybe not

but i was to lazy to read it

i say they like it because they want something different and exciting to read about religion.

some pizzaz to christianity

I say buddy christ was a great idea

[Roxinos]

The Da Vinci Code applies more than "pizzaz" to Christianity. Considering that the Catholic church tried as hard as possible to get the movie producers to include a disclaimer in the beginning of the movie saying that it was a work of pure fiction, which it is.

 

Christianity doesn't like it.

 

But ya. I suggest you get off your lazy *ss and read the post.

[Zardi]

Don't avoid something potentially good just because it's popular in mainstream culture. That's just as bad as liking something only for its popularity. Give it a chance and decide for yourself ;)

 

I haven't read The Da Vinci Code yet, but I am going to. I want to see what the big deal is all about. :P Even my grandfather liked it, which completely surprised me.

[Roxinos]

The potential a book has is not enough incentive for me to read it. I need proof that it's good. And the more people I see screaming and moaning that it's a wonderful book and that I absolutely have to read it, the less I actually want to and the less likely I am to read it.

 

Mainstream culture has never had a good sense of taste when it comes to anything. Be it fashion, design, books, movies, anything! The more the mainstream culture likes it, the less it becomes in my mind.

 

But if something is popular but not touching the mainstream culture, then I like it. The Dark Tower and the Wheel of Time for examples. Both are best sellers, and yet neither touch the mainstream.

[Taya]

And yet I didn't like that book, so maybe I am just way too stupid? Hehe.

[Zardi]

I need proof that it's good.

What better proof is there than an opinion you've formed yourself? :? You have the Beatles in your signature...does that mean you like them? They were mainstream at one point, too. Just because something is popular doesn't mean it's bad. It just means it has aspects that appeal to a lot of different people.