"Communism is just a red herring!"

I just finished reading my first book read entirely on my iphone using the Kindle app, read while rocking baby (I love this phone! It seems there's almost nothing it can't do). I decided on the new Dan Brown because I figured it would be a light, easy read and like everyone else I read the Da Vinci Code and enjoyed it. The DaVinci Code was so succesful that it led to a zillion copycats and it seems even Dan Brown stole it's formula and simply plugged new characters and mysteries for his latest endeavor The Lost Symbol.

If you don't recognize it, the quote in my post title is from the movie Clue. Like Clue, Lost Symbol is a wild goose chase in search of an answer, the red herring in this being the lost secrets of the Freemasons. I don't want to give anything away but I'll just say the reveal is not nearly as interesting or controversial as that of the DaVinci Code.

Although I found his latest work somewhat disappointing, it does irk me that Brown gets so heavily criticized by so called literary authors and critics. Of course his writing isn't going to win any national book awards but it's not trying to in the first place. It's purpose like many other succesful books is simply to entertain and what exactly is so wrong with that? Not every book has to be the great American novel to serve a purpose. In fact I would argue that an author like Brown is more aware of his audience than most because he is writing more for them than for himself. His critics should be happy for the fact that he is getting people to buy and read books and basically single-handedly keeping the publishing business afloat. For every Dan Brown a publisher has there are twenty critically acclaimed authors who get to be published even though they aren't bestsellers. It's no different than the film industry, the only way a studio can pay for those Oscar pics is by rolling out a handful of Transformers sequels.


-- Posted from my iPhone