Brown’s noise
A few weeks back, I finally broke down and gave in. On a trip to the local public library, I checked out copies of Dan Brown’s novels Angels & Devils and The DaVinci Code. Even more, I actually read them! 
Vast amounts of ink have been spilled reviewing, discussing, bemoaning, and condemning these novels, especially The DaVinci Code. As novels go, however, here’s the worst thing that I can say about them:
As works of literature, they fall short. Even more damning, as contemporary “page-turner” novels, they stink. They are formulaic to the point of absurdity. The characters have the depth of the puddles on my driveway on a sunny day. They are duplicitous, in that novels (WORKS OF FICTION) should not contain disclaimers/contentions that they describe “real” things accurately — if that’s such a concern, then write a non-fiction book. I respect fiction, and counterfactual history in particular, too much to let it be sullied by such lowbrow tactics.
I didn’t expect anything from these novels theologically, as I already knew that they were full of crap. I knew going in that the author had an axe to grind wrt orthodox Christianity. Even so, I was still amazed at the ways in which the author worked to give his non-historical suppositions a veneer of plausibility and/or “truthiness.” Dan Brown obviously hates orthodox Christianity, because both books are full of venomous slander that serves no purpose other than to make people doubt the Truth.
I actually found Angels & Devils to be a better “read” than The DaVinci Code, as it was somewhat less implausible (to damn it with faint praise…). I also found the historical underpinnings of it to be of greater interest, and the “science” element had a nice Tom Clancy-ish feel to it. Sure, it fell apart under the weight of its own outrageous implausibility in the end, but at least it wasn’t horrifically offensive right from the conceptual get-go like the Code. I find an indictment of the Papacy much less problematic than one lodged against Christ Himself. So sue me.
All things considered, I enjoyed the Left Behind series more than Brown’s two novels. While both sets of novels are severely lacking theologically (the former via “mere” heterodoxy, and the latter with more blatant blasphemy/heresy), I never got the feeling that LaHaye & Jenkins were putting on airs. Brown, OTOH, seems much more enamored of his “craft” and comes across as being much more pretentious. Quite frankly, neither set/series should be high on anyone’s reading list, especially if someone isn’t properly grounded theologically.
Either a good secular novelist, or something like Paul Maier’s Skeleton novels, would be a much better choice for meeting your fiction-reading needs.
-ghp
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