I read this book as a Freemason and it has generated a lot of interest within the fraternity. I am not a Dan Brown fan, or even a big reader of the thriller genre. Or is this such a perilous time in publishing that harsh criticism of our sacred cows can’t survive? But I want someone to actual poke fun a bit. And the merits of Dan Brown are a quick-pace, mystery, and immediate gratification. I know that you have to review a book on its own merits. But that’s such a horrible position for a newspaper to be in - carefully playing politician in order not to offend any readers. The lack of Anti-Dan-Brown reviews also might reveal the fragile state of newspapers - in a time like this, where nearly every one is on the verge of bankruptcy (or already declared it), they don’t want to risk alienating the legions of Dan Brown fans. The criticism is spoken in a quiet small, voice, as though a child trying not to offend his elders. The tone, overall, has been near reverential. It seems like this book has superseded its own status of book, and become more like a weather vane for the publishing industry as a whole - a sacred totem that no reviewer dare out-and-out criticize because so many in the publishing industry want (need!) this book to succeed.Ĭould it be that massive popularity on this scale trumps any kind of literary merit? That people are just in awe of the Brown Juggernaut, and choose to bow rather than fight the power?īut I think it is such an interesting commentary on the fragile and fearful state of the industry that almost every single one of our major reviewing publications not only reviews it, but also kowtows to the mighty Dan Brown by refusing to criticize it. The B&N Review by Sarah Weinman spends most of the time describing the plot, and delineating the differences between this book and “The Da Vinci Code,” as well as offering tidbits of dialogue.Īt least the Washington Post gets one thing right: Louis Bayard says the implicit message of the book’s marketing has been to “submit.” Towards the end of say, the LA Times and NY Times reviews, there’s a few lines of condescension, but as though they had been slipped in. I’m a bit surprised at the book reviews of Dan Brown’s “The Lost Symbol” - everybody’s handling it with kid gloves.
0 kommentar(er)
