The Da Vinci Code - What did you think? - Page 2 - Writers Forum

Stewart · 12-05-2005, 08:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by krazyklassykat

I really hope I haven't made a bad impression so soon, because I really enjoy being part of something more sophisticated than your average forum.

I shouldn't have thought so. People can argue passionately in different directions.

epone · 12-07-2005, 02:09 AM

Good information, crap (Hollywood-esque) ending.

Stewart · 12-07-2005, 04:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by epone

Good information

Such as?

Ruben · 12-07-2005, 08:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by teflon

We have discussed the topic here already. The majority thought the book and movie was made to dazzle those who knew zilch about history and religion. A mediocre detective fiction. The movie, an episode of TJ Hooker.

http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony_pictures/da_vinci_code/large.html

Oh... Dear... Jezus... Christ... Of... God...

*tries to burn trailer*

BTW: A congrats toward Connor for her(or his?) humongous post of justice

Stewart · 12-07-2005, 07:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ruben

A congrats toward Connor for her(or his?) humongous post of justice

His, or its!

Rhea · 12-20-2005, 04:52 AM

I choosed the second answer. In terms of plot line, it was GREAT. It was really interesting in that aspect.

But in terms of character and style of writing? Not so great. In fact, the lack of character-ness of the characters is downright bad, at least in my opinion. The characters were so flat, they weren't real at ALL.

And he even started 'The da Vinci Code' and 'Angels and Demons' the same way: with Robert Langdon getting woken up by a phonecall. And then he looks into the mirror and his features are described. I mean, there are other ways of starting your novel...and other ways of describing your character...

invisible_ink · 12-20-2005, 10:07 AM

I never read past the second chapter; the book was so poorly written, I actually felt embarrassed for the author.

Anarkos · 12-20-2005, 08:13 PM

Damn right. If you like the Da Vinci code, you are probably illiterate.

bobothegoat · 12-21-2005, 02:57 AM

I couldn't get past the prologue. I couldn't even get past it a second time, though I did decide to put my own comments in. My comments are in purple. Hopefully, this will show why I didn't read the whole the thing.

Quote:

Renowned curator Jacques Saunière staggered through the vaulted archway of the museum's Grand Gallery. Perhaps I don't get out enough... I honestly can't name one curator. He lunged for the nearest painting he could see, a Carravagio. Grabbing the gilded frame, the seventy-three-year-old man heaved the masterpiece toward himself until it tore from the wall and Saunière collapsed backward in a heap beneath the canvas.

As he anticipated, a thundering iron gate fell nearby, barricading the entrance to the suite. The parquet floor shook. Far off, an alarm began to ring.

The curator lay a moment, gasping for breath, taking stock. I am still alive. He crawled out from under the canvas and scanned the cavernous space for someplace to hide.

A voice spoke, chillingly close. "Do not move."

On his hands and knees, the curator froze, turning his head slowly.

Only fifteen feet away, outside the sealed gate, the mountainous silhouette of his attacker stared through the iron bars. He was broad and tall, with ghost-pale skin and thinning white hair. His irises were pink with dark red pupils.If all he sees is the silhouette of his attacker, he cannot see his pale skin or thinning white hair, much less his... irises. The albino drew a pistol from his coat and aimed the long silencer through the bars, directly at the curator. "You should not have run." His accent was not easy to place.I couldn't tell. "Now tell me where it is."

"I told you already," the curator stammered, kneeling defenseless on the floor of the gallery. "I have no idea what you are talking about!"

"You are lying." The man stared at him, perfectly immobile except for the glint in his ghostly eyes. "You and your brethren possess something that is not yours."

The curator felt a surge of adrenaline. How could he possibly know this?

"Tonight the rightful guardians will be restored. Tell me where it is hidden, and you will live." The man leveled his gun at the curator's head. "Is it a secret you will die for?"

Saunière could not breathe.

The man tilted his head and closed one eye, peering down the barrel of his gun. peering down? From fifteen feet away?

Saunière held up his hands in defense. "Wait," he said slowly. "I will tell you what you need to know." The curator spoke his next words carefully. The lie he told was one he had rehearsed many times…each time praying he would never have to use it.

When the curator had finished speaking, his assailant smiled smugly. "Yes. This is exactly what the others told me."

Saunière recoiled. The others?

"I found them, too," the huge man taunted. Said would have sufficed. "Taunt" brings to mind an exaggerated, comical image. "All three of them. They confirmed what you have just said."

It cannot be! The curator's true identity, along with the identities of his three sénéchaux, was almost as sacred as the ancient secret they protected.

Saunière now realized his sénéchaux, following strict procedure, had told the same lie before their own deaths. It was part of the protocol.

The attacker aimed his gun again. "When you are gone, I will be the only one who knows the truth."

The truth. In an instant, the curator grasped the true horror of the situation. If I die, the truth will be lost forever. Instinctively, he tried to scramble for cover.

The silencer spat, and the curator felt a searing heat as the bullet lodged in his stomach. He fell forward…struggling against the pain. Slowly, Saunière rolled over and stared back through the bars at his attacker.

The man was now taking dead aim at Saunière's head.

Saunière closed his eyes, his thoughts a swirling tempest of fear and regret.

The click of an empty chamber echoed through the corridor.

The curator's eyes flew open.

The man glanced down at his weapon, looking almost amused. He reached for a second clip, but then seemed to reconsider, smirking calmly at Saunière's gut. "My work here is done." how convienant.

The curator looked down and saw the bullet hole in his white linen shirt. It was framed by a small circle of blood a few inches below his breastbone. My stomach. Almost cruelly, the bullet had missed his heart. As a veteran of La Guerre d'Algérie, the curator had witnessed this horribly drawn out death before. For fifteen minutes, he would survive as his stomach acids seeped into his chest cavity, slowly poisoning him from within.

"Pain is good, monsieur," the man said.

Then he was gone.

Alone now, Jacques Saunière turned his gaze again to the iron gate. He was trapped, and the doors could not be reopened for at least twenty minutes. By the time anyone got to him, he would be dead. Even so, the fear that now gripped him was a fear far greater than that of his own death.

I must pass on the secret.

Staggering to his feet, he pictured his three murdered brethren. He thought of the generations who had come before them…of the mission with which they had all been entrusted.

An unbroken chain of knowledge. Does this really need to be a separate paragraph?

Suddenly, now, despite all the precautions…despite all the fail safes…Jacques Saunière was the only remaining link, the sole guardian of one of the most powerful secrets ever kept. We get it! The secret's big. Get on with it.

Shivering, he pulled himself to his feet. Wait... What did you say a few paragraphs back? "Staggering to his feet, he pictured his three murdered brethren." So he stood up twice and yet doesn't appear to have ever fallen down.

I must find some way….

He was trapped inside the Grand Gallery, and there existed only one person on earth to whom he could pass the torch. Saunière gazed up at the walls of his opulent prison. A collection of the world's most famous paintings seemed to smile down on him like old friends.

Wincing in pain, he summoned all of his faculties and strength. The desperate task before him, he knew, would require every remaining second of his life.

Damn, I'm good. I should be Dan Brown's editor. And I wasn't even trying very hard. Now I'm going to go find a way to make up for the time I just wasted.

(some italics may have been missed in the above adaption of Dan Brown's work.)

teflon · 12-21-2005, 04:04 AM

Yes, those who do not feel these technical inconsistencies, are already enamored with the equally amateurishly-mixed up subject matter.

gohn67 · 12-21-2005, 04:24 AM

Quote:

The curator felt a surge of adrenaline

Actually I think it's correct without the "e"

bobothegoat · 12-21-2005, 05:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gohn67

Actually I think it's correct without the "e"

I've never seen it like that before, but I looked it up just now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dictionary.com

A trademark used for a medicinal preparation of epinephrine.

Unless he has a syringe injecting it into him, I think he meant:

adrenaline: A hormone secreted by the adrenal medulla that is released into the bloodstream in response to physical or mental stress, as from fear or injury.

gohn67 · 12-21-2005, 05:19 AM

^

You're right. I should learn to read.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dictionary.com

adrenalin

n : a catecholamine secreted by the adrenal medulla in response to stress (trade name Adrenalin); stimulates autonomic nerve action [syn: epinephrine, epinephrin, adrenaline,

But in my defense at least the fourth of the four definitions listed in dictionary.com says I'm right.

Ben · 12-21-2005, 09:03 PM

I remember reading the prologue when my mum borrowed the DaVinci Code from the library...

Quote:

Grabbing the gilded frame, the seventy-three-year-old man heaved the masterpiece toward himself until it tore from the wall and Saunière collapsed backward in a heap beneath the canvas.

One of the clumsiest sentences I've ever read.

... I didn't read on.

Anarkos · 12-21-2005, 11:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobothegoat

Damn, I'm good. I should be Dan Brown's editor. And I wasn't even trying very hard. Now I'm going to go find a way to make up for the time I just wasted.

No, if you were Dan Brown's editor, the prologue would have ended up like this:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dan Brown

I am an illiterate moron. Kill me now.