May 18, 2004 Hard to Please
David, over at Brimworld, feels my film reviews are “opinionated” and that I’m “hard to please”. This comes from a guy who calls the the monumental, controversial, ground-breaking piece of work that is the Da Vinci Code a nice “holiday book”? And I’m the hard one to please, eh?
Anyway, Dave, your site is taking form quite nicely. Perhaps you might want to add those comment boxes?
Tags: Surfer Rants
- 8 comments
- Posted under Blog
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David
said
When did I say you were opiniated? And are you disagreeing with me old friend? The Da Vinci Code is a great book…glad you enjoyed it! But come on, it’s the perfect size for a holiday and is in the end just a run of the mill thriller – maybe the idea and premise behind the book is fantastic, which it is, what’s wrong with being a holiday book?!
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Eshin
said
Oops, forgot the link to your links page (it’s on your links page).
Your points are valid. The premise is what carries it…the overall “story” is perhaps lacking. My impression of holiday books are that they are great light-hearted reads. This for me was far from that. In fact, even if the thriller aspect of the book was rather banal, the concepts presented in the book were very disturbing.
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fumier
said
I would agree that it was a holiday book. It is a rattling good yarn as they (used to ) say, and the writing is close to errror-free, but the characters are about as deep as a not-very-deep-at-all-thing.
My experience was that it was gripping, but as soon as I finished it I made a mental note not to read anything else by the same author.
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Eshin
said
Oo-er…digging myself a hole, am I?
Actually, that was also one of my critiques about the book once the mind-fuck had worn itself away. The characters did lack depth and combined with a weak storyline, it made the overlaid “point of the book” play second fiddle to the concepts he was hammering out.
For me it was more, tell me something new and I had no particular attachment to the characters either. Somehow I don’t think the plot was the sole purpose behind the book.
Angels & Demons is more of a better novel in the conventional sense. Less forays into earth shattering historical references and so on. I enjoyed that more as a “holiday book”.
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David
said
Nadim, due to your sensitivity and horror at my take on your views, I have updated my comments accordingly! http://www.brimworld.com/links
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David
said
http://www.brimworld.com/links.html
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Eshin
said
Dude…I was only playing…
Chill!
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David
said
I know I know, but why not bow to the whim of your readers?