Dan Brown Sucks, Too

[inverarity]

I've never read any of Dan Brown's books, not so much because I've heard he's a sucky author, but because they just don't interest me. I've never seen the movies, either.

Language Log has done some really excellent academic snarking on Dan Brown's literariness, but I just found a couple of excerpts from his first book, Digital FortressWell, now he

Comments

simple research fail

[anonymous]

I enjoyed _Angels and Demons_ and quasi-enjoyed _The Da Vinci Code_ despite the poor writing and the suspension of belief required to believe that all of the events took place in a single night (_A&D_, I don't remember about _Code_).

I just finished _The Lost Symbol_ though, and I couldn't help thinking all of the way through it that would be awesome if it were read in a Mystery Science Theater way. Some basic location research would be nice - even if he weren't a millionaire author, he LIVES on the east coast! How hard would it be to come visit DC to make sure your place descriptions are accurate? The one that stood out the most to me was being able to see the National Cathedral from the Tenleytown metro stop - you can't at all and there's normally a few lost tourists wandering around that stop wondering how in the world to get there.

Mini rant of sloppily researched things that annoyed me:
-The Smithsonian's storage facility does not count as a 'secret museum.' Yeah, okay, it's exact location isn't widely publicized, but that doesn't make it a secret museum.

-His ability to walk through the main Capitol building after normal touring hours without an escort. Highly unlikely.

-Seeing the National Cathedral from Tenleytown metro is impossible; it's a half hour walk (down hill) down Wisconsin Ave (not Massachusetts - the cathedral sits between the two roads, either will get you there, but Mass Ave is a 15-20 minute walk from the metro).

-The partition in the cab that's such a plot point; there are no partitions in DC cabs (at least all the ones I've ever taken). Most of our cabs are just like normal cars on the inside, albeit with meters (these days) and signs.

-Checking Metro Center for the characters would take longer than a minute or two; it's one of the largest stations in the system.

-King Street metro and the Amtrak station are two different stations with two different sets of track. King Street also isn't that big.

-The big George Washington Masonic lodge may be "just across the street from the King Street metro", but it's also up a huge hill - you're going to be walking about 15 minutes to get to the front doors.

-Locating the metro conductor in the 3rd car? Very rarely do they leave the consoles at the front of the train. Yes, it seems petty, but its also not terribly hard to get right.

Do I feel better now getting that off my chest? Why, yes, I do!

-So this is real life