Befuddled

[ksmith]

So, a few nights ago I started reading the first in a series by an author I've never before read. Older though it is, the book is doing quite well, as is the entire series. Bestseller-quite well. It is to envy.

There are times when I read such books, and yeah, I understand even when I don't fall under the spell. Whether it's the characters, the undercurrents/atmosphere, or the twisty-turny plots, I can see why this work has engaged so many people and why it's doing well. More power to the author in question. As a storyteller, you don't need to nail it all. You just need to nail enough, and they succeeded.

But then there are times when I just don't get it. Characters, situations, descriptions, plot. Atmosphere. I know there has to be a pony in there somewhere, but damned if I can find it. And I've enjoyed this type of book before, so it's not a case of genre gap. It's just...zippo engagement. No moment, scene, or phrase that hooked me.

Read a few more chapters last night. Skipped to the end to see who did what. I don't know if I'll go back to read the rest. Not as long as there's Pratchett to reread.

What concerns me a little about this, though, is that I don't get why it works. I like to know why various books work because, well, it's good to know what works, especially in genres you'd like to explore yourself sometime.

Comments

[merlinpole.livejournal.com]

The Da Vinci Code tapped into Esoteric Majority Religious Marginalia/Extremism Stuff--that it, channeling perhaps heretical stuff off the strong Christian religious traditions and crossing it [pun definitely not intended] with what if riffs.

In some ways I suspect it's a relative of The White Goddess by Graves, which I bogged down in because it got to feel more and more like a complete farrago to me (built on assumptions and invention built on assumptions and invention, and the substantiation making a soap bubble film look like concrete unbreachable non-airy entity.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Admitting ignorance here, but I wasn't aware of much if any of the history behind DVC, and just followed it along to the end. I confess to having stayed up until 3am so I could see how it ended. I read it for the puzzle.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

Oh, absolutely--but there was a talked-about book several years ago about the "Holy Blood" that, while it sold, did not have the impact of DaVinci Code.

Decent fiction can always win out. Toss in a fast-paced thriller, and the Catholic church as the fall guy (with a conservative torture sect) and it sounds like a winner to me!