'There has been much debate over Dan Brown's novel [The Da Vinci Code] ever since it was published, in 2003, but no question has been more contentious than this: if a person of sound mind begins reading the book at ten o'clock in the morning, at what time will he or she come to the realization that it is unmitigated junk? The answer, in my case, was 10:00.03, shortly after I read the opening sentence: 'Renowned curator Jacques Sauniere staggered through the vaulted archway of the museum's Grand Gallery.' With that one word, 'renowned,' Brown proves that he hails from the school of elbow-joggers -- nervy, worrisome authors who can't stop shoving us along with jabs of information and opinion that we don't yet require... You could dismiss that first stumble as a blip, but consider this, discovered on a random skim through the book: 'Prominent New York editor Jonas Faukman tugged nervously at his goatee.' What is more, he does so over 'a half-eaten power lunch,' one of the saddest phrases I have ever heard... As I sat down to watch 'The Da Vinci Code,' therefore, I was in the lonely, if enviable, position of not actually knowing what happens. Stumbling out from the final credits, tugging nervously at my goatee, I was none the wiser...' -- New Yorker film critic Anthony Lane reviews The Da Vinci Code
Sources
The New Yorker, 2006-03-13
