# Stellan Skarsgard sums up Dan Brown's writing "talent" for us **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 15, 2009, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stellan-skarsgard-sums-up-dan-browns-writing-talent-for-us/496482 "2009-05-15T01:39:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stellan-skarsgard-sums-up-dan-browns-writing-talent-for-us/496482/1 "2009-05-15T01:39:29Z")
[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/14/steven-hutchison-60-year\_n\_203731.html](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/14/steven-hutchison-60-year_n_203731.html) > [@](#): > > STOCKHOLM — Actor Stellan Skarsgard says he’s no big fan of Dan Brown’s writing and accepted a role in “Angels & Demons” only after reading the script based on Brown’s book. > > “I think Dan Brown is a terribly bad writer, but he has cliffhangers after every chapter which makes you continue reading,” Skarsgard told Swedish broadcaster SVT. > > “It’s like eating peanuts at a bar. You don’t like them, but you keep on eating them anyway,” he said. I’ve heard it stated many times, but never so concisely. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stellan-skarsgard-sums-up-dan-browns-writing-talent-for-us/496482/2 "2009-05-15T01:54:52Z")
I wish I was that terribly bad of a writer. ---
**Author:** ![quixotic78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/3ab097/32.png) [@quixotic78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quixotic78)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stellan-skarsgard-sums-up-dan-browns-writing-talent-for-us/496482/3 "2009-05-15T02:12:09Z")
That peanut line is better than anything Dan Brown has ever written. Well done! Also, isn’t Mr. Brown kind of a pretentious douche? Or am I mistaken? ---
**Author:** ![AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stellan-skarsgard-sums-up-dan-browns-writing-talent-for-us/496482/4 "2009-05-15T07:00:34Z")
> [@](#): > > I think Dan Brown is a terribly bad writer, but he has cliffhangers after every chapter which makes you continue reading," Skarsgard told Swedish broadcaster SVT. Yes, if he could WRITE as well as he could come up with plotlines for stories, he wouldn’t be that bad. He’s not as bad as “dark and stormy night” guy but he’s better then Danielle Steele or VC Andrews ---
**Author:** ![Siege](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Siege](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siege)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stellan-skarsgard-sums-up-dan-browns-writing-talent-for-us/496482/5 "2009-05-15T10:38:15Z")
It sounds like an accurate assessment to me. I read _The Da Vinci Code_ and _Deception Point_ in quick succession a couple of years ago and he struck me as a hack who specializes in Perils of Pauline type writing, too. Here’s what the last straw was for me: Our heroine and another good guy have gotten themselves stranded on an iceberg in the North Atlantic after some wildly improbable events. Our heroine, of course, is not doomed to die a wintry death. Instead, she taps out a message on the iceberg in Morse code which draws the attention of a US nuclear submarine which happens to be on a secret mission in that area. Its arrival doesn’t surprise our heroine because she knows the sub’s in the area. At least, that’s the way I remember it happening – I could be wrong. Now, I’ve nothing against hack writers. One of my closest friends is a good hack writer who made the _New York Times_ best seller list for the first time earlier this year, and I was thrilled for him. He’s also, frankly, a much better writer than Dan Brown. When I read Mr. Brown’s drek, I was amazed anyone took him seriously enough to consider him a threat. I was also surprised someone managed to make _The Da Vinci Code_ into a dull movie, but that was what the reviews read. There’s a place for Dan Brown’s stuff in the world, but I want a good, old-fashioned light-weight adventure story, I’ll take that old buddy of mine or Clive Cussler over him any time! ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stellan-skarsgard-sums-up-dan-browns-writing-talent-for-us/496482/6 "2009-05-15T13:52:36Z")
Re: Angels and Demons The book is drek but fast moving drek and the actual story behind the prose is a fun ride. In the hands of Ron Howard I’ve got good feelings about the flick. Should be fun. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stellan-skarsgard-sums-up-dan-browns-writing-talent-for-us/496482/7 "2009-05-15T15:15:47Z")
> [@yojimbo](#): > > In the hands of Ron Howard I’ve got good feelings about the flick. Should be fun. Normally I’d agree, but the last one was pretty bad. I’ve not read the book, so I don’t know if the movie followed it closely, but I found it so preposterous I wasn’t able to suspend disbelief. Kept laughing in places that weren’t meant to be funny, mostly having to do with Silas. OK, we have a super-secret organization, and we need a stealthy assassin. Someone who can get in and out without being noticed or attracting attention. Who to pick… I know - the six-foot albino monk! ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stellan-skarsgard-sums-up-dan-browns-writing-talent-for-us/496482/8 "2009-05-15T15:28:43Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > I wish I was that terribly bad of a writer. On the basis of this, you just may be. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stellan-skarsgard-sums-up-dan-browns-writing-talent-for-us/496482/9 "2009-05-15T15:32:53Z")
> [@Siege](#): > > Here’s what the last straw was for me: > > Our heroine and another good guy have gotten themselves stranded on an iceberg in the North Atlantic after some wildly improbable events. Our heroine, of course, is not doomed to die a wintry death. Instead, she taps out a message on the iceberg in Morse code which draws the attention of a US nuclear submarine which happens to be on a secret mission in that area. Its arrival doesn’t surprise our heroine because she knows the sub’s in the area. At least, that’s the way I remember it happening – I could be wrong. You’re wrong (though I don’t know if I’d say the actual story was any less unrealistic) [spoiler]Because she works for the NSA she knows of a seabed microphone network which will pick up her banging and flag it for review by a human, who will recognize it as man made and send a helicopter or boat out to investigate. Unfortunately, this process will take days, by which time they’ll be long dead, but the search party will find their bodies and the printout of the doctored ice shaft/meteorite deal and expose the conspiracy. It just so happens that a submarine is in the area and it picks up her signal first.[/spoiler] That is a remarkably good analysis of his writing. I thought just that when I read all three of his books - that his style was annoying as hell, but that his cliffhangers were really good hooks - but could never have put it so well. He explains wayyy too much stuff (London is in England, you know!) not to irritate anyone relatively well-read or -traveled. Of course, that must be why his books have such wide appeal. ETA: FWIW I found _Angels and Demons_ to be a much better book than _The Da Vinci Code_. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stellan-skarsgard-sums-up-dan-browns-writing-talent-for-us/496482/10 "2009-05-15T15:37:30Z")
> [@yojimbo](#): > > The book is drek but fast moving drek and the actual story behind the prose is a fun ride. To each his own. But for me, telling me that the bad-tasting meal I’m eating will only give me diarrhea for a few hours instead of a few days really doesn’t make me want seconds. Even if the diarrhea comes with pretty hallucinations. ---
**Author:** ![cactus\_waltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@cactus\_waltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cactus_waltz)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stellan-skarsgard-sums-up-dan-browns-writing-talent-for-us/496482/11 "2009-05-15T19:41:47Z")
That’s a very Swedish simile. To the point. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stellan-skarsgard-sums-up-dan-browns-writing-talent-for-us/496482/12 "2009-05-15T19:57:26Z")
I’ve never read the guy and I never will, but when I saw the preview for A&D and they mentioned the Illuminati as the bad guys, I literally burst out laughing. Seriously? _The Illuminati_? ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stellan-skarsgard-sums-up-dan-browns-writing-talent-for-us/496482/13 "2009-05-15T20:13:31Z")
Hmmm, so I was right to worry that Stellan Skarsgard might have my house bugged. My brother said almost the exact same thing to me, word for word, the day before yesterday. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stellan-skarsgard-sums-up-dan-browns-writing-talent-for-us/496482/14 "2009-05-15T20:21:41Z")
Cliffhangers at the end of each chapter is not exactly an original trick. All the '50s Tom Swift and Nancy Drew books used it, sometimes laughably. I’d have to check, but I think Burroughs did it also, and I’m sure he didn’t invent it. A.O. Scott made fun of Brown’s writing in the review of Angels and Demons today in the Times, btw. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stellan-skarsgard-sums-up-dan-browns-writing-talent-for-us/496482/15 "2009-05-15T20:47:22Z")
Tom Swift was hanging off cliffs in every chapter back in the 1910s and 1920s. He’s a past master at it. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stellan-skarsgard-sums-up-dan-browns-writing-talent-for-us/496482/16 "2009-05-15T21:16:09Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > I’ve never read the guy and I never will, but when I saw the preview for A&D and they mentioned the Illuminati as the bad guys, I literally burst out laughing. Seriously? _The Illuminati_? It’s not really them. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stellan-skarsgard-sums-up-dan-browns-writing-talent-for-us/496482/17 "2009-05-15T22:10:18Z")
I like Dan Brown’s books. There’s nothing wrong with fast-paced, suspenseful pulp fiction. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stellan-skarsgard-sums-up-dan-browns-writing-talent-for-us/496482/18 "2009-05-15T23:01:02Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > I like Dan Brown’s books. There’s nothing wrong with fast-paced, suspenseful pulp fiction. Exactly. As I just said to someone someone yesterday, I think they’re pretty similar to the Indiana Jones movies. I think the level of scorn they receive is way out of proportion to what they actually deserve. They’re just fun fast-paced action thrillers, nothing special or life changing, and they’re not trying to be. ---
**Author:** ![Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/regallag_the_axe/32/445_2.png) [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regallag_The_Axe)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stellan-skarsgard-sums-up-dan-browns-writing-talent-for-us/496482/19 "2009-05-15T23:09:54Z")
I read _The Da Vinci Code_, which means I don’t need to read any of his other books, or see the movies. After hearing the premise, I know that Langdon will run around, following the symbols, with many false leads and cliff-hangers along the way. Then, when he has nearly given up hope, he will stumble upon the answer, and save the day. Kind of like with Clive Cussler, only Cussler’s character goes diving. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stellan-skarsgard-sums-up-dan-browns-writing-talent-for-us/496482/20 "2009-05-15T23:26:19Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > Exactly. As I just said to someone someone yesterday, I think they’re pretty similar to the Indiana Jones movies. I think the level of scorn they receive is way out of proportion to what they actually deserve. They’re just fun fast-paced action thrillers, nothing special or life changing, and they’re not trying to be. I haven’t read them but I think I’d probably agree with you. _But_, I think I understand where the scorn comes from, too. It’s because people who don’t normally read read The Da Vinci Code and went around proclaiming it to be the BEST BOOK _EVER!_ It’s like when someone tells you their favorite steak is at the Sizzler, you just kind of think, “you _probably_ need to get out more.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stellan-skarsgard-sums-up-dan-browns-writing-talent-for-us/496482.md?page=2)