[ahi]

Originally Posted by frui

Being a foreigner may see things differently, right or wrong.
A foreigner might be not so sensitive to the "fact" to which many westerners are so attached.
But, what accounts to the outrageous interest towards his fictions in western countries? Something beyond deception point?
And, dear ahi, you mean you haven't read a single book by Dan Brown? If so, how can you have such a strong attitude toward him?

I am a foreigner myself, Frui. Hungarian, to be precise. And while obviously the cultural differences between myself and anglophones like Dan Brown are far lesser than between Westerners and Easterners in general, there are enough that I can at least conceive what it might be like if the gap was greatly larger.

So I will grant you that your view of him might be different on account of cultural differences, and I would not for a moment suggest that such differences might be wrong.

Would I be correct in assuming that since Western culture and history in general is a more distant concern to you, you are less bothered by inaccuracies of details, and you may not even notice some of them?

In contrast, I guess a lot of Westerners read the book and now and then (some more often than others) come across parts that feel like "the author should've known better". And I think people generally do not like feeling they could've improved upon the author's work.

For a reversal of the situation, perhaps try to imagine a book about an exciting adventure/thriller book with Asian characters taking place in Asian countries... but filled with small, but for those who are familiar with Asian countries and culture, obvious inaccuracies every dozen pages or so.

Chances are such a book could be more easily enjoyed by a Westerner than by you, because you would keep being distracted by the odd little mistakes and strange assumptions made by the writer that you know from your own knowledge and experience to be wrong. Or am I mistaken?

And my strong opinion toward Brown comes from have chosen to trust certain other people's opinion on him, based on their shorter and longer essays and reviews pointing out his perceived failings.

I am likewise disposed toward J. K. Rowling, and she is wildly successful too... so it's not anything personal toward Dan Brown.

- Ahi