søndag den 31. maj 2009

Kurt Aust & Dan Brown

The Norwegian thriller, The Invisible Brothers by Kurt Aust has not been translated into English. To some extent it may be compared to Dan Brown´s The Da Vinci Code as the story involves codes, alchemy, conspiracies and mysterious brotherhoods. An exciting and well-planned plot, but not overwhelmingly realistic.

Is The da Vinci Code a good thriller or sheer hype? What do you think?

-----------------------------------------------


Kurt Aust, De usynlige brødre (2008).

Denne norske thriller er forfatterens fjerde bog.

En glad og tilfreds forlagsredaktør med ægtemand og to små børn skyder sig selv på åben gade, med masser af vidner. Hendes ægtemand er chokeret, men slår sig snart til tåls, hvorimod hendes eksmand, den noget specielle matematikprofessor Even Vik, er nødt til at komme til bunds i, hvad der lå bag hans elskede Mais død.

Handlingen fører læseren tilbage til Isaac Newtons liv og forskning, på en måde som vel bedst kan sammenlignes med Dan Browns Da Vinci-mysteriet. Plottet involverer koder, alkymi, sammensværgelser og mystiske broderskaber, og ´detektiven´, Even Vik, som også har sin egen personlige fortid at slås med, får brug for al sin viden om tal og matematik for at opklare sagen.
Spændende og forholdsvis velskrevet, med interessante personskildringer, men ikke voldsomt realistisk.

Er Da Vinci-mysteriet en god spændingsroman, eller en opreklameret røverhistorie?

8 kommentarer:

Peter Rozovsky sagde ...

This is irrelevant piling on, but I read part of the first paragraph of The Da Vinci Code. Before the end of the first sentence, I thought, "Good god, if the man's prose style weren't so wretched, he might really have sold some books.

==============
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/

Dorte H sagde ...

Oh yes, I saw that you wrote about Dan Brown´s style recently. I have read Da Vinci in Danish so I don´t think I can judge the language fairly. The plot is reasonably entertaining, but what worries me is that an amazing number of grown-up Danes seem to think there must be some kind of truth in it.

Uriah Robinson sagde ...

I kept reading the Da Vinci Code because I thought he can't come up with the old story from that 20 year old book The Holy Blood and Grail. There must be something new? But it was just the same old plot. It might be a better book in Danish but I doubt it. ;o)

Dorte H sagde ...

Norman, it is probably much the same.
Sometimes I do wonder though, what English translators do to the books they translate. Some of the ones I have found really boring in Danish seem to be much more entertaining when people like Reg, Tiina and Don have performed miracles or whatever it is they do ;D

Peter Rozovsky sagde ...

But Norm, he didn't come up with the same old story. Or at least could afford to hire enough lawyers to convince a court that he didn't.
==============
Detectives Beyond Borders
“Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home”
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/

Dorte H sagde ...

I have no lawyer so I will just pretend I believe what people tell me ;)

Care sagde ...

"I have no lawyer so I will just pretend I believe what people tell me"
LOL!
I enjoyed DaVinci Code and Angels and Demons but not to gush over.

Dorte H sagde ...

Care, I could probably write whatever I want about Dan Brown - I am sure he is far too busy to notice - but it is always nice when people appreciate one´s attempts to be funny :)