GREAT AUTHORS , BAD BOOKS – 1

Every family has a black sheep and every author has a bad book. In a world where one buys a book by looking at the author, it is important that one knows these black sheep beforehand. Otherwise one would end up losing one’s money and time.

Listed below are three such books from three famous authors. Frankly speaking, none of them is truly bad. They are average, readable books. Yet they do not do justice to 

their author’s name nor to the expectations of the reader.

    1.     Digital Fortress by Dan Brown

Angels & Demons is by far the best work of Dan Brown. Though Da Vinci Code is more popular, Angels & Demons has more twists, better suspense and less inaccuracies. Compared to these works, the Digital Fortress is a fish out of water. Dan Brown should have stuck with symbols and secret codes.

When a person reads a book, his/her mind becomes one with the protagonist’s. A master storyteller ensures that this bond continues till the end of the book. In the Digital Fortress, the identity of the antagonist becomes clear to the reader soon after the halfway mark. Yet the protagonist is blind to the facts till the very end. This is the most frustrating part of the novel.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

    2.     A Caribbean Mystery by Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie is best known for her two characters namely Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple.Two detectives with very different approaches to a case. One a thorough professional and the other an amateur.

Yet ( as far as I have read )  Hercule Poirot is the more enjoyable. Mainly because he uses his ‘grey cells’. The major flaw with Miss Marple is that she doesn’t play an active role in the case until the climax.

In A Caribbean Mystery, this drawback is badly exposed. Miss Marple’s role is more a cameo than that of a protagonist. When your leading character’s soul is missing, you find yourself lost and confused.

     

     3.     The Witch of Portobello by Paulo Coelho

Paulo Coelho is a much acclaimed author and his Alchemist is one of a kind. Simple and yet profound, this book is a treat. Therefore it was with great expectations that I began to read The Witch of Portobello.

But my enthusiasm was short lived, as I could not sustain any interest after the first few pages. Many times have I tried to read this one, but I have failed to get any connection with the book. Truly a forgettable book, it still remains unread. All I remember is that the novel is a collection of memories of different people about the ‘Witch’.    

                                   

P.S: These are the opinions of the author only. So feel free to correct him.