This was fun to read, but I'm missing some context I think. What did Dan Brown do, to deserve such a vituperative put down? I mean besides the writing, which I understand is not great. Did he refer to himself as "renowned" something?
He received some vitriol in the 2000s from some Christian groups about Da Vinci Code being blasphemous. I think these days he’s mostly just seen as a bit of a literary punching bag who makes popular, digestible books for Gen-X Americans. I read DVC in high school and thought it was a fun read, definitely not a book I’d expect someone to be later criticized for.
Perhaps it’s a bit like Michael Bay or Roblox or The Bachelor, smart people being overly critical of popular things mostly just because they’re popular.
Thanks. To be honest, I felt the review above was a bit on the nose. But I guess it's considered OK if one is punching up, even if there's a bit of snobbishness in the put-down.
