Question about Angels & demons?

Question

the question is How do we know if literature is good?
the novel i'm reading now is angels and demons by Dan Brown
Please give me some ideas and tell me why you think so
expand on it!ex: inclusion of historical facts etc.

i do know that Angels and demons is not the best literature out there, but just want you guys to guys to give me ideas that what elements makes it a "interesting" book

Answer 1

I don't know much about "Angels and Demons," but if Dan Brown is doing what he did with "The DaVinci Code," he is pretending to use historical facts when he is actually abusing them wholesale. This does not necessarily make him a bad novelist, but it DOES make him a bad man. (Compare the Wizard's self-description in "The Wizard of OZ.")

As for how you know whether literature is good: There are many, many whole books on that. There are whole series of courses leading to college degrees in English on that. And there's a website I stumbled upon (through Ask.com) with a couple of sentences that aren't a bad summary, tho incomplete:
"When it's really good, literature can teach us what it means to be human, to show us where we belong in our time and in all time. It can show us how to live rightly and love well, and it can show us how to be the best we can be."

Answer 2

As far as the question, "How do we know if literature is good?" goes, I think that most of the popular books don't qualify as "literature". What people call literature is usually, but not always, pretty deep and boring. I can read that type of book but I have to be in a very specific mood to really enjoy and read it without interruptions.

As far as the historical facts go about "Angels and Demons", a lot about the churches he mentions is undoubtedly true but whether there are truly luminati still walking around is as questionable as the descendants of Mary Magdalene and Christ. The best way for you to find out how much is actually true is to look up each of the places mentioned on the Internet. If you're reading the illustrated edition, that will give you some idea of what is visually true. But remember that facts can be distorted to fit your needs. That can be proved by the number of murders that have been "solved" and then found to be wrong. Writers make up stories from a fact that they find curious or unbelievable.

Just think of a crime report: one person saw a tall man walking away, while another remembers him as being short and stout. No two witnesses will never see exactly the same thing when a crime occurs because we are all different and focus on different things. There is no intent to mislead but to a small person, a lot of people would look taller than they really are.

Photos don't lie. Right? Maybe they are undoctored but someone will catch a person at a moment when the subject looks totally stupid while in the next second he looks wise and vital. It's the choice of picture you actually show that can be a make-it or break-it picture. And then, of course, you can also doctor the pictures to show what you want people to see.

It's the same with Dan Brown's books. They are not history but speculation about rumors and "facts" gleaned from different sources.

All literature is fiction though it might include verifiable facts. Don't ever confuse novels/fiction with history or reality. Just enjoy the story on its own merits: Do the actions and reactions of people make sense? Can you really ride a horse from Paris to Toulouse in 6 hours? Is it possible that there is a subterranean area under St. Peter's Basilica? But mostly, do the people act truly according to their character.

To find out more about what we call true literature, you'd probably have to read some books that have survived 100s of years and even those aren't always accepted as "literature".

Answer 3

Literature is good if it perpetuates some universal truth. I haven't read Angels and Demons, so I can't tell you my opinion of it. However, I generally steer clear of hugely popular novels, as they are often just churned out to create revenue. Any good literature takes time, careful crafting, and thought. The classics are good literature, whether you enjoy all of them or not, because they say something about humanity and the human experience in a way to which many people can relate, and which reveals something or clarifies something which might not otherwise have been seen. For example, when Sidney Carton dies in the place of Charles Darnay, it paints a picture of sacrificial love, and does so in a way which takes us along. We feel the mingled joy and fear he feels as he is carted off to the guillotine; we feel the gratitude and grief that Lucy feels when she realizes what has been done; we feel the hope and the sadness and guilt that Charles feels when he finally understands what Sidney means to do.

Good literature survives, as well. A good test of how good literature is is not how popular it is immediately, but how popular it becomes/stays, and why--and with whom.

Hope this helps!