The new Dan Brown novel

This time Brown turns his hand to interpreting Dante's _Inferno_, which is also the title of Brown's novel. I can't say how it works as literature, but I am finding it a potent soporific, despite the little surges of indignation-inspired adrenaline which it repeatedly produces in my system. According to a doctor in the novel, Malthus's theory of apocalyptic overpopulation was correct, and it can be supported with "potent facts," because it is "the truth." I predict that soon there will be a surge of articles and books exploring this, er, robust theory.

Also, it is the protagonist's super-abilities as a "symbologist" which allows him to interpret literature on multiple levels, as opposed to the rest of us unsophisticated readers who only perceive the literal meaning.

I am taking a page from Umberto Eco's book, however, and trying to read the novel through Eco's declaration that Dan Brown is actually one of Eco's imaginary characters. The suspension of disbelief is not working very well, however, because, to me, Eco's writing is like the most beautiful colorful poetry written upon the most luxurious vellum, complex in both its physical and intellectual forms, while Brown's writing makes me think of beige Crayon on the thinnest of toilet paper.