The Da Vinci Code

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Summary: The Da Vinci Code
Review: The Da Vinci Code is full of symbolism, allegory, suspense, and a myriad of mysteries that will have readers twisting and turning every chapter. This book kept me on the edge and wanting to know more and more. The many riddles in this book are intricately woven and geniously put in to keep the reader guessing. This book doesn't just jump around like others, but gives you, in full detail, the situation of the current events and any background information needed to understand (and there's a bunch). I thought that the symbolism and allegories were very intriguing, and they made me want to try and figure out what they could be before I actually knew the answer. And maybe the best part is that there seems to be no resolution, only climax right until the end! All-and-all, this is one of the best books that I have read.

This book is for anyone who loves to be toyed with and kept guessing before the revealing of the twisted truth. For those who like to find hidden meanings in allegories, this is a great book. The plot is consistent throughout, but it is how the story plays out that makes it most interesting. If you like tons of mystery and suspense that will make you want to stay up late at night just to figure out the next mystery, this book is for you. And let's not forget those who are interested in a novel that deals with religious artifacts, great action, and a good thriller.

Chris Protos

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Summary: Good fiction, bad history
Review: The Da Vinci Code is just about everything a good fiction novel should be. The topic is fresh and interesting, Dan Brown obviously has a command of the material, you'll learn a great deal while reading it (a la Crichton), the story is a page turner and Brown's prose is okay - about what you'd expect for this type of book. However, it *is* fiction, and before you run off and renounce your belief in a Christian god who isn't a woman, it's wise to remember that. As a work of fiction, "The Da Vinci Code" succeeds greatly. As a text to present facts, it is much less successful. Unfortunately, while I would love to just judge the book on things like characters, plot and dialogue, there is a great deal of information in this book that is presented in a very one-sided fashion that while entertaining, will certainly serve to confuse opinions of an already distraught religion.

I would liken Brown to a magician. A magician is one who creates an illusion, the audience buys into that illusion completely, and thus we have magic. Brown achieves the same result with "The Da Vinci Code." He is able to convince the reader that the very world is at stake within the outcome of this story, and that Da Vinci's opinion on a topic is as authoritative as the Bible itself. He accomplishes the first task by alluding to supernatural secrets early on, but very gradually reveals that this "world changing" secret is nothing more than the conspiracy theory of some cultish history club. However, Brown does it in such a way that we don't even notice it and the "secret" seems important right up until the end of the novel. This is not an easy thing to accomplish as a writer and it's why I say Brown largely succeeded. (I'll come back to this.) He achieves the second task of making the reader believe in Da Vinci's opinions as gospel by showing us things we've never seen before about his paintings, even though they are right in front of us. For the reader who looks up one of these painting on the internet and follows Brown's analysis of it, it can be startling and before you even realize it, you've forgotten that Da Vinci was just a man with an admittedly warped point of view. This ends the book review. What follows is a short commentary on the topic itself.

First, what's the validity of this secret of the Knights of Templar? Brown writes about their secret documents and what they say, and asserts that the originators of the Bible kept those works out for political reasons. This is conspiracy speak at its best. The fact is when you delve into the documents that weren't included in the canonical scripture, yes they say certain things that seem to contradict other areas of the Bible. But many of them also contain areas of factual inaccuracy, such as historical inaccuracies, that deems them of a dubious source. Compare that with the four Gospels - the most researched, time tested writings in this planet's history - and almost no discrepancies in transcription have been found, even with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Furthermore, the logic that these documents were left out for political reasons is a little sketchy, since including them in the canon would only have tightened the cords between paganism and true Christianity, which is what the conspiracy "experts" assert Constantine was attempting to achieve. Lastly, how important would revealing these secret documents be, even if they directly contradicted established biblical truths? Would the foundations of Western culture come crumbling down around the black hole of the Catholic Church? I don't think so. Just because these documents, if they even exist, say something other than established scripture says, it doesn't mean they are accurate, especially considering they would be presented by people of a very strong theological bias which automatically questions their credibility. At best, all it would do would be to expose a slightly plausible alternative to traditional Christian texts, something that has stood the test of thousands of years and hundreds of scholars. Change the world? No more than Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses or Christian Scientists have, and probably less. There are masses of historical documents that say any number of things we as a culture don't largely believe. This would only be one more set. And most of what Brown criticizes about organized religion applies to Catholicism only - the horrors of the crusades, the intertwining of paganism with Christ - these things were largely addressed by something Brown conveniently ignores, something called the "reformation" which has given us the entirety of Protestantism, a tradition free from the Papal influence he calls into question.

And at the end of the book I was left feeling Brown had done an excellent job of making something out of nothing. He had given the façade of importance to a discovery that would probably make national news, might merit a National Geographic channel hour-long special and maybe would give those few remaining Catholics on the fence after their priests unthinkable actions an excuse to bail out.

So we're back to fiction. As a work of fiction, "The Da Vinci Code" stands strong. I just hope people don't take it too seriously.

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Summary: The Da Vinci Code
Review: The Da Vinci Code is like no other book I have read. Its been beautifully crafted by an amazing author name Dan Brown. Dan Brown really grabbed my attention by showing how well researched his book is. He has stunned me by showing how well he can develop characters, so many twists, and so much action in the course of a day. The Da Vinci Code boldly marches into the grounds of religious symbology, secret brotherhoods, and science only to mesmerize the reader with information and mind-blowing code.

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Summary: Fabulous Book!
Review: The Da Vinci Code is one of the most amazing books I've read. It has so many facts. This book is a marvelous suspense story that absolutely shocks you with its ending. I strongly recommend this book. Trust me, its GOOD!

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Summary: Easily one of the top 5 books I've ever read!
Review: The Da Vinci Code is one of the top 5 books that I've ever read. I need to catch up on my reviews here at Amazon.com, but I've read all the John Grisham, Tom Clancy, Robert Ludlum, Clive Cussler, Dale Brown, Stephen Coonts, Nelson DeMille novels to give you an idea of my tastes.

This book kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time - I had to take a break between mowing my front and back lawns to read another chapter on the first day, if that gives you an idea!

I simply could not put this book down. The symbolism, history, religious background, the ideology of the theme really blew me away. The book not only has inspired me to learn more about PHI, Leonardo Fibonnaci, Leonardo Da Vinci, the Crusades, and Western European history - but it has really sparked my imagination about historical events in general.

All-in-all, this is a great book. I wish I could give this a rating of six stars!

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Summary: Hope the Movie's Better
Review: The Da Vinci Code is one of those books that would make a much better movie. In fact, as a high school aged reader, I found myself picturing a movie during the whole time I was reading the book. So, when I found out that a film based on Dan Brown's novel was going to be made into a movie, directed by Ron Howard, I couldn't have been more pleased. I will be excited to see the movie version of the book because the book had a terrific plot, but sadly, it lagged in parts from the monotonous writing of Dan Brown. The movie could make up for that major weakness in the book.

The Da Vinci code starts out extremely compelling. The curator of the Louvre in Paris has been killed by an unknown assailant and the police are after Harvard professor Robert Langdon because a code next to his dead body says, "O, Draconian Devil! Oh, lame saint! P.S. Find Robert Langdon." Robert Langdon and a cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, are then racing against an enemy to find out a secret that a group, The Priory of Sion, have been hiding from the world for hundreds of years.

Parts of this book are actually very well done. One could clearly picture the characters and they seemed like real people. I also enjoyed the clues and word puzzles as they were very well done and challenging to figure out. The book raised some interesting topics about the bible, Mary Magdalene, and the Holy Grail. The book also had many plot twists and so one never knew what was coming next.

While reading the book, it seemed to me that the author ran out of steam about two thirds of the way through. Dan Brown includes chapters on events as pointless to the plot as Langdon and Neveu going to a library. To me, this is a sign he was just trying to fill up space. The book has some very interesting information, some of which is made up by the author and some of which is based on fact. But one has a hard time believing the facts that the author does have information to support because the facts are mixed in with a great deal of fiction.

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Summary: Predictable and Heretical Trash
Review: The Da Vinci Code is quite honestly the worst book I have ever had the misfortune of reading. Dan Brown's success results only from his discussion of the Holy Grail and an interpretation of that mystery which most people have never heard. That is where the merit of this novel ends. It is bascially a cookie-cutter novel in the mold of a Michael Crichton or Nelson DeMille novel without the former's frighteningly believeable scenarios or the latter's character depth. Mr Brown's writing is about on par with Danielle Steele; he tries to manufacture suspense when none is necessary, and key plot points are disapointingly predicatable.
The complete lack of style would not have bothered me had it not been for his argument for moral relativism. When I say this work is heretical I am not referring to his treatment of Mary Magdalene. Personally I dont think what he has to say about her is too theologically important. What bothers me is that he makes the same argument Kevin Lomax makes in Devil's Advocate, an argument that denies the existence of right and wrong. By having people take part in pagan rituals, and then anouncing they are practicing the correct form of christianity suppressed by the catholic church, he reveals his disgustingly relativistic outlook. Brown is just one more whiner blaming the catholic church for all of the world's problems and is unable to get even his own facts straight(see the review "Constantine spoke English"). His argument that the church has suppressed "Goddess" worship for two thousand years is ludicrous. Has he ever heard of the cult of the Virgin? It is no mistake that their is no mention of Notre Dame in his description of Paris. The most famous Cathedral in the world being named after a woman is a serious blow to his argument. Keep in mind that the reverence catholics held for Mary is one of the key complaints many protestant groups voiced before splitting from the church.

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Summary: A Major Paradigm Shift or The Emperor's New Clothes?
Review: The Da Vinci Code is really a very well written book. It has been passed through my family and we have all enjoyed the story. It is a fast-paced thriller whose short chapters are a quick read, lending itself very well to the pace of the plot. It puts itself easily at the top of other Catholic Church "conspiracy theories", both in book and movie. (I always liked John Carpenter's movie, The Prince of Darkness.)

This central theme is that the Catholic Church has something to hide. This theme has created some really interesting books and some of which have become best sellers based on the current climate of the priesthood. This book is well-timed to capitalize.

Though this book is a fictional thriller, it makes a fascinating claim at the beginning. Before a single word is written of the plot, the author declares that aside from the story, all facts are true! In reading this book, one is easily captivated by the claims and mesmerized at how these facts are unfolded and presented. The presentation of facts is half the thriller! However, after quite a dose of these 'facts' mixed in with the plot, the reader starts to get the sense that the plot itself is secondary. Most everyone I know who has read the book has begun to question some of the fundamental prevailing paradigms. I must say that I am most disappointed with the book is its lack of a substantial bibliography (nay, the lack of ANY bibliography) to back up these 'facts'. (I read "The Sign and The Seal" and was highly impressed with research of G. Hancock in backing up his statements.) The only referenced books are part of the story with the earliest dating only 30 years prior. (I must say I was expecting books from the 300-500 AD based on the book's claims, certainly not contemporaries or cronies!) Also I believe it will be apparent to others as well that also share a limited view of Christian history (but took at least one History of Civ class) even timelines are inaccurate. One item of note, that I caught easily, was Constantine's famous Edict in which he decides to end christian persecutions and basically making the Roman Empire a religious tolerant 'state'-- but never declared christianity the 'official religion of the empire' as claimed in the book. Since I am not up on my christian history, it was also easy to find online a copy what happened at the Council of Nicea. The book states that christians at this Council voted on if Jesus was God or not, and that they voted by a very narrow margin that they would think that he is. This is FAR from the truth! What they actually voted on (visit a non-Catholic site for an impartial view) is if they thought he was a MAN! AND the vote was not even close, 218-2! These are two very simple examples of 5 minutes of work online that show his claims of 'authentic historical facts' are grossly inaccurate. If the simple facts are misrepresented, what of the ones more difficult to find? I am definitely open to the potential truth, but find it hard to even entertain without documentation. I have since checked the other books that he listed internally for reference, but they conveniently are missing bibliographies as well. I was left wanting more information, but left feeling it was fanciful gossip on a playground. I guess I should not complain too greatly and probably why I was duped so easily. It is my own fault, really. It is, after all, listed in 'Fiction'.

ps. ABC seemed to waste time on the subject and the info is listed here: http://slate.msn.com/id/2090640/.

Rating:
Summary: You will not believe how bad this book is.
Review: The Da Vinci Code is really two different books pushed together. One of the books is awful and the other is unbelievable. The awful part of the book is the thriller. The main characters, like all main characters, are trying to uncover a mystery while be chased around by an appropriately bizarre killer (a super-strong albino Catholic fanatic). This part relies on some of the oldest cliches in mystery/thriller writing, including the dying man leaving obscure clues as to who killed him instead of just writing the killer's name. He supposedly doesn't do the latter because the killer might be watching him, but his behavior in leaving clues behind is so bizarre that if his killer was watching he would have to realize something was going on.

For a thriller to work, we need to care something about the characters. That's impossible here because the main characters have no personalities. One is a man and one a woman, but there doesn't seem to be the slightest thing interesting about them. They are in no way distinctive human beings. There are comic book characters with more depth than the ones you find here.

Thrillers of course turn on the characters trying to uncover some mystery, or acquire something that someone evil wants. That gives the writer the excuse to have his characters being chased around, shot at etc. until the conclusion. Alfred Hitchcock famously referred to the thing that is being fought over as a "McGuffin."

Normally no one cares that much about the McGuffin. Here, the McGuffin takes over the entire book. The McGuffin here is the Holy Grail, which is very different than any would think who knows it only from Arthurian romances. And it is Brown's explication of what the Holy Grail "really" is about that is driving the sales of the books. Brown bases his theory on sources that have been known to be false for centuries. However, it appeals to a certain segment of the population, and most people will uncriticly accept what he has to say. For anyone with access to archives of the New York Times Book Review section, I suggest that they read the back of the Book Review for 2/22/04 for more on Brown's sources.

Normally I wouldn't care about what wacky McGuffin the characters in a thriller were chasing -- I like the X Files for years without ever believing in aliens -- but here it is Brown's statements about the Holy Grail that are responsible for the success of the book. This success is not deserved.

I gave this book 1 star only because Amazon does not allow you to give a book no stars.

Rating:
Summary: Poor plotting plus author's bias equals bad book
Review: The Da Vinci Code is suffused with bias against Christiantiy and the Catholic Church, in particular. The author's plotting is contrived and ridiculous; the ending is particularly weak. Too bad, because the potential was there for an interesting story.