The Da Vinci Code

Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: The Da Vinci Codes is quite simply put, a page turner. Not only does it show Dan Browns talent as a masterful story teller, but the entire book is intricately laced with fine research and astounding facts. Even if you aren't the type to enjoy intellectual pieces such as this, the story is still enthralling and may just open your eyes. After reading this, I began delving deeper into the theory of Mary Magdalene and the holy grail. I was never a history buff but this is just too good. I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: The DaVinci DeCoded
Review: The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown is a good read for those who like their protagonists wearing panties. Robert Langdon, the protagonist, is a Harvard professor of symbols who is uncomfortable around guns. He teaches art to prison convicts on the weekends. And when he makes his get away, he makes it in a SmartCar that gets "[a] hundred kilometers to the liter." (However, he has to pull over to let his female counterpart drive because he can't operate a standard transmission vehicle).

Mr. Langdon inhabits a strange world. In his world, everyone seems to be a member of a mysterious secret society that is battling for the supremacy of their group's secret symbols. The book's characters carry, protect and chase symbols across the globe because the power to control symbols is the power to control people like software controls a computer.

Our world isn't the world of Mr. Langdon. Symbols of power hold little currency in today's world. Science has educated the world that the forces of nature are not controlled by symbols and magic, which has made science the enemy of people like the environmentalist Unabomber, who tried to stop 'technology' by mailing bombs to universities. In addition, free and open societies undermine the need for secret societies. If there can be an organization that publicly advocates the molestation of children (NAMBLA), why would any organization need to be a secret society?

The Da Vinci Code contains a grand conspiracy. What kind of conspiracy might a panty-wearing professor from Harvard believe in? Something along these lines: Mother Earth has been destroyed by masculinity and this attack against femininity has been led by the Catholic Church. According to Langdon, the Catholic Church is the enemy of humanity because it is the official representative of the masculine. Langdon doesn't mention of the Virgin Mary and how she is part of this conspiracy of men. Is the Catholic Church this powerful? Are they that opposed to women? Are they that impotent against a few flamboyant artists?

This conspiracy began with the Roman Emperor Constantine. Constantine pulled the lever from feminine to masculine and it has all been downhill since the fifth century, even though the book contradicts itself and says on the next page that the lever was pulled two thousand years ago. The conspiracy actually suggests that when Constantine yanked the lever (so to speak) all the orthodox rabbis became men. Does Langdon's assertion that Jews are controlled by the Vatican make this an anti-Semitic as well as an anti-Catholic novel?

This conspiracy seems as Christo-centric as it is anti-Christian. The conspiracy suggest that in geographical areas not controlled by the Church and before Christianity began the world was inhabited by a single people with a single mind and culture that worshipped femininity. What about brutal non-Christian societies like the Samurais, Rome, Egypt and the Aztec's with their human sacrifices. The Church isn't the cause of all of the problems in the world. As my anthropologist professor once said, the theory of ancient humans has gone from assuming cavemen were brutes to assuming they sat around sipping white wine. Langdon adds that they were politically correct liberals as well.

How does DaVinci fit in? He's a homosexual who was opposed to the Church, according to Langdon. DaVinci's famous Mona Lisa painting is a philosophical statement that makes the argument that the masculine and feminine forces in the world must be balanced, but in today's world the masculine force is in control. Langdon, however doesn't seem interested in balancing feminine and masculine forces.

Langdon wants a world where feminine forces are in control. If feminine forces were put in control everyone would worship something called the sacred feminine and participate in public fornication ceremonies. Langdon is not looking for balance. He's just looking to get laid.

This is a book in the code genre, which seems to be popular now, i.e. The Bible Code. The prose is indistinguishable and the action doesn't pick up until the middle of the book. This book tells a lot more than it shows. Every action in the novel is stopped for a lecture on subjects ranging from pentagrams to cryptography and art. The flashbacks may have a higher word count than the present day narrative, which takes place in Paris and London. If this were a movie, the constant flashbacking would produce a film that looked like an editor splicing a documentary movie into an action film. These little flashback lectures are the best part of the book and the little puzzles are clever, even if their power to suspend disbelief is weak. If you read the novel as a brief educational course on symbols or are a member of the Priory of Sion, KKK or other anti-catholic organization you may enjoy this book.

Rating:
Summary: The DaVinci Code
Review: The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown is an incredible read. It is a thriller mystery about a murder at the Louvre Museum in Paris. The novel is fast paced from the beginning and does not slow down until the very end. Robert Langdon, the main character, is a symbologist from Harvard University who is called in to help the French police to find the murderer of the Louvre's curator. Along the way Robert meets a woman who had personal ties with the curator, and she helps Robert solve the mystery and discover even more. The history of our civilization comes into play in helping to solve the clues; the end result astonishes everyone. The twist is something I will never forget. Brown researched this book beautifully and makes everything fit together. Not only did I enjoy this book, but I learned something as well.
This book would appeal to a variety of people. Mystery lovers, history and/or art buffs, religious or non-religious persons, and anyone who is just looking for a good read, would enjoy this novel. Anyone who takes a great interest in the history of art might also take great interest in this book. Religion is largely incorporated into the story, which involves spiritual elements. However, it is not the religion that one would usually think of. It gives any reader the facts to choose what they want to believe.

Rating:
Summary: 3 Solid Stars
Review: The DaVinci Code has a 3.5 star rating overall, and that's probably accurate or somewhat high. There are a LOT of misinterpretations and flaws in the book, but there is also much to enjoy.

This is a novel, a work of fiction. However, Brown has done limited homework and portrays this novel as a vehicle for promoting alternate and plausible histories. This is my biggest fault with the novel - that it pretends to be a peer-reviewed historical thesis. Brown's personal feelings and biases are rampant throughout the work, which is fine for a fictional novel but has no business in a historical treatise.

And often Brown is simply wrong. The number Phi, for example, appears to have magical properties until you learn it falls out in natural processes. The ratio of male to female bees in a hive tends toward Phi due to the way male bees are formed. The packing of seeds in a flower ratios to Phi because it is by far the most efficient arrangement and is a product of natural selection. However, Brown offers Phi as proof of Devine Creation, via protagonist Harvard Professor Robert Langdon and a math student during his lecture. To me this is irresponsible, like saying that the number Pi being buried within Egyptian pyramid architecture is proof of alien involvement. Sloppy and wrong, and annoying things like this riddle the book. Claiming the word "alphabet" comes from the first two letters of the Jewish language, "alef" and "beit" while completely ignoring the fact that the first two letters of Greek are "alpha" and "beta".

Brown also goes far overboard concerning symbolism and hidden meanings. According to Brown, anything anywhere concerning the number 5 is a hidden allusion to the sacred female - the way Venus moves in the sky, the rose, iambic pentameter, my hand, the number of pennies in a nickel - ok, I made up the last two, but some of his inferences are absolutely wrong. And these are just the instances I caught. A true historian would probably shudder at the leaps Brown takes via the characters, who are all supposed to be the most learned experts in the field.

And for such smart people there is an appalling lack of logic. From the first, where Sophie takes Langdon's transmitter and hides it in soap, then throws it onto a moving truck - I think I saw Cindy Brady do something similar in "A Brady Christmas", but this Harvard Professor remarks that she "is a hell of a lot smarter than he is." What a black mark on Harvard. And like the Keystone Cops the Parisian policemen all chase the truck, leaving the two fugitives alone in the Louvre to saunter on their merry way, even though this is one of the most sensational murders of modern time. No logic.

The codes are ridiculously easy. There was good logic hiding the keystone in the vault, but a modern CNC machine would have easily cut off the top of the Cryptex without destroying the contents. You could take it to a machine shop for 1000 bucks. If I had the most important secret of 2000 years in my hands, I would have spent the grand and had the answer in 20 minutes instead of jumping through those ridiculous hoops. There are far better ways to hide secrets then 14th ca technology, and I would imagine the Grand Leader of the Priory of Sion would know that.

Finally, the literary style itself is sophomoric. The 1 page chapters are geared for an audience that cannot concentrate on one subject for more than 10 minutes. There is no character development whatsoever, and the lack of logic and unbelievable circumstances allow for little character empathy.

So after all this, why did I give it 3 stars? It is, simply, a very readable book. A good book for late at night when you don't want to think too hard. Plus, the concepts were fascinating to me (which unlike other reviewers I'd never been exposed to before). I am not nearly as critical of his prose as others - I liked his dialogue and methods for advancing his viewpoints. Again, there is no character development, but the characters themselves are secondary to the central thesis, like watching a Discovery Channel historical recreation rather than an HBO movie. And while the character's lack of logic and Brown's incorrect assertions were definitely annoying, I found that they didn't really take away from my overall reading enjoyment. However, I have amended my original rating to 3 stars. The ending is definitely a product of an anxious publisher, and destroys the book.

So despite the many criticisms, I did enjoyed reading "The Da Vinci Code" and though it only merits 3 stars.

Rating:
Summary: Over-rated and poorly written
Review: The DaVinci Code has a compelling premise but an uninspired delivery. I wonder why fans of this book don't realize how poorly written it is.

Dan Brown has the same problem as his counterparts on the opposite side of the religious spectrum who write the Left Behind series -- lazy writing. Brown's characters have nothing memorable to offer. The villains are simply implausible, (a common enough problem in many current thrillers) and the violence is graphic and contrived. There are too many overtly clever riddles, the time line is ridiculous and Brown's descriptions lack impact of any kind.

I do admit that I found Brown's biblical arguments interesting, which is really the only reason to read this book.

Rating:
Summary: Not horrible...
Review: The DaVinci Code has a very interesting premise: Art that clues you in on one of the greatest controversial secrets in religious history. A protagonist that is dropped in the middle, and must figure out the puzzle before the bad guys get to it (or him) first.

It really is a shame that the deja vu effect never went away. Page by page, the action was almost generic to any other thriller/mystery. The race between the heros and the villans felt drawn-out towards the end, to the point where I had to put the book down before I started screaming for the author to get to the point. In fact, The DaVinci Code follows many of the same turns and twists as Mr. Brown's previous book, Angels and Demons (with Robert Langdon the protagonist for both novels).

Was the climax a suprise? If you don't know much about Grail lore, then it might... If you've read all about the Knights Templer and other such historical suppositions, then you'll figure it out long before the characters do. To be fair, Mr. Brown did a lot of research and provided a plausible history; and the story did flow well in the first half of the book. But as the house of cards was built higher, the story fell apart for me.

If you really like mysteries and aren't familiar with many of the Grail stories, I would recommend this book. Otherwise, Angels and Demons would be a better read.

Rating:
Summary: The Holy Grail--another new twist
Review: The DaVinci Code has disfunctional families, murder, suspense, Ludlum-like characters and a great story. It was a worthwhile read that sent me to the internet to research "The Last Supper" and a few secret societies. It's hard to get the ending to a book about the Holy Grail just right in fiction, but Dan Brown completed the DaVinci Code with the perfect ending.

Rating:
Summary: Good start....but loses steam toward the end.
Review: The Davinci Code is a damn good novel, but I felt there were holes in the plot, but it was still a damn good novel. Now everyone and their mother has heard about The Davinci Code, and now I am not going to spoil it, but I am going to talk about some of the good points and bad points in this novel.
The novel starts out with a murder by an albano man inside a Paris museum. Now Robert Landgon, a lecturer and a writer who wrote a novel based on Davici's paintings is then called in by the French police since he was supposed to be the last person to see Robert Landgon alive. So they take him to the murder scene, and a French dectective named Falis starts asking him questions about the murder, but what Robert does not know that he is considered a suspect in the murder of Jaques (the man who was murdered). So now comes in Sophie, a cryptologist which someone left a code, and she can not figure it out, but she has a hinch about it. So now, she tells Robert that they are tracking him and that they have him as a prime suspect. So now as a way to escape, Robert and Sophie throw out the GPS tracking device out the window into this passing truck, and the French Police go after of what they think is Landon. So now as they escape, things start to unravel in this tale. As they move forward, it turns out that Landon finds out that Sophie's grandfather Jaques (who was murdered) because he was in a secret society which they know where the holy grail rests! So now, they find this poem that links to where they can find the grail. Now, they head to the country side of France to a good friend of Robert's. He then tells him that in the secret society; Sir Issac Newton, Victor Hugo, and Leonarado DaVinci along with Sophie's grandfather Jaques. Sophie then figues out the code where her grandfather left her on the floor. It turns out that it is the bank code in this bank vault in a Swedish bank. So they get the rosewood box which would lead them to the holy grail. So now, as the story moves around, it gets good, but by the end, it just falls flat.

I am not going to spoil the end because I want people to make their own decision. So if you want to read it, then read it, but read it with a open mind because some of the things in this book are going to think, and maybe even mad at Dan Brown for saying some things. Good, but I have read better thrillers with better endings: The Sum Of All Fears by Tom Clancy is one of them.

Rating:
Summary: A surprising read
Review: The DaVinci Code is a fairly good thriller but it is astonishingly similar to one I read not long ago titled Daughter of God. I suppose great minds think alike. . .

Rating:
Summary: A Great Read, but the Eight is Better
Review: The DaVinci Code is a great page turner, with plenty of action and intellectual puzzles. It's great for an airplane ride or a day at the beach. The puzzle draws you in immediately and keeps you spellbound. If you like fast paced suspense novels with historical ties, you'll love this book. With that being said, I still think the Eight by Katherine Neville is the best book of this kind ever written.