The Da Vinci Code

Rating:
Summary: A Stunning, Well Researched, Beautiful Book !!
Review: Through a very ingenious mystery plot, Dan Brown tries to present the complex roots of modern Christianity. The book makes one wonder why women were cast out of most modern religions, so it is not the "normal" dogma that we are used to, and may explain some of the more negative & emotional reviews.

Contrary to those reviews, this book is NOT an anti-religion tome. It celebrates and is very respectful of human spirituality, in all its forms. It tries to explain, in a historical context, how religions came to be what they are today.

The end is particularly wonderful, with a final analysis that should leave everyone feeling good about their beliefs, whatever they are.

BUT, let me emphasize, The Da Vinci Code it isn't *just* about religion -- it is also a thrilling detective story. Despite a great opening page, I do agree that the beginning is just a tiny bit slow, but is more than compensated for, later on.

It is so well written, that I could not figure out who the "bad guy" was even at the very end! Dan Brown weaves a twisting and turning plot that finishes elegantly, without lowering itself to explaining a bunch of loose ends, in the final chapter!

I can't wait for the movie to come out!

Rating:
Summary: I have to review the triller and the basis separately....
Review: To be fair, I cannot review this book as one cohesive work. Rather, it is two works. One is an adventure thriller, and the other is a persuasive essay on historical conspiracy.

So here goes:

THE THRILLER is fairly written. The plot (in terms of character movements) is extremely paint-by-numbers, and the characters are a tad one-dimensional in the sense that they tend to be melodramatic extremes, almost comic-booky at times. In that sense, the Da Vinci Code is to it's genre what LEFT BEHIND was to another, or any TOM CLANCY book to yet another. It's selling point is the background, and divorced of that, the actual story is very mundane. Few people would enjoy this book without being interested in the conspiracy theories, in the same way you have to believe and accept the Rapture to "get" Left Behind or you have to believe Tom Clancy's military expertise to totally accept his stories. It is the conspiracy that sells an otherwise uninteresting and unexceptional thriller.

THE CONSPIRACY aspect is hard to review. I mean, what good does it do even attempt to review it? The kinds of people who believe this sort of thing, be it this sort of anti-Christian bigotry, or similar agenda-driven theories such as holocaust denying, believe what they do because of issues in their own lives. Facts don't matter to them. So I won't touch on it. I'll simply dismiss it.

Rating:
Summary: A Must Read for Everyone!
Review: To be honest, I'm not much of an avid reader, but one day however one of my friends had this urge to force me into reading this book. After some research I discovered this book had pretty high ratings, and was on many top-selling charts for days. I gave in, and finally got my copy in which I didn't start a few weeks later. However, I was amazed how once I picked this book up I never seemed to put it down again.

The book starts with a simple but intriguing murder case of the curator of a museum at night, where nobody knew what had happened. Coincidently, this man was also a member of a secret society named "Priory of Sion" that had existed long ago and consisted many famous characters in the Renaissance and the Enlightenment such as Sir Isaac Newton and Botticelli. With his life nearing an end, he left in the form of a cipher that appears to be a form of ancient coding. Thus this ignites a series of events and clues being discovered in Da Vinci¡¦s works that would ultimately draw two people to the answer the ancient secret society was seeking.

It¡¦s a simple storyline, and a simple plot. But the character development and the plot twists were so appealing since it wasn¡¦t completely obvious. I liked the way the author had cliffhanger endings to each chapter in order to further develop the plot. It had added this sense of suspense and curiosity within me to know how the plot will continue to develop and how it will become. What was much more fascinating were, the details throughout the story of various artworks, culture, and individuals. I was surprised to find that all the content in this book about various people and artworks were all true and do exist!

However, I have to say that it did become easier to put down this book towards the end. The cliffhangers started to get annoying occasionally and I¡¦d get tired of reading the next page just to find out the solution to the conflict. Never the less, it¡¦s a great book for everyone, but do beware that it does have blood and gore in a few areas.

Rating:
Summary: Far out plot!
Review: To enjoy this book you must accept the threads of the plotline as it unfolds, and a dilly of a one it is! Jesus Christ was but a human being, and he and Mary Magdalene were married and had a child, a female. The Jesus line, with supporting documents, were kept by a secret organization called the Priory of Sion, to be protected from a predatory Church, the Truth to be revealed at the proper time. That, in a nutshell, is the basis around which this exciting thriller is framed, and the story moves along at a breathless pace. The reader never gets to stop and catch his breath before another twist or turn happens. As long as you can accept the story line, you will enjoy this book. If you can't do that, there's no sense in reading it. I always accept the world which the author paints for me, so I did really enjoy reading this book, and I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent read
Review: To everyone who gave this one star and claimed it was blasphemous. CALM DOWN!! It's just a work of fiction. It doesn't make any claims that everything happened just as they are stating it...it's merely offering another view into spirituality and the birth of modern day christianity. Who cares if this book has some inaccuracies? It was entertaining. Some claimed to have found this book disturbing. It is more disturbing to me to see people who have such blind faith in what the Bible says. Try opening your mind just a fraction.

Rating:
Summary: Curious about all the fuss
Review: To say this is a work of genius, as I've heard, is an overstatement. Sure, it's a fun book. There's a lot of action. There's a sufficient level of drama. Dan Brown's writing is such that the reader is brought into, and through the story, at a frenetic pace.

Speaking from a rather laid back Catholic's perspective, I'm not sure I'd consider this book to be the "new epiphany." It's ruffled some feathers simply because it's an idea that's seldom talked about. Scientists don't care too much, and the conservatives don't want to hear it. Quite frankly, if you are comfortable and strong in your faith (be it monotheism, atheism,or polytheism) than feel free to read this if you want to know what all of the fuss is about. If you're not grounded in your faith, or are lost, I'm not sure I'd recommend it.

Dan Brown paints a very good picture. His sense of adventure is laid into the pages quite well. This book will keep you wanting to read at times. Other times, I'm sorry to say, I was fine with closing the book, shutting the light off, and going to sleep. Other books (Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett and Gemini Contenders by Robert Ludlum) had that gripping suspense and believability that I lost hours of sleep.

The character development is alright (Langdon's character is developed in the prequel Angels & Demons). The plot is good. The pace is great. The descriptions of objects and settings are quite wonderful. However, in the end, I found myself saying "All of the fuss was for this?" I just think there was just too much fuss over this book. Controversial? Absolutely. A great work? I don't think so.

Rating:
Summary: Suspense in religious history
Review: To set the record straight on the "religiously correct" is quite refreshing to read. The mother of god Isis is being resurrected from the terrible grave she was burried in for 2,000 years in this suspense thriller. I downloaded the "Last Supper" by Leonardo da Vinci and "lo and behold" there she sits clearly on my computer screen to the right and honor place of the one who was declared god in 325 a.D. I disagree with the 5 million women who were tortured and murdered within 300 years by the Roman-Catholics; the actual number is 9 million. Interesting how state and church were combined; it seems to me there lies more power in the church than any state has every held as the Vatican survived two thousand years. And the truth had to go underground in the Priory of Sion and other brotherhoods. The power struggle as described in this book is immense and quite compelling to read. If you are a stout Catholic don't read this book. Anyone who seeks enlightenment be prepared for it: the truth hurts but sets you free. Are you going to find the Holy Grail in this book? You can't stop to turn all the pages to find out.

Rating:
Summary: What we've got here's a case of irresponsible writing. Sigh.
Review: To start with, "The Da Vinci Code" is a thriller through and through. The writing is as formulaic and hackneyed as your average thriller, though clearly no one cares about this. Characters are one-dimensional, the plot is too convenient, the chapter set-up is annoying at best - what I'm getting at is simple. The book should not be read if you are looking for a literary novel about the early Catholic Church and the Holy Grail. Nor should it be read if you are looking for an intelligent read. I say go in looking for ideas to research later.

The meat of the book is the controversy surrounding Brown's view of the Holy Grail. His theory, one certainly not new, concerns the possibly marriage between Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene, their offspring, the early Catholic Church's persecution of Mary and the centuries' long fight to preserve the bloodline of Jesus and Mary. Valid ideas? Eh. They are supported by a variety of sources (not given) and symbols

Supposedly the Gnostic Gospels and Dead Sea Scrolls support this claim, with some loose interprations and evidence contrary to the printed Gospels. Also, the (somewhat) recently discovered history of the Priory of Sion (an old French secret society), its ties to the Knights Templar (and Masons) and the hidden imagery in select Leonardo Da Vinci's paintings are supposed to shed more light on an otherwise murky subject. Brown uses a bevy of symbology to link everything together, and while for the layman this is dangerous, he has no regard for the layman.

Your average person doesn't know much about ancient symbology and if you read this book and fall into that category, you'll probably be swayed to believe all he says is true. That's where the danger lies in symbology, especially ancient symbology. One of the central keys to said field is the iconic image, like the cross, the smiley face, even Superman's 'S'. Brown uses old icons - these images that are meant to have broad meanings; the smiley face is the best example of an icon anyone relate to because of its simplicity - to bolster his new claim. An upward wedge (^) is masculine, and is historically so (check a book of symbology) and a downward wedge (v) is feminine, again something we know as fact. Ancient societies used these two symbols for male and female and Brown would have us believe they are the only ancient male and female symbols, but that is beside the point (obelisks and lone pillars, people!). Combined they make the Star of David, and you probably wonder why I am mentioning all of this but there is a point - the Star of David is the combination of two triangles, one reaching to God, one to Earth. That is its historical significance. Brown's modern interpretation (a supposed revelation) based on the aforementioned ancient symbols (^ and v) is bad history; when you know why an icon or symbol was created, you don't then force other history onto them.

Unfortunately, he doesn't give this interpretation of the Star of David, only his own, supported by no texts, which leads me to what for the sake of length, I'll make my last criticism. I feel Brown should've written a critical analysis of the Holy Grail, Jesus, the Priory of Sion and Mary Magdalene, not a muder myster/thriller. Even still, he should've inculded a bibliography (annoted would help also) so we can leave the book and check his sources. As it stands, he gives us supposed facts and expects us to swallow them whole, which the layman reader will. To me, his book rests on the shoulders of the work of dozens of others, and while there is an acknowledgement, there is no list of sources.

All right I lied. One more thing - I found the book engaging and it forced me to remember old things learned in history classes and read. I'd previously paroused the Gnostic Gospels, and from what I found they enhance the published Christian writings, perhaps amend or alter a few things, but past that are merely the extended teachings of Jesus. I didn't see them as he did - damning to Christianity (or our perception of it). Anyway, what I mean to say is the Dan Brown is not a reliable author (I apologize for my tangents). The man has a passion for what he is writing about, but he also has a deep seated hatred for the Catholic Church and while I don't agree with them all the time, it's my opinion that they are generally trying to do good. Even in the beginning; but Brown cannot accept that and (together with Angels and Demons) villifies the church and the greater Christian religion with little evidence. That's not good writing. One of the basic questions a writer has to ask himself at the end of a book is, "Is this responsible?" (or perhaps, am I responsible for it/in writing it?) I do not believe he even stopped to consider, instead barreling ahead because, like he says about the Catholic Church, he has an agenda.

I do not see why this is a bestseller, from a logical standpoint. Poor writing + religious controversy shouldn't equal a best selling novel, but.... People can look past the writing to the ideas, and that is what this book is about. But should you pay attention to and then accept them when the author writes in such an irresponsible manner? That is for you to decide. But please, for me, if you are engaged as I was and don't know anything about what you've read, go to your library or bookstore or here and find other books on the topic from authors on both sides of the idea. Don't let this mediocre fiction sell you ill-conceived fact.

Rating:
Summary: Another Christianity - Bad news
Review: To start with, I do not intend to buy this book. The source materials are from people want to change Christianity, particularly the Catholic Church, to fit their view of what a religion should be like. None of the sources for this book are ancient, and none agree with the most ancient texts of the New Testiment, and some even disagree with the early Gnostic documents that we still have.

This book is fiction, based on lies, portraying itself as religious truth. We are warned in the Bible (which I highly recommend to anyone who wants to read this book) to be on the watch for people who portray themselves as apostles for another Jesus. St. Paul reminds us that there is only one Jesus. For Christians, protect your faith, avoid this book! For non-Christians who want to learn about the ancient Christian Churches I would recommend the book "Ecclisial History" by Eusibius, written in the Third Century, the Bible itself, or the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Warning, this book may be an attack on your faith. Read it at your own peril!

Rating:
Summary: Hello It's a NOVEL Meaning--FICTION!! But One Great Book!!!
Review: To those people out there looking for "Truth" in this work. All I have to say is...IT'S A NOVEL! A WORK OF FICTION!! Yes there are many truisms written in this work and yes there is controversy in this work. But let's not forget. It is NOT a Historical document. It was written to entertain you!!!! How many people out there read Tom Clancy Novels think that the stories actually happened? Probably only the people giving The Da Vinci Code 1 star. Works of fiction can't be true or false. They are either entertaining or not. The Da Vinci Code is a very intriguing novel. The suspense keeps you turning page after page. The protagonist and antagonist characters are rock solid and the story is riveting. I wouldn't be suprised to see this one made into a major motion picture in the next year or two.