Rating: 
Summary: Say What?
Review: Tolstoy, Doestoevsky, Dumas, Dickens and Brown? Give me a break! This forgettable piece of pulp has nothing in common with the works of those great writers. I could hardly bring myself to form a sentence (incomplete though it is) that included those five names.For those who defend the DVC because it is fiction after all, I have to say that at least half of my book club, bought the thing hook line and sinker and they are intelligent people.
Brown is a hack and worse he is dishonest. Where is this guy anyway? Why doesn't he emerge from his sanctuary and answer some of his critics regarding his declared "facts" and research. Better for sales to keep the mystique alive, I suppose. Next month my bookclub selection is going to be "Crime and Punishment." The richness of Doestoevsky should, if not clean the groups collective palate, at least smother the nasty taste left by Brown's foul effort.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Book
Review: Too often things in the popular media get passed off as "genious". This book isn't genious. It won't revolutionize the world and probably won't be talked about for year's to come. But it is a great book. It is both intelligent and interesting. Whether or not you agree with the views presented in the book, it's always great to see another perspective. And instead of just being a boring essay about one person's theory of the Holy Grail, it is a murder mystery as well. I heartily recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: A Hollywood Thriller
Review: Top marks for being a good read and low marks for accuracy. If the book didn't try to assert that the historical and art references are in fact real, it'd be a more honest work. Any potential reader just needs to remember the the entire book is fiction and a mystery not a theological treatise
Rating:
Summary: Engrossing
Review: Top notch historical thriller in the vein of Glenn Kleier's THE LAST DAY. Like THE LAST DAY, Brown's CODE is impossible to put down, concerns itself with religious malfeasance and intrigue, and is provocative to the point of controversy. I thoroughly enjoy well-researched, stimulating novels, and CODE does not disappoint. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting, compelling, suspensful
Review: Truly a magnificent read that draws the reader in immediately and makes a plethora of complex historical information readily understandable and interesting---Not only for the religious symbology, but for a multitude of architectural and art facts. This is Dan Brown's greatest achievment with this book. The prose is classic suspense, which, rather than dwelling on carefully crafted sentences and emotional vignettes, delivers the reader from one scene to the next. This choice keeps the breathtaking pace of Langdon and Vernet's journey on track throughout every page. Interesting is the fact that so many "devout Christians" seem to find this work so objectionable - their attitudes and words mirror so faithfully the paranoid men of the church characterized in the Da Vinci code itself. Why not persue truth, or at least consider alternate versions of Christ's life, rather than cling to mythology?
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining enough, but way too much hype!
Review: Two people who know that I have an aversion to reading, "what everyone else is reading" recommended the Da Vinci Code to me. They assured me that, despite all the frenzy surrounding the book, it was great! I did read it, and while I read it quickly because something about it did capture my attention, I did not really enjoy it. I thought it was a clever way for Dan Brown to communicate the massive amount of information he obtained while researching the book, however, I really felt that the book was quite weak. I think Dan Brown has seen how well John Grisham has done in turning mediocre books into blockbusters and decided he should get in on the action as well. He even describes the main character as resembling Harrison Ford. The book was entertaining enough for me to finish it, but I wish I had borrowed it from a friend or the library instead of purchasing it.
Rating: 
Summary: the sacred feminine loses again
Review: Two smart women recommended this book to me because, they said, it is about reclaiming the sacred feminine. Even though the dust jacket blurbs do not mention this project, I began the text with excitement and hope. Indeed I found that the sacred femnine echoes - moans, sings, even screams - throughout the text. But once I was a third of the way into the story, I realized once again why feminists often yield to the temptation to assume that no text by a man can be trusted.
Of 23 characters in the text who appear several times, 19 are men and 4 are women, which is the usual 5:1 ratio I find when I do textual gender analyses. So much for modern progress against sexism. Furthermore, of 9 principal characters who appear throughout the novel and carry the plot line, 1 is female (Sophie Neveu) and 8 are male: Sauniere, Silas, Langdon, Collet, Fache, Aringarosa, Teabing and Vernet.
Worse is the role given to the female in the text. Sophie provides women's intuition and vulnerability, despite her career path, while the men solve all the code puzzles, take all the risks and protect or threaten her. All of the other females are present only to serve the male charaters and most of them are unnamed. The epitome of this is the woman whose "body was plump, far from perfect" (according to whose gaze??) who facilitated the attainment of the man's moment of orgasmic access to spiritual union. A woman's spiritual union is never mentioned - not once!
I enjoyed reading the book. I grant the pleasure of its rich tapestry of "facts" and its thick web of thriller features. But, as do other reviewers here, I worry that the hype for the book and the slickness of the story mask for far too many readers the actual non-historical and sacred feminine-bashing project of the text.
Rating:
Summary: Finished book. Moan. A Lisa
Review: Two stars for telling me some stuff I didn't know. 0 stars for talent or style. I didn't know people wrote like this any more, nor did I know anyone wanted to.
Paul Nassau
Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece of a Page Turner
Review: Two things. First, you must read this book. Second, make sure you carve out a weekend when you're not doing anything. This book will consume you, and you will not be able to put it down. Wow! I can't stop thinking about it. It's a fun and dizzying ride, and even the conclusion is satisfying on several levels. I just read that Ron Howard and the screenwriter of "A Beautiful Mind" are re-teaming to do the movie version of this book. I can't wait.
Rating:
Summary: A Thriller By Any Other Name....
Review: Typically, I avoid the blockbuster, popular, 'everyone has read it' kind of books...but The DaVinci Code sucked me in. I suggested it to a relative to read, and when she was done with it, picked it up myself.....and read it over the past two days... There are numerous reviews here, and the editorials tell a lot too...to give more info would really spoil the story...so I will avoid a detailed recap of the synopsis....however: I liked the concept...it has a real hook to it....the idea that the story of Mary Magdalene, Jesus, the Last Supper and the Holy Grail are not all they seem....fascinating. Maybe I'm just a heathen, but I love when 'all the we think we know' is put into question, which is why I loved the first Matrix film so much...it challenges your faith...not only in God, but in yourself. I have not read anything prior by Dan Brown, and probably will not seek anything out to suppliment this experience. While the storyline was fascinating, and the book is compulsively readable....chapters that set up the following chapter neatly, or foreshadow events to come...this sort of 'meant to be read on a flight between Boston and Cleveland' literture doesn't really hold my interest for too long, nor draw me in to pick it up. While the Grishams, Crichtons, and Koontz's of the world top the best-seller list...I tend to stray toward more indepth reading...with occasional exception, such as this. However...if you like that kind of fast-paced, doesn't really require too much attention reading...DaVinci Code will not disappoint. As for it's accuracy.....I cannot comment. Is the Catholic Church withholding the truth about the life of Jesus Christ? As a wise old owl once said (about the amount of licks necessary to get to the center of a lollypop)....'The world may never know'.
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