The Da Vinci Code

Rating:
Summary: Read it but don't expect a masterpiece...
Review: This book started out with an interesting premise that seemed to be building up to something but then didn't. "The Da Vinci Code" was engaging and a little bit addictive--for my desire to drag myself through the writing to find out what happened, not for its literary value. I found that it was a little hypocritical that although an idea of the story was the suppression of the "divine feminine" in society, the female protagonist was still portrayed as needing a male protector and at the end, the interesting tension between the two melted down to a simplistic let's-give-the-readers-what-they-want romance. The way that Brown worked his research into the story seemed chunky and forced, and his techniques for keeping readers in suspense were quite crude. Still, this book brings up a few interesting ideas and manages to hold your interest...just put the jacket from some other novel on it if you're somewhere with a lot of intelligent people.

Rating:
Summary: Badly written book
Review: This book started out with some promise, but before long I decided it was poorly plotted, poorly researched and poorly written. Some have compared it's pacing to that of a Saturday matinee serial, but I've seen much more compelling Flash Gordon serials. Langdon and Sophie were absolutely flat on the page, without even enough life to be called caricatures. The "revelations" were without any emotional component and were dryly retold through narrative. The codes were so simplistic that I figured out most of them before Langdon or Sophie. This is like a "paint by numbers" suspense novel, but without the numbers. I think the book panders to its audience by giving readers who aren't educated in religious history or art history the illusion that they're reading something intellectual. Although certainly one of those rare publishing "phenomenas", I'm not even sure this one deserves a space on the bookshelf next to BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY or JONATHAN LIVINGSTON SEAGULL. Harry Potter, where are you???

Rating:
Summary: Unrelenting Suspense
Review: This book starts out with a bang. I didn't think the level of suspense could be sustained for 450 plus pages, but it was. There is a suspenseful hook on almost every other page. Well-drawn characters, believable dialog, and a crisp writing style combine to make this fast paced story hard to put down. I can't speak for the accuracy of the 'facts' presented in this book, but as a mystery/thriller it works extraordinarily well. I was a little skeptical of all the hype surrounding this book and the many glowing reviews, but I was not one bit disappointed. An exceptionally good read.

Rating:
Summary: Cultural literacy thriller
Review: This book starts out with lots of superfluous description of people and places that never ties up or is relevant to the tale. The story takes quite a bit of time to get off the ground. The story line is textbook predictable. You know who the bad guy(s) are before they are introduced. As they say in the trade "it is the last person you would suspect."
Now for the positives. After a slow start the action finally starts to move. If you think it has holes that you could fly a jet through, maybe but if it did not you would have no story. One thing people enjoy in books is things they already know about. With Tony Hillerman it is Navaho culture. With Stephen King it is spookiness based on standard premises. This book also bases its suspense on existing conspiracies weaving current events into age old mysteries.

Rating:
Summary: Great novel, but the 'factual' parts ... ?
Review: This book starts with a claim that all references in the novel to art, architecture, secret societies and symbols are all factual. Well, I'm not convinced of THAT, but as a NOVEL this is a great book, along the lines of Tom Clancy or John Grisham. The entire story takes place in a single 24 hour period, and reads fast. A murder is uncovered in the Louvre and the victim left clues ... but to what? Not the identity of the murderer, as it turns out, but to something much more significant. The main character, Richard Langdon, solves the victim's riddles that point to clues hidden in ancient artwork by Da Vinci and others - symbols and clues which the author claims are all REALLY there. Along the way the characters teach you a lot about history of art, the Church, pagan practices, and more. I got the impression that this extremely good suspense novel was really just an excuse to present the main contents of another book I'd read several years ago, called "Holy Blood, Holy Grail", and my suspicions were confirmed when that specific book is actually referenced by the characters in THIS book.

The good news about "Holy Blood, Holy Grail", and this book, is that they both raise some really fascinating questions about history that have great merit, and explain the origins of commonly used words, and practices of holidays and the origin of playing cards and more in ways that are riveting and challenging. But the bad news is that they ultimately claim that Jesus fathered a lineage of descendants that live to this day, a claim for which no serious evidence is offered. So the ultimate point is a real quantum leap with no evidence to support it. But the ride to GET to that point is well worth the effort in spite of itself. Great book.

Rating:
Summary: The race is on...
Review: This book took off with and bang and the sprinter's pace continued throughout this marathon race to find the Holy Grail.

The book begins in Paris, France with a murder. On the surface, the clues from the murder point to the hero, a Harvard professor, and before he knows what is happening he and the heroine are on the run from the police. The story takes the reader from Paris, to London, to Scotland, and back to Paris in a breakneck pace. The main characters must solve the riddles and codes left for them, while avoiding the authorities and the people behind the murder.

I enjoyed this book alot. I had heard and read of a number of the points (Dead Sea Scrolls and DaVinci's artwork) and enjoyed Brown's weaving them into a very exciting story. The codes and clues to solve for the location of the Grail were clever, and added to the suspense of this thriller.

The information that Brown gives the reader will cause some to rethink what they've known. At a minimum it should cause the reader to look up more information on the subjects.

A very good and enjoyable read.

Rating:
Summary: Suspenseful and Thoughtful
Review: This book truly is a page-turner; each thread of the story grips you, propelling, rather than pulling, forward. As the characters struggled with the puzzles, I felt compelled to dwell upon them too, having read several books on the subject matter, including the mentioned "Holy Blood, Holy Grail." However, a reader does not need any pre-knowledge about the alternative history of the "Holy Grail" to enjoy the masterful and concise story-telling enhanced with believable and fairly deep, interesting characters.

Rating:
Summary: Indiana Jones the Cartoon
Review: This book used every myth/legend/superstition in history, to the point of being nauseating. I laughed out laughed when he brought up the little mermaid as supporting material for his book. I thought for sure that I was going to find some religious backing behind Superman, Batman, and Scooby Doo.

Even though the plot was easily discovered the agenda that Dan Brown has was even more evident. He writes a highly controversial book about an author(sorry I meant symbologist) that publishes a highly controversial book about religious data (inaccurate at best) and hopes no one realizes that the main character is actually named Dan Brown, not Robert Langdon. The pansy smelling, panty wearing, smart car driving, sexual deviant that is Dan Brown (I mean Robert Langdon) makes for a poor Indiana Jones.

P.S. Why would Da Vinci, the homosexual, be the Grand Master of a society that celebrated and ritualized the sexual union of a man and woman? Come on Dan - think before you write.

I will never read another Dan Brown book again.

Rating:
Summary: DaVinci a repeat of Angles and Demons
Review: This book was a bit of a disappointment after all of the hype. I had read Brown's previous book, Angels and Demons, first -and found the DaVinci Code to be almost entirely the same in terms of plot, character, pace, twists, and ending. The only difference between the books is the religious, historical topic at the center of the plot. Otherwise, same book, different secret society. I found it very hard to finish because of this. I got bored halfway through, and I guessed the plot twists and endings too easily (because I had been through his writing once before).

The historical and artistic ideas in this book are interesting, but the writing is extremely shallow. Read it if you want a good page-turner, not a great work of character development or literature. And I would recommend only reading one of his books, because the second is sure to be a repeat and a disappointment.

Rating:
Summary: Predictable. Trite. Overated. Disappointing.
Review: This book was a disappointment to say the least. I consider myself having an open mind and the initial tidbits caught my attention, so the book started off interesting for me. Although the premise was a good one, I felt that a great deal of the "facts" were really a reach based on opinion. Thus, not very interesting or provokative.

Have you ever had the feeling in a movie theater that the movie was going nowhere and driving you nuts? That you just wanted to see the movie end to see if it got better and know that you gave it a chance? You sit there frustrated because what you keep hoping that it is just a lag in the story, but it just keeps getting worse? If this book was a movie theater, I would want to walk out. I kept reading only because I needed to know that I gave it a chance.

I can't say how many times that characters obviously contrived to make you, the reader, feel is an innocent player, becomes a villian. I could see it hundreds of pages before it happened every time, but was hoping that it wouldn't. It was uncanny how I was able to figure out code before the crytographers could, and I am not a cryptographer. Not saying that I am great, just saying that the writing was trite. Which is why I use the word "predictable" to describe this book. I also can't tell how many times the main characters unrealistically and narrowly escaped being caught.

You may be saying to yourself, "Wait a minute, I heard that this book is "a real page-turner." It is, I will tell you why. It is a great marketing tool engineered by Doubleday Books. Each chapter is only about 3 pages long and Brown ends each on a cliff-hanger causing you to just say to yourself "oh what the heck, one more short chapter before I go to sleep" time and time again. What about the "BIG" 1 hour special on ABC? This book must be good. I would be willing to bet that someone at ABC owed someone at Doubleday a favor and all of this publicity came about causing te unsuspecting public to say to themselves, "Wow, I have to get that book"!

I am not a writer and I honestly feel that I could have come up with a more interesting book. I COULD BE AN AUTHOR! Don't bother buying this book (or reading it for that matter). But, if you insist, buy it used or borrow it. Don't come come crying to me when you realize how lame it is...