The Da Vinci Code: Special Illustrated Edition

Rating:
Summary: MASTERFUL
Review:
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The Da Vinci Code: Special Illustrated Edition
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Fred ([e-mail]), a student doing a book report, February 1, 2005,
the da vinci code is masterful
The Da Vinci Code is an awesome, off your seat historical thriller that will keep you guessing until the end and when you think you know what is going on, it will flip upside down. The book is about a symbologist named Robert Langdon, who is strangely invited to have drinks with the famous curator, Jacques Sauniere, after Langdon's lecture. Saniere never showed up. When Langdon was back at his hotel in France, he is called by the judicial police and is taken to where Sauniere's body was found, murdered. The captain of the judicial police thinks he might have had something to do with it. After investigating for any clues at the crime scene, a woman named Sophie, who actually is the granddaughter of Sauniere. Secretly Sophie tells Langdon he is in danger and they escape from the police because of how suspicious they are. For most of the rest of the book, they follow the clues left by Sauniere, leading to what they think could be the Holy Grail or the location of the forbidden Lady Magdalene. Throughout the book they are helped and betrayed at the same time, and there are times where they are helpless or in complete control. The book has so many twist and turns, that you sometime have to read parts over again to understand it, but in the end, everything makes sense. I recommend this book to anyone and everyone looking for a good book involving history, art, corruption, secret symbols, secret organizations, murder, and one hell of a treasure hunt. This book is only one of the few books that is over 400 pages and at the same time a major page-turner. There was no part of this book that made me bored. It gave me a new respect for art and such people as Leonardo Da Vinci, who in many ways was a huge influence on the way we live now. Me being a picky reader can tell you this is a book worth buying and is so enlightening and crammed with information, that it truly is among the greats.



Rating:
Summary: Nothing more than fiction
Review: First of all, in regards to all the hype surrounding the 'revelations' in Brown's book all I have to say is: It's fiction, folks!! Nothing more than light entertainment. He may use actual works of art and architecture, but the rest is fantasy. Even the supposed historical tidbits aren't very well researched at all (i.e. his book says the Knights Templar were executed by the Pope when it was actually France's King Philip the Fair who had them arrested, charged and killed).

As far as fiction goes, it's a fun piece of fluff; a good way to kill some time on that 10 hour flight to Europe or in your doctor's waiting room. But after having read both this book and Angels & Demons (the stories are practically identical in a didn't-I-already-read-this kind of way), I feel like Mr. Brown severely underestimates the intelligence of his readers. He announces every moment of foreshadow. His attempts to build suspense remind me of a father embellishing scary stories to his young kids by making "oooo" noises while making monster faces and stomping around the house with his arms over his head like some sort of ghoulish gorilla. He has to drag out the revelation of each clue which can be annoying when you've already figured it out, but you still have another 2-3 pages of "oh, what could it be" to go through. And he has a tendency to go off on random tangents that do nothing to enhance the story line (i.e. the entire why-I-wear-a-Mickey-Mouse-watch saga).

I'm starting to get the idea, based on his writing style, that a conversation with him would go something like this:

"Happy Birthday, Wendy. I've got something for you."
"Wow. Thank you, Dan."
"I've got it here in this bag. It's a surprise."
"Oh. What is it?"
"Boy, you are really going to be surprised when you see what it is."
"OK."
"Guess what it is?"
"Um, can I have a hint?"
"You told me last week that you were hoping to get this."
"Oh yeah. A gift certificate to the spa. Is that what you got me?"
"You are never going to guess what it is."
"So it's not a gift certificate."
"It's something that's really relaxing."
"Besides a trip to the spa?"
"It's a way to get really pampered on your birthday."
"So no spa then..."
"I can't wait to see the look on your face when you open it."
"So, do I get to open it now or do I have to wait until later?"
"No, you get to open it now."
"Ok... Dan... Give me the bag, Dan. Are you going to give it to me or not?"
"Alright, here it is. Aren't you excited?"
"Actually, I'm starting to get a headache, Dan."
"Well, here it is!!"
"Oh. It is a gift certificate to the spa."
"Yeah! Aren't you just astounded? I knew you'd never guess what it was."
"Actually, I'd pretty much figured it out about 20 minutes ago. But thanks."



Rating:
Summary: Good, but over-hyped!
Review: For sometime now I've read and heard reports of how good this book is. I finally jumped on the bandwagon and decided to see what all the fuss was about. I found the story to be good but not great. This may be due, in part, to all the hype about the book. Once a book, or anything else, has been hyped the way this book has it is probably difficult to meet the expectations of the reader who has taken all the hype in.

I must admit that I was really intrigued with all the history given to the various works of Da Vini. I think I'll be doing a little more research into some of the hidden symbols that may really be present in his works. The American professor made an interesting and unconventional hero. The story moved at a quick pace, at least early on it did. About half way through the book the story began to slow down and in some cases become repetitive. While interesting at first, I found the constant explaining of the Sacred Feminine to get a bit old. Brown, the author, presents an interesting take on the life of Jesus. I doubt it will shake the Christian beliefs of those who are confident in their belief in God and his son Jesus. However, it does raise questions that Christian or non-Christians will probably want to look into. For example, the portion of the book that deals with the changes Constantine made to the Christian (Catholic) religion are true. I've talked to some people that are offended by that part of the book, as well as other parts. I don't know why, it's verifiable. Books like THE DA VINCI CODE are, by design, meant to challange the accepted beliefs for many of its readers. The fun in reading a book like this is to look into matters and discover if you, as the reader, may have the wrong take on a particular matter or to find out where the author went wrong or fabricated part of the story.

My biggest complaint about the story is the ending. I don't want to give anything away but I expected more. After spending hours reading hundreds of pages I bet most readers were expecting a more detailed ending. Now that this book is being made into a movie it will be interesting to see just how close Hollywood stick to the source material.

Rating:
Summary: Either buy that or wait for the film...
Review: How can you be fair (and fairly be critic...) without been thought an integrist?...
The problem with this work of fiction, and enphasis is put on FICTION, is the subject... You see, if you criticize the poor level of craftmanship as a thriller, and I do not mind at all it's atacks to integrist catholicism (I could'nt care less...), it's muddled and jumbled-mixed theories about the "feminin" part of divinity, and the wholesale amalgamation in a single book of such vast amount of controversial or pretended obscure "subjects" (Da Vinci, Sion Priorate, the Templars, life of Christ, "lost" evangiles or gospel, OPUS DEI, IVOR, egyptian gods, Mitras, Pyramids, Holy Grial etc...),instantly you fall in the category of one-track-mind fanatics derided in the book...
Well, I am over fifty, I was educated as a cristhian catholic but must confess (pun intended) I do not practice a lot nowadays, and have strong doubts about the whole state of the faith (true or not) and how it has kept with progress... (500 years to recognize their mistake with Galileo took too long to be acknowledged... (I wrote Copernic in my amazon.co.uk review instead of Galileo just to see what happened on my one star paperback review and as gullibility goes no one has complained about THAT inacuracy...sorry for the practical joke but could'nt stop myself...).
Actually if one has the ability to (and probably I don't have it) to compare the basis of nearly all religions (What a tricky subject!) the obvious conclusion is we as a species seem to NEED TO BELIEVE in SOMETHING HAPPENING after dead... be it Manitou's Green Prairies, Walhalla, Heaven, Hell, Paradise, Reincarnation, Sublimation (Teilhard de Chardin theories are not used in this volume, but wait till Mr. Brown finds out and "write" another pamphlet using them as basis or "fact"...).
You'll probably not believe it but what is really amazing is the level of audience and publicity of such a BAD THRILLER, it's a morbid subject (slandering religions have plenty of potential mind...) but it's so badly ploted and constructed as a work of literary fiction I nearly did not finish it... so many inacuracies... (I ended the book using sense of humour and just for the sake of knowing how the nonsense will end...)
Mind, it has the page turner quality but it's a tabloid level quality, I wonder how many of it's readers (and you can count me off) will reread this "thriller" again in the future...
I can read again and again "The Four Feathers", "Right Ho Jeeves" (or practically any Wodehouse), "Beau Geste", any BUCHAN or CONAN DOYLE, "Without Remorse" "Soldiers in the mist" "The Three Musketeers" "Just William" and even "Gone with the Wind".
The main wrong of it all is the sheer capacity of people to be mislead or - pardon me - been led to believe by an editorial success that some or all the afirmations on this book are true... or based on scientific research...
Once you have finished the book the sensation of been cheated of some silver (or how can they have you been induced to part with your money) is probably the only miracle finally acomplished.
Enough, you've been advised... nevertheless I suspect you will read it anyhow just not to be offside on coffe table chat/conversations... and talking abouy coffe tables this is the one to pick! (the second star is for the illustrations...)
Guess the film will be a succes too...
Well done Mr Brown!, hope you enjoy the money...


Rating:
Summary: why can't I give this no stars?
Review: I mean, come on... there has to be 0 as a default right? No? Oh well.

Anyway, back to the review. This is book is tosh. Forget the actual proposition, which I forget now. How could one get even halfway through it?

I was guffawing every time I picked it up. Clouseau playing Indiana Jones, brilliant!

A thought for any Americans who think this is some kind of hyper-historical European Disney tour. Try driving a rental up the Tuileries any time, please! Man, I would like to see that.

In acclaiming this book you speak loudly, though not eloquently, of your profound ignorance of all things noble.

Rating:
Summary: Great thriller!
Review: I was glad that Dan Brown decided to come out with a "Special Edition" with pictures. It made the reading a bit easier (Easier to picture the place/views in my head). I really enjoyed this book. And would highly recommed it. I can't wait till the sequel comes out!

Rating:
Summary: I couldn't put it down!
Review: I'd been wanting to read "The Da Vinci Code" for a while. When my fiance surprised me with the illustrated edition, I was happy that I'd finally get a chance to read the book, but I also didn't understand why there was an illustrated edition available. Once I started reading, however, I was very grateful to have the illustrated edition in hand.

Revealing too much of the plot of this book will take away from the pleasure of reading it, so I'm not going to say too much. Basically, the story begins when someone is murdered at the Louvre museum, setting into motion a cryptic chain of events that lead to a religious secret which has been kept under wraps for thousands of years. This is a fast-paced, intriguing novel that elaborates on actual conspiracy theories that have been talked about for centuries. (Now I understand why certain religious circles are all up in arms about the content of this book!) I think that anyone who has even a remote interest in theology will love this book, and anyone else just looking for a good thriller to read will not be disappointed.

Dan Brown references many historical landmarks and objects in his book, which is why this illustrated edition is so convenient. Unless you have a very strong background in art and religious history and know Paris and London like the back of your hand, chances are that you'll get a little lost in some places, which is where the illustrations come in. Photographs of historical landmarks and images of famous works of art act as key reference points throughout the book that will make reading it even more enjoyable.

If you haven't read "The Da Vinci Code" yet, I highly suggest you do it soon and not wait for Hollywood to butcher the story with the movie version. I also recommend shelling out the extra few bucks needed to purchase the illustrated edition: you'll be glad you did.

Rating:
Summary: Illustrations Helpful and Interesting
Review: If you are deciding between the illustrated and normal versions of this book I would recommend the illustrated. My only complaint about the illustrations is that the "last supper" is spread out on two pages with the crease in a critical location.

The book itself is a fun, fast, interesting read. I would highly recommend it. I did like Angels and Deamons slightly better because I felt the "bad guy" was better developed. I felt a lot of sympathy for the "Bad Guys" in this book, which is not necessarily a bad thing.



Rating:
Summary: Exciting read filled with art, math, and some pseudo-history
Review: Upon recommendation (from such reviews), I got the illustrated edition of Da Vinci Code, and now I am so glad I did. Because without the pictures, I would imagine it would be a little difficult to proceed without feeling overwhelmed by too many references to artwork, architecture etc. Plus, seeing the masterpieces like Mona Lisa, Last Supper etc. even in a book (glossy paper though) was rewarding for me. It is one of the rare books I have finished in a short period of time.

I especially liked it almost 2/3 of the way. However, I did not like the ending. I think this book deserves a better ending. Not that I am being childish, but because of the premises laid down throughout a good portion of the book. The ending just does not follow or suit: all the troubles, all the seriousness, all the stakes. I guess the author was trying to be nice so as not to hurt anybody's feelings at the end of the day. At least this is my guess.

Overall, it was an exciting ride for me. You get to be a cryptologist at times. I figured out beforehand the orb that ought to be on Newton's tomb for example:).

But I should tell you that I had different (and high) expectations for this book after hearing so much hype about it. I thought it would be like a classic. I don't think it is though. It is just a fun to read novel. Not something I want to read again for instance.

Rating:
Summary: Sparked new interests and search for knowledge!
Review: Yeah yeah, it's "fiction", I get it. And, sure, in fiction referencing pieces of historical fact, you have to take "fact" w/a grain of salt or at least check out whether or not it's completely factual for yourself. But that's all besides the point! I loved this book! I was one of the people who paid little attention to the book's debut and a friend recently recommended it to me, so I went to the library (not wanting to invest money in purchasing it if it wasn't any good) and grabbed a copy. I loved it so much from the start that I was excited to purchase the illustrated version.

Sure, the ultra religious are offended. Of course, critics point out any little flaw in Brown's research or interpretation. Again, it SO doesn't matter! Not only was this a plain old good story, but I learned a lot about the history of secret societies, art, math in nature - and it wasn't all from the book, but the book got me interested enough in all this stuff to do some further research (okay, so it wasn't hours spent in the stacks of a research library, it was Google searches, you caught me) on a lot of the information highlighted in the book.

If this was a fictional book about a fictional painting by a fictional artist, no one would question it (well, the whole religious aspect might still have people in an uproar...). So, if you're looking for a page turner by a guy who is really REALLY clever, check out this book. And I highly recommend the illustrated version in particular b/c you get to see so many places that Brown references. It made me want to jump on a plane to Europe right now. Enjoy - and if you're concerned about the factual basis, do some MORE reading and check out that stuff for yourself. Whether what you learn confirms or contradicts what Brown says, at least you'll be learning something, right??