The Da Vinci Code

Rating:
Summary: Borrow rather than buy this book
Review: The Da Vinci Code is a mystery/suspense/thriller that seems to have been deemed "intellectual." While it is the former, it is not the latter and it ultimately fails to be much more than an intriguing idea. Still, like most books of this genre, it is an entertaining, easy to read page turner.

This is the story of Robert Langdon, a Harvard professor, and Sophie Neveu, agent of the French version of the FBI, as they seek to explain the murder of Neveu's grandfather and discover the secrets that he protected. The mystery revolves around the history of Christianity, secret organizations and complex riddles.

Although the idea behind the story is fascinating, there is not much to the book other than watching the characters gradually solve the mystery by solving a series of riddles. While the riddles they solve are interesting, it quickly begins to feel like you are watching some one do a crossword puzzle - you, the reader, are stumped by the clues, impressed by the solutions, but eventually bored as the characters fret over finding the answer before shouting, "I've got it!" over and over again.

There are other faults too. The protagonists are pursued throughout by police and enemies, but the police are more like Keystone Kops and the enemies too vague in purpose to be necessary. In fact without either there really is no conflict in the plot at all and it really is just two people trying to solve a riddle.

The strength of the book is the underlying premise - that there is more to the story of the history of Christianity than we know. However, even in this there are problems: once the subject of the mystery is revealed, the rest of the book no longer matters. Also, Brown mixes actual history with his own fiction. By not telling us where the dividing line is, we are robbed of learning any new, interesting historical theories. Certainly, much of intriguing history described is true, but which parts? Without knowing you have to dismiss most of it as fiction.

If you are interested in this genre, there are better books: Up Country, by Nelson DeMille, is a very good mystery being solved by a man and a woman thrown together in a foreign country, or some of David Morrell's books (Brotherhood of the Rose or Fraternity of the Stone) for religious thrillers. If you do decide to read this, borrow it or wait for paperback.

Rating:
Summary: The Da Vinci Code Review
Review: The Da Vinci Code is Dan Brown's finest work yet. Follow Robert Langdon and Sophie Nevue as they try to solve the mysteries of a secret society Sophie's grandfather was involved with after his murder. They follow clues to knowledge that died with Sophie's grandfather, and they're running from both the police and the Church. As secrets unveil and the plot takes twists and turns, the Da Vinci Code will suck you in from the moment you open it to page one.
One of the specifics I enjoyed from the novel was how interesting the historical facts were, and how much I learned about the truth of the Church. This book certainly does not support Christianity. Another enjoyable aspect of the novel is it's fast-pace read, and how it never stays in one place for too long. There are also many shocking twists in the book, and it makes you want to keep reading. This book is great, and you'll never want to put it down.
There aren't many things I didn't like about the book, but there are a few faults. One of them is that some of the characters were a little bit too made-up, and it was difficult to believe in them. It's difficult for me to relate to the personality of a character that doesn't exist. Another aspect I might change is how much the book resembled a movie. Instead of a traditional descriptive text, the story moved like a dialogue for a motion picture. I also think that you don't get a good enough description of some important characters. Yet, overall, I recommend The Da Vinci Code if you're looking for a great mystery novel, or if you want to pass time. It's full of interesting facts, and it's a creative way to pass the time. This book is the shortest 450-page novel I've ever read.

Rating:
Summary: Too bad I didn't finish it...
Review: This is definitely one of the greatest books I've ever read. It was so hard to put it down after starting it. But when I got about half-way thru it, I decided it was time for me to stop. Dan Brown is a brilliant man, but he needs to check his sources if he wants to slag the Catholic church like that. I've been a Caholic since I was a week old and it's a huge part of who I am. Most of the historical information presented in the book is false, but he seems to clearly state otherwise in the introduction. Opus Dei is real, but nothing like what happened in the book would ever happen in real life. I just find it deeply offensive that Dan Brown writes about another instance where the Catholic church is being humiliated, even though it is ficticious, in the midst of the sex-abuse scandal wew are facing right now. So overall, enjoy the story, but ignore the historical info.

Rating:
Summary: Had low expectations, but left me impressed...
Review: I often avoid reading this sort of book. Nothing says blockbuster-film-waiting-to-happen like a John Grisham-like thriller. It won't surprise me if a film version of this novel is in the works. However, praises and hype surrounding Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code are well deserved. This is an excellent, compelling, intelligent thriller -- one that grabs you and doesn't let go until its final page. Robert Langdon is called in for questioning regarding a violent murder at the Lourvre one night. The clues left by the victim, the museum's curator, send Langdon and the victim's granddaughter, Sophie, on a quest to solve both the murder and the various clues the curator has left. The story is smart and well-paced and it will keep you guessing. I also love all of the historical references to art. This is a memorable, thrilling read that lives up to its hype. Highly recommended...

Rating:
Summary: Top Notch Thriller!
Review: Robert Langdon, an expert in religious symbology lecturing in Paris, doesn't exactly live a life of danger; he works the lecture circuit, writes scholarly books, and keeps his nose buried in ancient tomes. So it's something of a surprise when the police come banging down his hotel-room door. Jacques Sauniere, a curator at the Louvre, has been shot to death in one of the museum galleries; in his last moments, he used his own blood and a marking pen to arrange his body in a bizarre tableau, complete with a coded message. Langdon has ostensibly been called upon in a professional capacity to help solve the mystery. But Agent Sophie Neveu, a police cryptanalyst, reveals the truth: Sauniere's dying message included Langdon's name, and the police are about to wrongfully arrest him as the killer. Neveu believes in Langdon's innocence, and she has a special reason for wanting to find the real murderer: Sauniere was Neveu's estranged grandfather. On the run from the police, Neveu and Langdon follow a trail of puzzles and clues to find the truth behind Sauniere's murder, and the knowledge he died to protect - information that reaches back through the centuries to a secret society, an artistic genius, and a priceless historical artifact.

I've always liked books that invite the reader to solve puzzles along with the characters, and Code has them in spades: anagrams, numerical cyphers, riddles, and secret scripts (at one point, a character offhandedly comments that at least 62 other words can be made using the letters of the word PLANETS, and I had to stop reading and try it out for myself). The puzzles range in difficulty from Instantly Obvious to Unsolvable Without Being Fluent In Greek. There's also plenty of historical information, which is integrated smoothly into the prose; remarkably, even when inserted into dialogue, the explanatory asides don't interrupt the flow. Brown ensures that readers who are unfamiliar with religious iconography and cyphers have all the necessary information to fully enjoy the story, without leaving advanced readers feeling bored or patronized. Even if you know all this stuff already, the author's concise recaps are interesting and, as far as I can tell, well-researched and factually accurate.

Brown's writing is clean, precise, and detached, conveying information efficiently and minimizing its narrative presence in the story. The plot is appropriately full of twists and turns, with plenty of cliff-hanging action and a highly satisfying resolution, although some of the inventions seem a bit much (not only must there be a self-mutilating monk/assassin, but he must be an albino self-mutilating monk/assassin to boot). The character development is pretty much what you'd expect from an action-packed thriller - which is to say, minimal, unless it provides an excuse for more ass-kicking adventure. The focus is upon the ingenious puzzles-within-puzzles that Brown has devised, rather than the characters who try to solve them; for this type of story, that's not a problem, although it does limit the book to entertainment rather than literature.

A fast-paced, suspenseful, and surprisingly intelligent thriller, The Da Vinci Code deserves its good reputation. It's fascinating, action-packed, and it'll do more to stimulate your mind than an overpriced mocha at the Terminal B coffee cart. If you're ready to let your powers of deduction take flight, give this first-class airport book a try. Another great novel is THE LOSERS' CLUB by Richard Perez.

Rating:
Summary: Foucault's Pendulum for Dummies
Review: If you think you've read this book before, you have. Umberto Eco's "Foucault's Pendulum" covers much the same ground, is better written, and more sound in its research.

The author can't even take the step of having his Parisian characters create puzzles in French (and his own French seems at times in need of assistance).

Worst is his annoying habit of ending chapters as the characters view some shocking item - not to be revealed for pages to come. By mid book, you are juggling so many of these, it's not surprising if you forget a few by the time they are in fact revealed!

It is amusing that he takes a legitimate religious organization, Opus Dei, and turns into a cartoon of a James Bond evil spy ring. One only hopes that too many don't look in this pious group for shadowy albino assassins. I dare say they won't find any.

And by the way, cell phones don't work in airplanes. You are thousands of feet from the nearest antenna which is pointed down (you know, towards where the cell phones are for the most part!)

Rating:
Summary: Solving the code ...
Review: Robert Langdon, a Harvard symbologist and Sophie Neveu, a french cryptologist, work together to solve a mystery: The curator of the Louvre was murdered, Langdon is being accused of the murder, and Neveu works with him to get him out of trouble. Of course they first have to get out of the museum, only to be led back to the Mona Lisa, inside of the museum. The cryptic message left by the curator has its' first clue with the painting, and that one message in the Mona Lisa painted an entire novel of trying to solve the curator's message.
The message of course is politically and religious oriented: The Priory of Sion and the Opus Dei are two organizations - the former was a secret society that historical figures belonged to; the latter was a devout catholic sect of the Vatican. Each clue confounds Langdon and Neveu: Was the curator a part of one of these groups? What was he afraid of, who was after him, and what was he trying to tell them? Most important, did they have to preserve an ancient historical secret ... and how were they going to do it?
The two go from the museum, all over France, to England and back to France - all in 24 hours mind you - as one mystery brings upon yet another...
This is a page turner until the very end, the surprises are endless and the solution to the code may just be as mysterious as the message itself. Some codes are never meant to be broken.

Rating:
Summary: Truth Disguised as Fiction - Brilliant
Review: This is by far one of the finest books I have ever read. Those giving it bad reviews fear the truths the book reveals. Yes, it is a "page-turner" and yes, it moves at breakneck speed, but that is what a good book is supposed to do. I could not put it down and frankly, didn't want to. Dan Brown has written a masterpiece that will live throughout the ages. Are all the ideas original? No, but it took brown to bring them into the mainstream and make it a convincing enjoyable read. Don't let the zealots keep you from reading this book!!!

Rating:
Summary: What a great book!
Review: Take what you previously thought about the Holy Grail, the Roman Catholic Church, the Crusades, the Mona Lisa, Leonard DaVinci and the role of Mary Magdalene and forget about it. Set in modern times, The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, uncovers a mystery thousands of years old. "Langdon nodded, unable to imagine a less congruous backdrop for the legend he was about to tell. He wondered where to begin. The brotherhood's history spanned more than a millennium... an astonishing chronicle of secretes, blackmail, betrayal, and even brutal torture at the hands of an angry pope." Infused in a clever story, Dan Brown reveals the real truth of the Holy Grail, which is believed to be the cup of Christ, and the story behind it.
Brown takes numerous religious conspiracy theories, some of which question the very beginnings of Christianity, and combines them with a murder mystery to create a readable and fascinating story on two levels. The reader is brought into the fast paced chase of Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu. Langdon, a schoolteacher, is accused of murdering curator Jacques SaunieÌre, of the French Louvre art museum. Sophie is an agent with the French DCPJ (The French equivalent of the FBI) whose grandfather was Jacques SaunieÌre. She believes that Langdon is innocent and that SaunieÌre left a message for them to protect the Holy Grail. Along with the unveiling of conspiracy's and a secret society that existed for over 2,000 years. Art, Medieval history and religion are wrapped around the murder mystery that moves the story along at a fast pace, with every chapter ending in a cliffhanger. It makes a real page-turner.
The year is 1099 and the Prieureìì de Sion - the Priory of Sion- is created to protect documents of infinite power. These documents, if revealed, would destroy the Christian faith. What is contained in these documents is not entirely clear, but for thousands of years the church has been trying prevent them from being released. The Priory of Sion is a group made up of various people including Leonardo Da Vinci. This secret society is the only group that knows where the documents are and only the leaders, known as seìneìchaux, understand what they contain. "It cannot be! The curators true identity, along with the other three seìneìchaux, was almost as sacred as the ancient secret they protected..." This quote in the prologue is one of the ways Dan Brown pulls you into the story by creating a desire to venture deeper into the book in order to understand exactly what is happening.
The book begins with the curator's murder. Langdon, an American, is in France for a presentation on religious symbolism and was supposed to meet Jacques SaunieÌre after. There was enough circumstantial evidence to accuse Langdon of murder, but the curator's granddaughter, Sophie Neveu, believes that he is innocent and helps him evade the DCPJ. Following coded clues that SaunieÌre left for them, they discover a key to a bank deposit box containing a piece of the puzzle that will help them find the documents. The pair are led to many other pieces leading them to discover the truth. Along with the French authorities, they are perused by a fanatical sect of the Catholic Church known as Opus Dei who wish to prevent the truth from coming out.
The author uses extensive imagery that places the reader in the world of the story. His description is very useful because he is good at getting the details down. "He was staring into the mouth of a long, deep canyon. On either side of the gallery, stark walls rose thirty feet, evaporating into the darkness above. The reddish glow of the sirvise lighting sifted upwards, casting an unnatural smolder across a staggering collection of Da Vincis, Titians, and Caravaggios that hung suspended from ceiling cables..." This imagery continues throughout the book enveloping the reader into the book.
One of the things I like about the Da Vinci Code is the pace. In the beginning of the book the pace is slow and methodical. While later in the book the pace is rushed, often only giving a little amount of description. I think that this is an excellent way to perceive the changing pace of a book. In real life you wouldn't look stop to look around and describe how a certain object looks while the police are chasing you.
Dan Brown uses his skill in developing the characters to move the story. His characters are interesting because they are believable; they have traits that are in real people. As a reader, it makes the story seem like it could actually happen. A perfect example of this characterization is when Silias, who basically is the man doing the dirty work for Opus Dei, is told to find the documents at any costs. This includes murdering someone if he has to. There is a moment where this character is in the position where he might have to kill someone but in the end he decides against it. It was interesting to see a "bad guy" that was not pure evil and seemed to have morals.
The best-devolved character is Robert Langdon. As the protagonist, he is the most important character, and Bown did a wonderful job of creating him. Because Langdon is a schoolteacher he is someone you would not expect him to handle the many perilous situations in which he finds himself. However, he proves to be courageous and able to think under pressure.
This book is an incredible read. Dan Brown writes an amazing novel that you will want to read over and over again.

Rating:
Summary: I'm amazed at all the hoopla .
Review: With all the buzz about this book, I was looking forward to a good read. The book starts quickly and definitely grabs the reader, but it's a quick spiral downward to a truly bad novel. The writing is amateurish, the characters and their dialogue absurd and the coincidences simply beyond any credibility. This is a truly bad book.