The Da Vinci Code

Rating:
Summary: Good fiction, bad history
Review: The Da Vinci Code is just about everything a good fiction novel should be. The topic is fresh and interesting, Dan Brown obviously has a command of the material, you'll learn a great deal while reading it (a la Crichton), the story is a page turner and Brown's prose is okay - about what you'd expect for this type of book. However, it *is* fiction, and before you run off and renounce your belief in a Christian god who isn't a woman, it's wise to remember that. As a work of fiction, "The Da Vinci Code" succeeds greatly. As a text to present facts, it is much less successful. Unfortunately, while I would love to just judge the book on things like characters, plot and dialogue, there is a great deal of information in this book that is presented in a very one-sided fashion that while entertaining, will certainly serve to confuse opinions of an already distraught religion.

I would liken Brown to a magician. A magician is one who creates an illusion, the audience buys into that illusion completely, and thus we have magic. Brown achieves the same result with "The Da Vinci Code." He is able to convince the reader that the very world is at stake within the outcome of this story, and that Da Vinci's opinion on a topic is as authoritative as the Bible itself. He accomplishes the first task by alluding to supernatural secrets early on, but very gradually reveals that this "world changing" secret is nothing more than the conspiracy theory of some cultish history club. However, Brown does it in such a way that we don't even notice it and the "secret" seems important right up until the end of the novel. This is not an easy thing to accomplish as a writer and it's why I say Brown largely succeeded. (I'll come back to this.) He achieves the second task of making the reader believe in Da Vinci's opinions as gospel by showing us things we've never seen before about his paintings, even though they are right in front of us. For the reader who looks up one of these painting on the internet and follows Brown's analysis of it, it can be startling and before you even realize it, you've forgotten that Da Vinci was just a man with an admittedly warped point of view. This ends the book review. What follows is a short commentary on the topic itself.

First, what's the validity of this secret of the Knights of Templar? Brown writes about their secret documents and what they say, and asserts that the originators of the Bible kept those works out for political reasons. This is conspiracy speak at its best. The fact is when you delve into the documents that weren't included in the canonical scripture, yes they say certain things that seem to contradict other areas of the Bible. But many of them also contain areas of factual inaccuracy, such as historical inaccuracies, that deems them of a dubious source. Compare that with the four Gospels - the most researched, time tested writings in this planet's history - and almost no discrepancies in transcription have been found, even with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Furthermore, the logic that these documents were left out for political reasons is a little sketchy, since including them in the canon would only have tightened the cords between paganism and true Christianity, which is what the conspiracy "experts" assert Constantine was attempting to achieve. Lastly, how important would revealing these secret documents be, even if they directly contradicted established biblical truths? Would the foundations of Western culture come crumbling down around the black hole of the Catholic Church? I don't think so. Just because these documents, if they even exist, say something other than established scripture says, it doesn't mean they are accurate, especially considering they would be presented by people of a very strong theological bias which automatically questions their credibility. At best, all it would do would be to expose a slightly plausible alternative to traditional Christian texts, something that has stood the test of thousands of years and hundreds of scholars. Change the world? No more than Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses or Christian Scientists have, and probably less. There are masses of historical documents that say any number of things we as a culture don't largely believe. This would only be one more set. And most of what Brown criticizes about organized religion applies to Catholicism only - the horrors of the crusades, the intertwining of paganism with Christ - these things were largely addressed by something Brown conveniently ignores, something called the "reformation" which has given us the entirety of Protestantism, a tradition free from the Papal influence he calls into question.

And at the end of the book I was left feeling Brown had done an excellent job of making something out of nothing. He had given the façade of importance to a discovery that would probably make national news, might merit a National Geographic channel hour-long special and maybe would give those few remaining Catholics on the fence after their priests unthinkable actions an excuse to bail out.

So we're back to fiction. As a work of fiction, "The Da Vinci Code" stands strong. I just hope people don't take it too seriously.

Rating:
Summary: Very disappointing
Review: I'll keep this short, as I already wasted too much time reading the book. I admit I read this hoping that there was something unique about it. Sadly disappointing in its predictability. Anytime the sleeve notes say something like "wickedly clever" or "a must read", run, run far away.

Rating:
Summary: The Da Vinci Code
Review: I thought this was an amazing read. Many of you avid readers - I'm sure- thought this to be a predictable story, however, those of us who have never read Dan Brown would agree that it was a page turner.

Many years ago I read Holy Blood, Holy Grail and found it difficutl to follow because of the all the detail and historical facts. Tying to piece it all together was not easy; so when I read The Da Vinci Code it put all that information in the form of a story. This is what I totally enjoyed.

I was also able to follow up all this stuff on the internet and found a plethora of information about the Kights Templar, The Priory of Sion etc. This book has made me question my own faith and confirmed many of my beliefs.

Some have said that Dan Brown's previous books have been better, but having never read Dan Brown - I thought this book was awesome.
I recommend this to anyone who has a penchant for religion and knowledge.

Rating:
Summary: fresh and innovating recommend to anyone
Review: This book fell into my radar when I saw this book on the bestsellers list. I became curious about the book realizing that the book had topped the chart for many weeks. I knew nothing about the book at the time but bought it anyway on a whim. Once I started reading the book I was hooked and read the book practically nonstop and finished the book in a mere 3 days! It seemed to me that Brown found the formula to write a bestselling novel. The book has pace and the characters always are on the move which adds to the tension that is always maintained in the book. But the real formula of this book's success was the mixing of known historical facts and making grandiose implications of conspiracy and adding believability to the story. Conspiricies regarding DaVinci and his works of art, the conspiracy of the writing of the gospels, and the relations of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. All of these conspiracies have real elements backed by evidence and yet are not complete to tell the whole picture. If you are on the way towards buying this book don't forget to visit danbrown.com he's got a couple of webquests that help you kill time as well as promote other books he's published. It worked on me because I've already purchased a second book written by him.

Rating:
Summary: Diverting, but Ultimately Disappointing
Review: I like page-turners and the DaVinci Code appears at first to be just that, but by the last page I was worn out with the arcane symbolism and strained metaphor offered up by author Dan Brown. The book starts out strong, but begins to fizzle somewhere in the middle. It's biggest flaw is that the ending disappoints after all the build-up. I can suspend disbelief, providing I get some punch or originality in the end, but I had a very hard time imagining that humanity's greatest thinkers would actually believe this muck, let alone design monuments around it.

Rating:
Summary: Finally, someone has brought these theories to the masses!
Review: Dan Brown's novel is a fictionalized version of the compiled research of theologians, archeologists and grail enthusiasts. As I was reading the novel, I could name the texts from which the scenes were derived. The information has been available in less "fun" forms for years.

I applaude Mr. Brown from telling a really good story...and for having the courage buck the system in such a public way. I hope that this story encourages others to do their own research into this subject. "The truth is out there."

Rating:
Summary: Enlightening
Review: This is the first book I've read since High School and it opened the floodgates towards excitement, intrigue and elightenment that rocks the foundation of belief.

Rating:
Summary: predictable and simplistic
Review: Another reviewer accurately terms the writing "paint by numbers" and I must agree. My family and I listened to the audio tape together and had predicted out the plot by the end of the first side of tape I. The concept is old, and has been better done by others. Very disappointing.

Rating:
Summary: fun to play, harder to take seriously
Review: I've often seen this book compared with Eco's "The name of the rose". I think it is an unfair comparison for either books. It seems to me that in "The name of the rose", the author quite intentionally tries to offer the reader a multilayered texture of alternative interpretations; you can read the book as detective story, ancient botanical treatise, literary game of "find the writer" and what not - in any case, it aims high. Despite various marketing pitches, I don't think "The Da Vinci Code" claims to be more than it actually is: a very enjoyable and stylishly written mystery.

I have to say that I am a bit baffled by the whole controversy of whether or not the author talks about "reality" or gets his information right. A book that makes a claim to historical accuracy usually comes with a list of sources. If it doesn't, then it's up to the reader whether to suspend disbelief entirely and take it as religion doctrine, or to remain critical and take it as fiction. I think in this case it's obvious that ficton it is.

The author quite cleverly plays on the reader's fascination with secret codes and symbols, great mysteries begging to be revealed etc., but I thought that it was precisely the author's own enjoyment with his puzzle game in progress that prevented the book from convincing the reader that any terribly deep meanings were at stake. (Readers of Dan Brown's other books will no doubt guess the villain fairly quickly) Sure, it is nice to speculate "what if" (what if what we are taught is the truth were actually an attempt at cover-up?) and I enjoyed the way the author combined the various elements into a seemingly "erudite", coherent and thoroughly readable whole...And I think the book leaves you there, with a great reading experience, the right proportion of "almost-but-not-quite" inclination to actually take seriously the author's suggestions, and a problem to be solved for when we get a bibliography. Or, if you prefer, a revelation.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining, Fast-Paced, Fun Read
Review: The Da Vinci Code is far from perfect, but that didn't keep me from flipping all 400+ pages in an afternoon. This book has much to offer:

1.) Interesting facts about artwork, the golden proportion, cryptography
2.) Details enough about Freemasonry, the Priory of Sion, Opus Dei, and the Knights Templar to make budding consipiracy theorists salivate
3.) Plenty of red herrings and foreshadowing to keep you guessing and revising your guesses
4.) Excellent pacing

Some readers may find the short chapters unusual, but they work well in maintaining multiple concurrent threads. The result is a page-turner in the truest sense--the reader almost feels as if he is in the same desperate chase as the characters.

The Da Vinci Code is far from perfect, however. The writing sometimes calls attention to itself, and the author often pauses the narrative to provide backstory and history lesson. The lines between historical fact and pure fiction are intentionally blurry, but that may be unsettling to some (devout) readers. And some scenes, including the ending, an interrogation early in the novel, and a climactic scene at Westminster Abbey, seem contrived.

Also--don't believe anything Brown says about Harvard...

Overall, this is a fun and entertaining book that doesn't deserve the harsh criticism it has received. I recommend it without reservation.