The Da Vinci Code

Rating:
Summary: Stupid
Review: I am not a historian and I can't comment on the validity of "The Da Vinci Code's" eccentric feminist goddess-worship New Age theories. If his research is as poor as his writing, then this book is completely hyped garbage.

Using a choppy, simple, obvious prose, Dan Brown uses vignettes in a 3rd-person omniscent POV to tell the choppy stories of Robert Langdon the Harvard symboligist and cryptologist Sophie Neuveau. Other tracks of this awkward flash-around style include an extremist albino man obeying a cryptic "teacher," and glib histories of dubious organizations such as "the Priory of Sion" and a troop of knights who pretend to be protecting pilgrims, but are really searching for what they think is the Holy Grail.

Mr. Brown jumps to conclusions. The book reads something like this: "Leonardo da Vinci certainly knew the location of the Holy Grail during his lifetime, thought Robert Langon. And it had definitely not been moved since then. People had searched his paintings for clues to its whereabouts. Blah. Blah. Blah. The sacred feminine. The Catholic Church is a conspiracy. Blah Blah Blah. The Mona Lisa is really a picture preaching the necessity of balance between Man and Woman. This is because the landscape is unusual around her ears. Mona Lisa is Egyptian for Amen Isis. Those are the gods of man and woman."

In a poor attempt to write suspensefully, Mr. Brown will cut off his vignettes and switch tracks. His writing philosophy seems to be "when you get bored, finish off your vignette with a cryptic choppy sentence and move on. If you get really bored, kill someone; and when you're feeling energetic, recite bogus histories of dubious researching."

Rating:
Summary: IYLTYWLWPTJBNTR
Review: Everyone take a deep breath. Don't get so excited, or upset. After all, Dan Brown's "The DaVinci Code" is only a mystery-type fictional novel. Read it for enjoyment, not for some kind of positive or negative religious message. I recommend that all who enjoyed "The DaVinci Code" will want to follow the message hidden in my title cypher above:

.................... IYLTYWLWPTJBNTR ..........

IF YOU LIKED THIS YOU WILL LOVE WEST POINT THOMAS JEFFERSON BY NORMAN THOMAS REMICK

Rating:
Summary: Surprise! It's the Vatican's fault!
Review: After wondering for a few months why New Yorkers were so happy with this work of literature, it wasn't until reading it that I began to appreciate why it received so many plaudits. It's another piece of Catholic bashing that many Manhattanites are more than happy to indulge.

Perish the thought of "challenging" their faith or ancestry, they scream like banshees. But they're always very anxious to support works that are outright falsehoods ridiculing a faith that is responsible for the conception of human rights as it exists today.

I've got no problem with people lying about my faith under the guise of challenging it, it's been done for 2000 years. Christianity will prevail because it's the truth and doesn't offer special treatment by virtue of genetics.

But don't claim special protection when scrutiny is directed at you instead. And don't find yourself so frustrated when you search for friends and don't find them in your time of need(knowing your history, it won't be long).

We're accustomed to turning the other cheek but this is getting ridiculous.

Rating:
Summary: A Brilliant, Tightly Wound Tale
Review: Robert Langdon is awoken in the early morning hours by a Paris police officer. He is rushed to the Louvre musuem where he is introduced to a shocking site: the curator of the museum - murdered, and positioned in a bizarre pose on the floor with scribbling and writing on his body. What's more shocking - the curator did this to himself. Within moments, Langdon is drawn into an underground world of hidden societies, Catholic schisms, Albino monks, and a devastating secret that could shake the very foundation of Christianity.

The da Vinci Code goes from zero to sixty in the first two pages and never lets up. But more than being a sharp, witty mystery, this book flawlessly incorporates biblical history, mystic theology, astrology, and much more into a perfect synthesis of faith tradition.

Dan Brown tells readers before they start the book that all descriptions of symbols and history are fact. That may be, but it seems to fit together just too neatly and perfectly. But you're having too much fun reading the book to possibly care.

I can't fathom someone being able to put this book down. Journey to Paris, London, and back in time with Leonardo da Vinci, Jesus Christ, and Mary Magdalene - read the da Vinci Code!

Rating:
Summary: FASCINATING!!!!!
Review: The information in this book is absolutely fascinating. Information that would shatter the foundations of what churches have been teaching for centuries. Read this book! It will leave you wanting to find out more about the Holy Grail and the strong possibility that Jesus was a mortal man. Anyone who gave a negative rating to this book is either uneducated or closed-minded. This is a brilliant book, with a movie to be directed by Ron Howard on its way.

Rating:
Summary: Da Vinci Code. Goosestepping gobbledegook.
Review: Ok its an accetable thriller, but a nasty jab at Christianity and religion in general. He seems to say that none of this religious stuff is real, (even his own), and if you think so you're stupid or tragically misled.

It seems like the author expects his readers to be theologically unsophisticated, like they are just awakening to the fact that religious tenents can be controversial, and that they will swallow his comic book version, supported by reams of apochryhal rubbish ; which conveneniently dovetails with his world view: Religious beliefs are all "metaphors", anyhow, and really not all that helpful, when the greatest good (ie political correctness with a goose-step) is to elevate are daughters from centuries of sexual discrimination, and repression.

So if our goal is to make our daughters "beam" in theology class, we have to get rid of all the patriarchal baloney, and invent a kinder,gentler and more convenient religion. Too bad the disciples of Christ, who died insisting that Jesus Christ, was who the Bible says he is, the Messiah of the Old Testament, God incarnate. They could have saved so much trouble had they been able to benifit from Dan Brown's "research", that they somehow missed, even while being eye witnesses to the lives of Christ and Mary Magdelena, and the first century.

I guess they were'nt politically correct enough to see the
error of their particular "metaphor". The Wiccan "metaphor"
has been embraced by many , througout the ages. One such enlightened leader energized a whole population
with these beliefs in our time, and yet Dan Brown fails to name him in his works. Pagan heritage was a major theme of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich, right down to the ritual sexual deviancy of his Brown Shirts.

To top it off, the protaganist worships before the supposed tomb of Mary Magdelena, in the closing passage. Why? According to Brown, she is just Jesus's wife; and Jesus
is just a great teacher. So, what's the point?

Like the London Times reviewer says, this book is
ludicrous.

Rating:
Summary: You too can write a Dan Brown novel.
Review: Ok- first off... I really did enjoy this book. However, now that I have read 3 of Brown's novels, I have noticed a certain formula that Dan Brown uses.

1- Use the word "Indredulous" as often as possible.
2- The bad guy MUST be known by a term/phrase instead of a name.
3- The bad guy is double crossing the good guys... and you are NOT supposed to suspect this.
4- The novel must take place in the course of one day.
5- Your hero must wake-up and not have a clue that he will spend his entire day many miles away from home, while being chased by bad guys.
6- All good guys must be experts at something very arcane.
7- The ending must be weak.

If you follow these steps you too can write a Dan Brown novel. ORRRR you can use this formula to figure out the book you are currently reading after about 100 pages.

This is clearly a case of diminishing returns. One book is Awesome, two is fun, but by the third... you are ready to turn on the television.

My suggestion- read the Da Vinci Code (However, remember it is still "fiction" and despite the authors claims- some of his facts are seriously flawed- for instance - "The Gosphel of Mary" is hardly widely accepted as legitimate).

"The Da Vinci Code" is extremely face paced, and quite thought provoking. It challenged me to do a little research into the foundation of my beliefs (However, it did not change my beliefs... I found that my views on religon are on much sounder ground that the author's supposed "research"). Enjoy...

Rating:
Summary: A big let down
Review: Expecting a crisp, intelligent read, I found one dimensional characters and very weak dialouge. The protaganist was the weakest of all the characters. A "must put down" and forget about it book. I would have rated the book no stars if I had the chance.

Rating:
Summary: Dan Brown Has Cracked the Code
Review: Unless you've been living on another planet for the past year, you probably already know that 'The Da Vinci Code' is the hottest book of the past several years. You should also know that even though he has a generic name, Dan Brown is no ordinary writer. More on that in a moment.

You probably already know the story, but here we go anyway: Robert Langdon is a Harvard professor specializing in historical symbols and their meaning. Langdon is in Paris on business when he receives an urgent phone call from the curator of the Louvre. The curator has been murdered, but has left a cipher behind. The cipher leads Langdon and French cryptologist Sophie Neveu on a wild chase to discover the meaning of a series of strange messages and clues, the revealing of which carry implications that would shock the world.

I want to address two issues: First, in the hands of a lesser writer, 'The Da Vinci Code' would be a ridiculous, almost laughable work of fiction. The novel contains several scenes early on in which, were Brown not so talented, readers would close the book and chuckle. But Brown is talented AND smart. He handles his characters and their situations expertly. Smart readers won't believe just anything, and Brown obviously knows that. But Brown's powers of persuasion and believability are put to good use. Brown has the ability to tackle a subject in a way that few other writers could ever conjure up.

Second, (Minor spoilers follow) apparently some religious groups have been offended by the content and implications of the book. I knew that going in, but tried to be as objective as possible. Could I see how someone could be offended by the book? Yes. Was I, as a Christian, offended? No, I was not. The reason I was not offended by the implications of the book are the same reasons why I would not be offended if someone told me that the sky is green or that trees can drive cars down the highway. I saw the book as a work of fiction, and a very impressive one. Dan Brown can write, no doubt about it. But don't take my word for it. Crack the code with Dan and find out for yourself.

Rating:
Summary: Best Book Ever!
Review: I am not done with the book yet, but it is the most fascinating, thrilling, book that I have ever read. I can never put it down, unless it gets to about 1 am in the morning :)

The book is so interesting that I never knew anything besides Da Vinci painting the Mona Lisa, The Last Supper and others. But to find information on the Holy Grail (not sure if it is true), that was a big impact when I read it.

I give this book 5 stars. Because that is what it deserves. Can not wait til Dan Brown's next adventure of Robert Langdon.