Rating: 
Summary: Fun read, but no history lesson
Review: More than once during the read of this novel, I have winced at the lack of credibility--either at the story line or at one of the interjected historical lessons. To wit (page 125), Brown expects the reader to accept that male domination in political and religious life (including the lack of female Orthodox Jewish rabbis or Islamic clerics) is to be blamed on the European Catholic Church of the Middle Ages. He credits the Malleus Maleficarum for ending the "days of the goddess," expecting the reader to suspend recognition that nearly all dominant cultures throughout recorded history have had religions in which male gods dominate over female godesses and political systems in which men hold positions of greatest authority. I'm not sure The Da Vinci Code should be used as a source of credible information so much as a fun and generally clever light-weight mystery thriller.
Rating: 
Summary: A work of genius. Important and entertaining,
Review: This book on it's very surface is an entertaining thriller, well thought out, and with complex characters. On top of all that there is a serious bit of history lurking about. The kind of history that you don't get to read about much, and the Catholic church wishes nobody knew about.Presented as a mystery - the book may seem uncontroversial but it speaks of history, people and organizations that actually existed. It is also richly filled with symbolism. Hidden amongst it's pages are tons of fun little secrets as well. There is a coded message on the front and back flap of the dustjackets. I won't reveal it - but here's a hint: look for letters that are slightly bolder. There are hidden anagrams (notably a character whose last name is an anagram of Baigent and who's first name is Leigh - referrings to the authors of Holy Blood Holy Grail). The fictitions publishing company of the main character is called Doubleknight - a reference to an old Knights templar crest. Fun stuff to discover. I had loads of fun reading this book and couldn't put it down. Important lessons are imparted through the allegory of teh story that require some deeper inderstandings of the "great mystery" to work out - but please get this book and read it.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant and Engaging
Review: Normally I am not much for books on bestseller lists but this one intrigued me. Dan Brown most certainly did his homework with this book. His details are so exacting. I found myself actually getting up and cross-referencing some information in the book, which 90% of the time...seemed to be right on the money. This is a smart book that could have taken a turn into the world of hack-writers like Grisham but didn't. You get the sense that Dan Brown really wants to write these for the sake of writing and because the subject matter truly interests him. He gives enough detail so that you can visualize where you are and what you are looking at but not too much so as you cannot use your imagination as far as the characters go. As I said,I usually stick to classics but the intrigue and the subject matter made me give it a whirl and I wasn't sorry at all...I am always telling other people to read it. I found it that compelling. Cheers!
Rating:
Summary: Warning about this book.
Review: Those christian readers that take the bible literally, believe everything they are told by their church, and are not used to critical thinking should stay away from this book. You will waste money on a book that is going to cause you anger and frustration (see some of the reviews here...).
To all others I really recomend this book. It is both enlighting and entertaining. Remember that it is fiction, but you will read about a lot of facts that you probably didn't know.
Rating:
Summary: split decision
Review: After finishing "The Da Vinci Code," my wife asked me to read it in order to get my "professional" opinion. I guess she wanted to feel like she was getting something for all those years she helped put me through graduate school. So, I was already reading it with one eye on historical detail, even through I realize it's a novel, it's just a story. Just because Indiana Jones isn't really archaeology, or Men In Black isn't really science doesn't mean you can't have a ripping good yarn. So, although it's "facts" are an incoherent mishmash of tabloid conspiracy theory, half baked higher criticism, and new age mush, it's still a passable airplane read.
When I had finished it, however, that's not what she asked first. She wanted to know, did I like it? And that was a more complicated question. On the one hand, a tale of a middle aged humanities teacher who suddenly finds that his studies actually have some real-world relevance and is off to high adventure with an attractive young French woman . . . . I mean, what's not to like (says the middle aged humanities instructor . . . .).
But throughout the book there was another element that I found a bit more disturbing. Yes, we're used to the standard conspiracy theory; from "Three Days of the Condor," to "JFK," to the "X-Files," to "The Bourne Identity," . . . it's always the establishment that is the true villain. In this particular instance the establishment is the Roman Catholic Church. True, there is a bit of posturing that permits the author to say that it is actually a rogue element within the church that is at fault (to go any farther as to the actual villain would interject an unconscionable spoiler into a review). But that was not the troubling part. Rather it was the breezy, off-hand way with which the author tossed out scurrilous accusations against Christianity itself. None of them are new or particularly insightful but, nevertheless, in the guise of his academic protagonist, we have Mr. Brown pontificating with feigned piety, that the "noble teachings of the simple Galilean teacher" were seized upon and bastardized by a greedy, violent, psychotic bunch of misogynists who have knowingly misled the gullible masses through all these centuries for their own evil ends. That's pretty ugly stuff.
I was reminded of a statement from Albert Schweitzer as he documented the "Quest of the Historical Jesus." "Lives of Jesus" had become something of a gladiatorial entertainment in the post-Enlightenment period. Many authors who wished to tweak and annoy the established hierarchy (both religious and political) used this arena as a way of venting their anti-clerical, anti-government views under the safety of academic freedom and scholarship. Schweitzer noted that "hate as well as love can write a Life of Jesus, and the greatest of them was written with hate . . . not so much hate of the Person of Jesus as of the supernatural nimbus with which it was so easy to surround him . . . ." What one senses from Mr. Brown is not hate, so much as simply contempt.
Rating:
Summary: Light and fun, and engrossing
Review: This is not a deep book. It reads more like one of the Hardy Boys meeting up with Nancy Drew in adulthood. The writing is on the same par. We have our two super sleuths, a paternal grandfather, the British "professor" (Teabing), bumbling police, good and evil secret societies, the ever-popular albino hit man, indecipherable codes (Quick, get me a mirror -- it's reversed text!), etc. The shortwave radio has been replaced by black light pens, transponders and GPS tracking. There are many chapters. But no fear, they are all short. And though each one ends with a cliffhanger, this technique becomes tiresome. Brown, via his cartoon characters, starts out very well explaining symbology in historical art, and the way the Holy Grail plays into it. And though it is interesting, it tends to become a real stretch. (I mean please, Leonardo Da Vinci is farther removed from the days of Christ than we are to Leonardo. What would he really know? Oh, that's right -- he's part of a secret society). This subject though would incline one to read more serious books on the matter. But then Brown really sinks into absurdity, when he protracts it to Walt Disney and the "real" reason for his choices of animated stories; and further still, after Walt's death, to The Little Mermaid...and friends. (Give me a break, OK?) And later he infers, modern day pranksters flashing V-signs behind their buddies heads, when being photographed, are really unwitting participants of some ancient fertility god and horn symbology. (No Mr. Brown, trust me; those are simply bunny ears...b-u-n-n-y...not horns). If Brown believes rabbit ear pranks are serious forms of symbology; then what does that say about the rest of his "learned" hypotheses? Anyone can see any sort of symbol in anything. But Brown sees more than horsies and duckies when looking at cloud formations. Way more. This is ripe material for the all-night paranormal radio shows with their pseudo-science "experts" and conspiracy kooks. Well, I could go on and on. This book won't enhance your life, but it won't hurt it either. It's reminiscent of adolescent detective books from our past, and it was fun to go back there for a short while. It's full of cheap thrills and empty calories and therefore...a guilty pleasure. At least Scrappy Doo doesn't make an appearance. I need to mention, thanks to the publishers for offering this book as an "ebook". More publishers need to wake up to this type of reading device. I normally do not read popular fiction; and if this book had not been offered as an ebook -- I NEVER would have wasted the time to purchase it.
Rating: 
Summary: The Da Vinchi Lies
Review: Save yourself the time and the $$$
This book lies all about Jesus and the apostles and Christianity entirely. Why has it topped the LA Times Best Seller List for Fictional works for 22 solid weeks?
GOD ONLY KNOWS, but I wish He'd stop it.
Rating:
Summary: Wow!
Review: Don't waste your time reading my review...just pick up the book and get reading. I promise that you won't put it down until the last page is turned!!
Rating:
Summary: "Pure Genius" is right!
Review: The inside cover of The DaVinci Code says "This is pure genius." This couldn't be closer to the truth. In an incredible show of creativity, imagination, and cunning, Dan Brown brings to life an ancient secret the likes of which I have never seen before. To be concise, this is the most interesting book I have ever read - and it has everything a book of its type needs: action, suspense, mystery and everything between. The characters are fanatastic and dynamic, the plot has a blissful mixture of action and information, and the puzzles and codes are unbelievably clever. The way that Mr. Brown ties these seemingly unrelated facts (every bit of information about history and art is true) into a single novel is utterly stunning. Dan Brown is many steps ahead of today's writers. Read this book... I promise you will love it!
Rating:
Summary: A book that really makes one think
Review: Not only is this book a superb suspense/adventure novel, but it clearly outlines some interesting hypotheses that really force one to sit down and contemplate the nature of religion and theology. I won't say anything more for risk of spoiling the plot, but take my word for it: if you like suspense, then this book is perfect.
|
