The Da Vinci Code

Rating:
Summary: Good, but not great
Review: There are many good features to The DaVinci Code, and given the amount of publicity it's generated, it is certainly worth a read. The story is engaging and fast-paced, and the details are interesting and may cause you to look at certain elements of our culture differently.

That said, there are quite a few caveats to watch out for. Brown got a lot of details wrong regarding the conservative Catholic group Opus Dei that the general reader will completely overlook, such as the fact that members aren't monks and are restricted in the amount of pain they may inflict on themselves. There are other minor historical errors as well. I'm not crazy about the writing, either; the chapters are all incredibly short and invariably end with a cliff-hanger. Once in awhile this device is tenable, but when it's employed every single chapter it loses its charm. None of the characters is substantially developed, although the pacing of the story compensates for this a bit. And while a lot of the pieces fit in very well, there are some details that are a bit of a stretch, particularly the Disney references.

I think my major beef with this book is that it feels as thought it was written for a decidedly non-intellectual audience; the book reads like the textbook for a freshman-- or even high-school-- level survey course in modern western civ. While there's nothing inherently wrong with this tone, the book leaves you wanting more.

Overall, though, it's a quick, easy read, and it made me think. I recommend it but caution against expecting too much.

Rating:
Summary: Here I go again, lowering my Amazon rating.
Review: Some time ago I discovered people don't like negative reviews, but... What the heck! I have to comment on this book!

The Da Vinci Code was surrounded by so much hype I was eagerly waiting for my wife to finish reading it to start. I went to the web pages in both English and Spanish, and tried to solve the mistery. The disappointment started to creep in when I had to answer a question asking the name of the police chief according to the book... Anyway, let's talk about the book.

I started enjoying the book greatly. I had visited Paris and London on my honeymoon, and the book descriptions brought back welcomed memories. The book gets two stars instead of one because of this, and the fact I was able to finish it.

I had heard the Catholic Church was angry because of this book, and was expecting some deep research and shocking truths. Instead, I found some ludicrous propositions, such as saying that patriarchal societies started 2,000 years ago, at the same time as Christianism.

It also goes on explaining the golden ratio, expressing views that go against "The Golden Ratio : The Story of PHI, the World's Most Astonishing Number" by Mario Livio, who does an in depth (if somewhat dense) recall of the golden ratio.

It talks about cyphers, and for that, you could read "The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography" by Simon Singh, which is great, again more in depth and, unlike the Code, believable.

And then, the author sense of thriller is too soap-opera style for me: "You know, I have a terrible secret I could tell you, but I'm not doing it now!". Please! I'd rather take my suspense from Stephen King, Michael Chrichton or Peter Hamilton any day.

Maybe I would have liked better the book if my expectations had not been so high. It is a teen book, without much substance.

Rating:
Summary: C'mon, relax...
Review: C'mon, folks, let's relax...this is one terrific book, not great, but excellent. As a devout Christian, I almost failed to read it, having heard weird things: heretical, sacrilegious, etc. Guys, it's just a NOVEL, wonderfully detailed and meticulously researched, but just a NOVEL. I would not put it in a class with the greatest suspense-thrillers such as LeCarre's Spy Who Came in from the Cold and George Smiley books, or Forsythe's Day of the Jackal, but pretty close.
And anyone who's worried about DaVinci portaying the figure we usually believe to be John,"the beloved apostle" as a woman, evidently it never bothered the pope at the time or the Catholic Church all these years, and it is, of course, a painting, not a photograph. Relax. Like most readers, I researched some of the societies, etc. in DaVinci, and discovered some to be real, others not, and others still in question.

Reading ANGELS AND DEMONs later, no one can fail to see a formula: start with a gruesome torture-murder. (Maybe to be sure he's got your attention and to warn off those who are just not into torture and murder.) The female interest is the granddaughter or adopted daughter of the first victim, and the main assassin is really weird, if not a giant albino monk, then an equally unusual character, I forget exactly what. I happened to misplace ANGELS when about two-thirds finished and didn't really worry about it; by that time it was very predictable, especially as far as the least likely person being the villain. I did find it again a few weeks later, kept on reading it and have to say there were some exciting parts toward the end. Again, relax, enjoy, lighten up.

Rating:
Summary: Can't put it down... so engaging!
Review: I've heard so much about this book that I borrowed a friend's copy and read it over vacation. I've never been so engrossed in a book before -- and finished it in a day and a half! I've read some debates about accuracy of Brown's information, but if you just run with the idea, and if you're into the idea of conspiracy theories (and c'mon, if anyone has some secrets stashed away somewhere, it's the catholic church!) you will LOVE this book. It takes a good chunk of factual information and spins a fictional story around it.... the enticing part is that there's just enough real information in the book to make you want to start your own quest for the holy grail. This is a definite must-read.

Rating:
Summary: 3 levels of interest!
Review: A great who done it, on the surface! Following Da Vinci as a person, his interest of history and spirituality was intense! All the clues are there. His belief system shines through. The book was well written. Can not put it down once you start. I will read it again and again. Recommend to all.

Rating:
Summary: What's all the fuss about?
Review: (Continued from the Authenticator review)

Where does The DaVinci code fall into all this? In the middle, sort of. Dan Brown falls right into the conjunction of the axes; his writing is readable, though not engaging or compelling enough to make me stay up late reading it (as did Lehane's); his research is decent, if not thorough. Normally, the latter wouldn't be a problem, but in this case Brown seems to have overlooked a few pieces of scholarship that undermine his whole novel (for example, about the nature and location of the holy grail, neither of which has been much of a secret for seven hundred years; it's just that no one thought to look in Ethiopia).

Still, if you can overlook the factual problems and take it as a straight novel, it's good enough for government work. Robert Langdon (the hero of Angels and Demons) returns, this time summoned in the middle of the night to the Louvre, whose director has been murdered. Thanks to cryptologist Sophie Neveau, Langdon learns he's the prime suspect of the French police, and if they're going to find the real killer, they need to get out of there fast. The resulting chase, taking place over the next twelve hours, give or take, ropes in secret societies, cloudy family trees, assassin monks, the Catholic church, and, of course, the supposed grail mystery.

Here, unlike the previous two books [ed. note: in this review, not Brown's two previous books], we have an unpredictable mystery; Brown throws us more than enough curveballs to keep us entertained (though the final whodunit does end up being a little predictable, thanks to Brown's dearth of red-herring characters). And yet, still, Brown's writing style isn't nearly as engaging as Lehane's. It's good, but it's not keep-you-up-at-night good. You will, of course, read it to find out what all the flap is about. But don't be expecting an instant classic, or you're likely to be disappointed.

(Dennis Lehane, ) Shutter Island: ****
(William M. Valtos, ) The Authenticator: ** ½
(Dan Brown, ) The DaVinci Code: ***

Rating:
Summary: 1 in 3 ppl is a christian and he's in for a shock !!!
Review: It was the rage of the past several months so I had to check this out. It is a great book of fiction, fast paced with a lot of intrigue and mystery. The main reason it is so powerfull a book is because of it's earth shattering conspiracy, bigger and more incredible than any conpiracy theory ever made. It questions the legitimacy/credibility rocking the base of a religion which is practised by almost 1 in 3 people in the world - The world is 33% christians. (19 % muslims,13 % hindus,chinese 6 % , buddhist 6% , 2.5 % athiest ...etc). Ofcourse as of now it is fiction, but well researched stuff ranging from documents to da vinci paintings. Locales are world famous meuseums,monuments and landmarks, its almost a bus tour of france packaged with some intellectual documenatary (discovery channel) kind of sections spoken by the characters through which the author unwraps the "The worlds best kept lie". Offcourse the theme of the book it seems has been the research of a large no of ppl who have written a large number of books on this topic. But Dan Brown here has been a bestseller because he has fictionalised the whole thing which kind of made it more approchable as a light read for someone wanting to read a good yarn but in the process got hooked onto something bigger. As Mr Dan Brown says this novel may open the door for most readers into a journey of exploration leading to other serious non-fiction books on the same premise but neverthless which are actually serious treatises and researches on the topic dealt with in this book. Nothing wrong with that and its a damn good read. The pages zip past you.Thumbs up !!!

Rating:
Summary: Terrific
Review: This book, was a terrific book. It left you in suspense to the end. The climax of the book keep increasing as you read.

Rating:
Summary: Not horrible...
Review: The DaVinci Code has a very interesting premise: Art that clues you in on one of the greatest controversial secrets in religious history. A protagonist that is dropped in the middle, and must figure out the puzzle before the bad guys get to it (or him) first.

It really is a shame that the deja vu effect never went away. Page by page, the action was almost generic to any other thriller/mystery. The race between the heros and the villans felt drawn-out towards the end, to the point where I had to put the book down before I started screaming for the author to get to the point. In fact, The DaVinci Code follows many of the same turns and twists as Mr. Brown's previous book, Angels and Demons (with Robert Langdon the protagonist for both novels).

Was the climax a suprise? If you don't know much about Grail lore, then it might... If you've read all about the Knights Templer and other such historical suppositions, then you'll figure it out long before the characters do. To be fair, Mr. Brown did a lot of research and provided a plausible history; and the story did flow well in the first half of the book. But as the house of cards was built higher, the story fell apart for me.

If you really like mysteries and aren't familiar with many of the Grail stories, I would recommend this book. Otherwise, Angels and Demons would be a better read.

Rating:
Summary: One of the Worst Books Ever Written
Review: Of all the books I've ever read and didn't like, THE DA VINCI CODE is the only one I truly resent. It really is that awful and it's proof, at least in my opinion, that hype can sell just about anything.

There is nothing intelligent in THE DA VINCI CODE (and I mean nothing) and don't let anyone tell you there is. The research was sloppy, at best, and Brown has gotten many of the historical facts wrong. He even describes the layout of the Louvre wrong. I should know. I've lived in Paris and worked as a docent at the Louvre. He's also gotten some of his facts about Paris wrong as well. Those facts would have been easy to verify, so who knows how wrong his more obscure references are?

The plot of THE DA VINCI CODE is preposterous. Too preposterous to suspend disbelief and I suspend my disbelief pretty easily. Robert Langdon, a symbologist at Harvard no less, is giving a lecture in Paris and arranges to meet with Jacques Sauniere, the head curator of the Louvre, at Sauniere's request. However, before Langdon can meet with Sauniere, Sauniere is killed in the Grand Hall of the Louvre, itself. Brown asks us to believe that a dying man, during the very last moments of his life, arranged his bruised and bleeding body in a grotesque formation in order to provide a clue as to the reason for his death. Brown lost me here. This early. If I'm ever murdered, I'm sure I'll just wait to die rather than attempting to arrange my body so that someone left behind can solve the riddle of my death. At that point, I won't care if it's ever solved. Obtaining as much physical comfort as humanly possible during my last moments on earth will take priority with me. I'm sorry if that makes me selfish or less than socially responsible, but that's the way it's going to be.

Robert Langdon is the dumbest Harvard professor I've ever encountered, not that I've encountered all that many, so I'll be more general. Robert Langdon is one of the stupidest men I've ever encountered and I have encountered a great number of those. But, dumb as Robert is, he is a veritable genius when compared to the thick headed, dim witted, Sophie Neveu, Sauniere's granddaughter. This woman, who has little but mush between her ears is supposed to be a cryptologist for the French police. (Whenever I wonder why I don't return to Paris more often, I think of Sophie and I have my answer right away.)

As Robert and Sophie join forces to solve the mystery of Sauniere's death, the plot of THE DA VINCI CODE begins to take shape. The premise of the book wasn't a bad idea, but its execution leaves so, so much to be desired. I never thought I'd find a writer who could make John Grisham look "good," but Dan Brown does. In spades.

Besides horrible, flat, cardboard cliche characterization and a laugh out loud plot, THE DA VINCI CODE is very poorly written and there is just no excuse for that. I know it's not a literary novel. So what? Does the fact that this book is a genre novel mean that the quality of the writing should be below that of an average eighth grade level? The characters made me wince on almost every other page; the poor writing made me wince on every single page. Sometimes I found myself wondering if Brown had actually set out to write the book as poorly as possible, but I didn't entertain that thought for long.

As for the religious aspects of THE DA VINCI CODE, I am Catholic, but I'm not a practicing Catholic. I am not narrow minded and I wasn't offended by Brown's religious premise...I simply found it silly and downright laughable...but not, however, in any way that I could even remotely characterize as "amusing." It was laughably stupid. I don't even know anything about Opus Dei, the organization Brown seemed to be slamming in his book, so I wasn't offended in any way by the book's definite anti-Catholic stance. The poor writing alone was offensive enough, Brown needn't have tried to offend in any other manner. I also know little about the Priory of Sion, though I have visited Rennes-le-Chateau, the story Brown used as a base for this terrible book.

The chapters were short and choppy and painful to read and each ended with what some people would term a "cliff hanger." To me, they were just tripe to propel the mindless into the next bit of tripe. I did finish the book (a feat for which I congratulated myself), but it was painful. I kept hoping that both Robert and Sophie would be tortured and die (a more fitting end could not have been found). Feeling that that was hoping for a bit too much, I began hoping that at least Sophie (the stupider of the two) would at bite the eternal dust...and soon. I could see the end coming many, many pages away and it made my stomach churn...literally. I don't think I was even able to get down dinner that night.

THE DA VINCI CODE is a terrible, terrible book from the first page to the last. The plot is preposterous, the characters are thin and cliche (and stupid cliches at that), and, worst of all, the writing is among the worst I've ever read. Only Diane Johnson in LE MARIAGE tops it for its terrible quality.

This book might appeal to people who like pulp fiction, but anyone who enjoys intelligent books or even bestsellers that are well-written, had best stay as far away as possible. In the end, I found THE DA VINCI CODE to possess not even one redeeming quality. I wish I could award it negative stars, but, unfortunately, that's not an option.