Rating: Summary: Great Fiction, poor science Review: I am a full time student and don't often take time to read novels. Each Christmas my brother buys me a new book and gives it to me after reading it himself so that we can discuss various topics addressed in the book. The di Vinci Code was a great read. I love a good conspiracy theory. This was a fun read, however it is nothing more (or less) than really good fiction. Sure Brown's sources are skechy and he is not exactly a historian, but the book is still a fun read. Highly suggested, just don't go and change your religion or something.
Rating: Summary: Unreal Review: This book was so unreal, it was hard to decipher fact from fiction. I am a full time student and have virtually no time for extra curricular reading because they tend to be too time demanding. Although this book was lengthy, I read it in three days during my winter break. The Da Vinci Code is captivating, insightful, intriguing, and blantantly smart. In order for me to be drawn into a book, the writing must compel from the start. Dan Brown's writing does just that.
Rating: Summary: I Wish 0 Stars Were an Option Review: The people who hate the movie "The Passion of Christ" will love this book. And they are the ones who will not go see the movie. Their hatred of Christ keeps them from being honest in their reviews. This book does act as a fair story. Obviously, it must to become one of the best all-time fiction books in the world. Yet, it is so simplistic and, worse, so blatently anti-Christian in its views. It doesn't just want to mock the roman Catholics, it also wants to mock the Protestants and it does so "under the radar" so that many readers won't see what is being done along the way of taking them from point A to point B.
Rating: Summary: Good solid potboiler Review: I didn't find Brown to be a particularly good writer. He uses far too many cliches for my taste--"He squinted," "He peered," "His face clouded." Fortunately, his talent at plotting overwhelms the flaws in this novel. This is one of the few best-sellers I've read that I believe should be a best-seller. He's very knowledgeable about a lot of things, like art. Unfortunately, he's not so knowledgeable about others--specifically, the origins of Christianity. Still, 's a good book, one very much worth reading. And it will make you think, which is what any good book should do.
Rating: Summary: Fantastic! Review: This is without a doubt one of the best ten books I have ever read. An instant classic. It is compelling, thrilling, suspenseful, intriguing, and there is a surprise at every turn. You will come to love the characters instantly. You will be hooked by the time are to page 50 to the point where you are late going places because you couldn't put the book down. A definite must read.
Rating: Summary: Classical literature this is not... Review: This novel has deals with a number of fascinating subjects: cryptography, art history, history of the Christian Church, among many others. However, Brown has packed WAY too much into this novel, including a stereotypical Hollywood-structured race-against-time, to treat any one of these subjects with any seriousness. The character development beyond the two protagonists is very shallow at best, and even they are not rendered fully except as superheros who don't tire, don't make mistakes, and even acheive superhuman leaps of logic at 3am. The believability of this work goes out the window after about 100 pages, but you're committed by then, so you might as well finish it, as long as you can hold your nose to the outrageous, flawed finale. Clearly, Brown writes in a formula for the masses, meaning he boils things down to a high-school level of education and trite plot tricks for this piece of "entertainment." For example, he "hides" the "answer" deduced by characters from the reader until later chapters, but two paragraphs earlier, we were inside the characters head! A cheap suspence mechanism. Brown could have done so much more and written with much more sophistication and realism. The mere fact that 99% of the book occurs within 24 hours (minus the thin, awkward "flashbacks") undermines the sense of reality Brown attempts to create. Clearly, this will become a film and will do as well as the John Grisham novels-turned-movies. Nothing spectacular, yet so many will continue to shell out cash to this author via Century theaters. Oh well.
Rating: Summary: Dan Brown is simply a genius new age novelist. Review: You should "enjoy" reading this novel but again you should read it only as a fiction. As a successful new age writer, Brown tries to mix his new age ideas with facts and in the end, he hopes people will buy his arguments as facts. Unfortunately, there are too many people who can't think critically and thus they just "swallow" whatever they read even if it's only a fiction. You can believe whatever you want to believe but facts will remain facts.
Rating: Summary: Best Book I've Ever Read. Review: This is quite simply- the best book I have ever read. Each time I got toward the end of a chapter, I just had to read the next. The entire book has a "film quality" feel about it..meaning that I could picture the movie in my mind as I was reading it. Excellent book and I highly recommend that you pick it up. I was so surprised with the ending of this book that it reminded me of the movie "The Usual Suspects", which didn't reveal the "secret" until the very end. I can't wait to see who portays the characters in this book when it hits the movie screens...!!!
Rating: Summary: Novel Review: As another commentator already wrote, please don't take this book so seriously. The author himself asserts it is fiction. It's a novel, enjoy it if you fancy such tortious prose but don't swallow it all & confuse fact with fiction. Too many people believe everything they read in the papers: it will serve the general population much better if we be more discerning readers!
Rating: Summary: A thumping good read! Review: Ignore all the negative reviews. I hate thrillers. Never touch them. Resisted reading this book for the longest time, but finally caved. Thank goodness! I could not put it down. Dan Brown's abilities as a story teller leave me breathless. And for all those who attack the premise, remember this is fiction!
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