The Da Vinci Code

Rating:
Summary: If only I could give 0 stars!
Review: After reading Brown's gripping novel, Angels & Demons, I expected The Da Vinci Code to be an exciting page turner. Unfortunately, I didn't expect that the novel would have essentially the same plot as its predecessor, making it completely predictable. The books even begin the same way: man gets murdered, Langdon is called in, and some beautiful woman turns up who is related to the victim, attracted to Langdon, and wants to help him solve the crime. Please, does he think he's the next James Bond? True, Brown weaves in many interesting tidbits of information, but that didn't make reading this book worth my time. Out of the two, I'd say Angels and Demons was the better read.

Rating:
Summary: The Ultimate 3P
Review: The Da Vinci Code has thrown not only its author, Dan Brown, into literary superstardom, it has also thrown the various topics of symbolism, secret societies, hidden Christian history, and wild theories of the lineage of Christ into a whirlwind of media frenzy.

The Da Vinci Code contains many elements that have provoked the Church to wrath and infuriated those opposed to the theories presented here, but for all the information contained in this book it is still just that- a thriller, fiction novel that is expertly written and entertains us for as long as we take reading this book (I devoured it in 5 hours).

This book is what I call the ultimate 3P. It contains the 3 "P's" that I consider necessary to a good fiction read.

1. PAGE-turner. Dan Brown keeps you literally on the edge of your seat, and sometimes you fall off of it! With high tension, information unfolding at exactly the right place, and your brain nearly exploding you learn so much, it is definitely a page turner.

2. thought-PROVOKER. So many ideologies and facts are presented! Dan Brown has done his homework, he is clearly quite the expert in this particular field of writing. Many will find the ideologies here heretical and offensive. As a Christian reading this book, I took it for what it was- excellent fiction that presented me with a lot I could learn and use, and a lot (ie the lineage, etc.) that I could do without, but that was entertaining in its fictional context.

3. PURE excitement. This book was so much fun to read!!! You quickly not only care about the characters, but you care abou the cause they are pursuing. The characters are over the top in their actions and beliefs and that is refreshing and just fun to experience.

Overall, very well written. Very fun to read, excellent information provided....but take it for what it's worth. 5 hours (or more) of fun escapism into a fictional world.

JK

Rating:
Summary: Women In Heaven
Review: Brown's best seller, perhaps ironically, wound up under the Christmas tree for me this year. The buzz about the book is because of the way Dan deftly weaves enough historical facts into the plot to give the reader a sense that it MIGHT be true.

As literature, it is a popular page-turner with rather shallow characters. Robert Langdon never really became life-like or very interesting. Sophie Neveu was a good female lead -- brainy, brave and determined -- fitting for this subject matter. I think my favorite characters were the villains. I like Silas the albino monk who kept inflicting pain to keep him aware of Christ's suffering, while ignoring the commandment "Thou shall not kill" and offing all the people who he felt were on God's hit list. I also really like Remy the butler who was kind of like a French R2D2 with enough human twists to keep him interesting. It was a shame he was allergic to peanuts; because I would have liked to have him kept around to the end of the story. Lee Teabring (if I correctly recall the character's name) as the millionaire on crutches was endearing to me at first; so I wasn't quite prepared for the twists at the end. I found the suspicions Brown created on whether Bezu Fache the police chief was part of the plot or not to be a bit manipulative; the character could have been given a bit more depth. While I did want to keep turning the pages, I found it a bit tiring how almost each chapter wound up the tension like a cliffhanger. There are only so many cliffs one can hang over before it becomes routine.

As far as the reality of the book, many Christian theologians understand that the Bible was edited. The role of women in the Bible was more shaped by Paul's attitudes than by those of Jesus Christ. In The Urantia Book's version of the Life & Teachings of Jesus, there was an entire Women's Corps of 62 female evangelists whose existence was edited out of scripture, and whose most important teacher was Mary Magdalene. So while it is probably no surprise that the church is male dominated, nor is it equally surprising that God loves his daughters as much as his sons, Brown has brought all of these together with the Opus Dei and Priory of Sion to make us take pause and wonder. Truth never suffers from honest inspection; so this is probably the greatest service from The Da Vinci Code. Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: Clever, but Not Quite Clever Enough
Review: The Da Vinci Code is a clever piece of clockwork, but with a little more thought and ingenuity it could have been even more clever. The riddles are the best part of it, but the characters take far too long to figure them out. And sometimes the answers are of the "D'oh!" kind that would make any reader with average intelligence slap his or her forehead and moan, "I should have guessed!" It's rather like working a Washington Post crossword puzzle, where the clues are hidden by ambiguity and misdirection rather than true obscurity.

About midway through the novel, I started to see at least some of the plot twists coming several pages away. (I spotted one twist very early on, and then had to wait until almost the end of the book to have it confirmed.)

"Historical accuracy" in a pop thriller isn't really to be expected, but there was a lot of, at best, sloppy and careless thinking in the supposed historical background. For just one example: the most fanatical and murderous obsession with "witches" and the most determined attacks on the feminine principle in religion came from the Protestant lands, including England - the Inquisition had very little to do with that. (Brown should have read Robert Graves and Joseph Campbell as well as his sensationalist pro-Templar sources.)

There is also a further level of enigma that could have been laid on the mystery. Casual reading suggests that the dying man failed to name his killer because he did not know who was responsible. Yet a further reading of the clues he left suggests that he DID point an accusing finger...but we are never told how he could have figured it out, because by then the story was being rushed to its conclusion and details were being brushed aside.

Rating:
Summary: This is an exciting book to read!
Review: I was surprised how much I enjoyed this book, the Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. I have read that there are certain inaccuracies, but that did not bother because I know this is fiction. If I want to learn about the real thing I will geta text book! The games (mind twisters) at the end are kind of silly, so I gave only four stars. But really and honestly, this is a book that you will keep reading. You will say "oh, I will read 10 more pages" and then you will read those and say the same thing again and again because it is very thrilling.

Rating:
Summary: A Major Paradigm Shift or The Emperor's New Clothes?
Review: The Da Vinci Code is really a very well written book. It has been passed through my family and we have all enjoyed the story. It is a fast-paced thriller whose short chapters are a quick read, lending itself very well to the pace of the plot. It puts itself easily at the top of other Catholic Church "conspiracy theories", both in book and movie. (I always liked John Carpenter's movie, The Prince of Darkness.)

This central theme is that the Catholic Church has something to hide. This theme has created some really interesting books and some of which have become best sellers based on the current climate of the priesthood. This book is well-timed to capitalize.

Though this book is a fictional thriller, it makes a fascinating claim at the beginning. Before a single word is written of the plot, the author declares that aside from the story, all facts are true! In reading this book, one is easily captivated by the claims and mesmerized at how these facts are unfolded and presented. The presentation of facts is half the thriller! However, after quite a dose of these 'facts' mixed in with the plot, the reader starts to get the sense that the plot itself is secondary. Most everyone I know who has read the book has begun to question some of the fundamental prevailing paradigms. I must say that I am most disappointed with the book is its lack of a substantial bibliography (nay, the lack of ANY bibliography) to back up these 'facts'. (I read "The Sign and The Seal" and was highly impressed with research of G. Hancock in backing up his statements.) The only referenced books are part of the story with the earliest dating only 30 years prior. (I must say I was expecting books from the 300-500 AD based on the book's claims, certainly not contemporaries or cronies!) Also I believe it will be apparent to others as well that also share a limited view of Christian history (but took at least one History of Civ class) even timelines are inaccurate. One item of note, that I caught easily, was Constantine's famous Edict in which he decides to end christian persecutions and basically making the Roman Empire a religious tolerant 'state'-- but never declared christianity the 'official religion of the empire' as claimed in the book. Since I am not up on my christian history, it was also easy to find online a copy what happened at the Council of Nicea. The book states that christians at this Council voted on if Jesus was God or not, and that they voted by a very narrow margin that they would think that he is. This is FAR from the truth! What they actually voted on (visit a non-Catholic site for an impartial view) is if they thought he was a MAN! AND the vote was not even close, 218-2! These are two very simple examples of 5 minutes of work online that show his claims of 'authentic historical facts' are grossly inaccurate. If the simple facts are misrepresented, what of the ones more difficult to find? I am definitely open to the potential truth, but find it hard to even entertain without documentation. I have since checked the other books that he listed internally for reference, but they conveniently are missing bibliographies as well. I was left wanting more information, but left feeling it was fanciful gossip on a playground. I guess I should not complain too greatly and probably why I was duped so easily. It is my own fault, really. It is, after all, listed in 'Fiction'.

ps. ABC seemed to waste time on the subject and the info is listed here: http://slate.msn.com/id/2090640/.

Rating:
Summary: Is there a positive side to this?
Review: Dan Brown's primary goal in this novel is to question Christianity as we know it, especially Catholic Christianity.

I come to this conclusion because from the first two words he has, by forcing uneccasarry information upon his reader, demonstrated that he is incompetent to write a suspense novel. He then, by revealing that the curator in the Prolougue is lying, proceeds to destroy the suspense of the first few chapters.

The book is riddled with information that is utterly irrelevant to the plot, and which does little more than to describe Leonardo Da'Vinci's heroic crusasde against the church.

And then we come to the flashbacks, dear Lord, put mercy in my heart.

Flashbacks should be usd when one is incapable of revealing his information otherwise, Flashbacks are a crutch and Mr. Brown, it seems is in a wheelchair. A fair portion of the story is explained only through flashbacks and it comes to seem that whenever Mr. Brown found a spot he decided to promptly add yet another flashback. Hurrah.

The theological implications of this book? Perhaps valid, but that's for you to decide. As for me and my house, we shall serve the Lord.

Rating:
Summary: Readers Can Do Much Better Than This
Review: The overwhelming popularity of Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code is puzzling to many of us who care about good writing, and who have devoted a lifetime to the study of the early days of Judaism and Christianity.
First of all, Mr. Brown's writing is poor, even by popular mystery novel standards.
Second, the supposedly-remarkable discoveries concerning Jesus' life that are at the center of The Da Vinci Code are quite well known to people who have read beyond the New Testament for their religious history.
Perhaps the popularity of The Da Vinci Code stems from a newly-popular interest in developing a deeper understanding of all things Jewish, Christian and biblical. If this is the case--and I hope it is--I would strongly recommend that readers save their time and money, avoid reading The Da Vinci Code, and instead, read one or more of the following:
1. The Genius of Genesis by Dennis Shulman.
2. Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time by Marcus Borg.
3. Holy Blood, Holy Grail by Richard Leigh and others.

Rating:
Summary: Over-rated and poorly written
Review: The DaVinci Code has a compelling premise but an uninspired delivery. I wonder why fans of this book don't realize how poorly written it is.

Dan Brown has the same problem as his counterparts on the opposite side of the religious spectrum who write the Left Behind series -- lazy writing. Brown's characters have nothing memorable to offer. The villains are simply implausible, (a common enough problem in many current thrillers) and the violence is graphic and contrived. There are too many overtly clever riddles, the time line is ridiculous and Brown's descriptions lack impact of any kind.

I do admit that I found Brown's biblical arguments interesting, which is really the only reason to read this book.

Rating:
Summary: Amazed
Review: When I read the Da Vinci Code, i had no idea it would be as detailed, intricate, and accurate as people said it was. After I finished, I was amazed at the work Dan Brown had to go through to write this book.
The book starts in the Louvre, an art museum in Paris. A man is brutally murdered, and later Robert Langdon is called to the scene. Apparently, he was to meet the victim, Jaques Sauniere, over lunch. Soon he becomes the prime suspect in Jaques Sauniere's murder. Robert Langdon travels all over Europe trying to decipher the secret that Jaque Sauniere was murdered for, an age-old secret involving Christ, The Bible, The Holy Grail and th Knights of Templar.
I would recommend this for all ages, though the main plot may not be appropriate for younger children. I also recommend to mystery lovers, conspirators, and anyone who likes a good puzzle.