The Da Vinci Code

Rating:
Summary: Popcorn poppycock.
Review: Review: Popcorn poppycock

The premise of Da Vinci Code shows promise: grisley murders, a secret set to shake the foundations of Christendom, and a series of (sometimes too easy) puzzles -- a "Whereisit" grafted onto a "Whodonit" connected to a "Whatreallyhappened." While Brown has no stylistic or descriptive talent whatsoever (you'd never want to read this book twice, that's the test), he did keep the juices flowing for me one time through. (So long as I pushed the "suspension of disbelief" meter up to its highest setting.)

The book's many inanities and historical blunders are hard to overlook, however. Brown doesn't know (what one embarrassed pagan historian pointed out) that fear of witches was a traditional part of European paganism, that this fear was squelched by the Church during the "Dark Ages" and then revived during the Renaissance; that tens of thousands, not "five million" witches were killed; or that these crimes occurred mostly in small towns on the margins of State and Church power, not in the shadow of the Vatican. Ironically, Brown himself exploits the psychological mechanism that launches witch hunts in his choice of villains. I myself am neither Catholic, albino, nor physically handicapped; but I find Brown's inability to rise above such pernicious type-casting unfortunate. And his attempt to get inside the minds of his characters is marvelously shallow. One half expects them to jump out of the book and cry, "Hang on! If I were this stupid, how did I get to be a Harvard professor / Catholic bishop / successful criminal?"

As for Brown's chatter about early Christian history, lost Gospels, Church conspiracies, and the cover-up of Jesus' marriage to Mary Magdelene, which he and some rather breathless reviewers manage to take seriously, I admit I found his historical blundering mildly entertaining. For the record, though, the Dead Sea scrolls do NOT contain any Gospels (one scholar claims to have found a few words from the Gospel of Mark in one cave, but that is disputed). As for the so-called "Gnostic Gospels," Philip Jenkin's Hidden Gospels is a good place to start. Discovery of the Nag Hammadi documents rather proves the wisdom of the early Christians in dumping these bogus 2nd and 3rd Century writings: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John show every sign of historicity (as well as socially constructive thinking), and these rather spacey New Age works show no more of either than the Da Vinci Code itself.

Still, in a mindless mood, it is possible to enjoy this book.

Author, Jesus and the Religions of Man

Rating:
Summary: how to make money with a book
Review: rewrite the work of a few others into one book: richard leigh, michael baigent, henry lincoln and their research (namely _holy blood, holy grail_); umberto eco's _foucault's pendulum_ has murders and museums and templars and most of the rest of _da vinci code_; lynn picknett's _the templar revelation_ gives us the da vinci connection. and ALL of these books are written better.

Rating:
Summary: did not live up to the hype
Review: ridiculous story/plot, do not understand what all the fuss was a about. i would not recommend davinci code to anyone

Rating:
Summary: Fun, but ...
Review: Rip-roaring good read for the beach or any particularly brainless day. It's entertaining, but the characters are cardboard, the history and "facts" utter crap, and - the worst sin of all - I consistently figured out the next "twist" in the mystery long before the characters did, which made for a lot of impatient waiting for the characters to get around to figuring things out. Nothing worse than an utterly predictably plot "twist." (Also, do these people never sleep? Maybe that's why they're so dumb ... they run for like five days with no discernable breaks and a bizarrely distorted time-scale.)

Enjoyed it, but don't particularly reccommend it. And keep it away from any historians, theologians, or art scholars you know - it'll only make them crazy with all its invented facts.

Rating:
Summary: The Da Vinci Code
Review: Riveting. You want to keep driving and listening because the story builds on itself that you don't want to stop. Fast-paced story that slows down in the second half, culminating in a less than dramatic ending as the first half of the book builds on. Paul Michael does an excellent job of utilizing different accents with the numerous nationalities involved with the characters to make the story effective, even though some of his efforts to speak as Sophie Neveu, French-bourn heroine, trails off and is hard to hear at the same set audio level as the rest of the characters. From the beginning, you are amazed at the extensive research that Dale Brown had to put into the development of the story. So much so, that the many issues and facts presented to you, and used as reference in the story, want you to do your own research to see if it's fact. I have listened to well over 1,000 adventure/mystery/sci-fi audio books over the last 15 years, and this is up with the best of them.

Rating:
Summary: Recommended Actors
Review: Robert Langdon = Kevin Spacey (looks a little like Dan Brown?)
Sophie: Juliette Binoche
Silas, the albino = bulked up Dennis Hurley
Teabring, The Teacher - Lee Evans I (Something About Mary fame)
Bishop = Alfred Molina
French Police Capt = David Suchet (previously mentioned Hercule Poirot actor)
Grandpa? = distinguished older French Actor... hmmm Jean-Pierre Léaud???

Rating:
Summary: An INCREDIBLE read!
Review: Robert Langdon fans, rejoice! The hippest hero you'll EVER catch in a Harris tweed is back for another trans-European thrill ride. There are enough conspiracy theories, exotic locales, history lessons, white-knuckle escapes, double crosses, and last second twists to make this book simply impossible to put down.

While it is possible to read right through the book fairly quickly, the background material--such as the nature of the Holy Grail, Da Vinci's hidden codes, the religious symbology, and the early history of the Christian Church, to name just a handful--almost cry out for further study once the last page is turned. That, I think, is one of this book's greatest strengths. Readers who want to read this as a straight thriller will not be disappointed at all. However, those who want to delve deeply into the mysteries of "The DaVinci Code" will find plenty of material to pore over.

This book is a spectacular, command, virtuoso performance by an author who knows how to educate while bringing readers to the edge of their seats. BEG him to keep writing!

Rating:
Summary: Fast-Paced Murder Mystery/Historical Thriller
Review: Robert Langdon is a scholar who is awakened in his hotel room one night by the Paris police. When he goes with the authorities to a murder scene, he's pretty upset about it. Apparently, the docent for the Louvre Museum has been murdered. And Mr. Langdon was supposed to have met up with the murder victim several hours prior to his death. But he says he never did. Does the investigating detective believe him?

Sophie Neuveu is a cryptologist who works for the Paris police. She gets 'called' into action when it is discovered that the murder victim left a strange message scrawled on the floor of the Museum. She's also related to someone very involved in this murder case. Whoa!

Mr. Teabing is a Grail enthusiast who has more money than God. He's been trying to find out the truth behind the Holy Grail and a secret society whom he has discovered was designed to protect it: The Priory of Scion. This group had some prestigious names affiliated with it too. Leonardo Da Vinci, Gallileo, Isaac Newton, Victor Hugo, and a slew of other historically famous people.

Silas is an albino who works for a section of the church known as the Opus Dei. He's a hit-man with a serious job to do. If anyone ever found out what the Holy Grail really was and what it represented, the Christian faith might crumble into ruin. That can't happen. So Silas is sent out into the world to make sure it doesn't. He gets his assignments from someone called "The Teacher." An invisible person to all except for one person. Who is this Teacher?

The Good: The pace at which this novel moves is mind-boggling. A reader can whip through it in just a few short days (even the slowest of readers, I would think). The action is excellent, and so are the historical references that Mr. Brown has thoroughly researched (the Priory of Scion, the Holy Grail, Mary Magdalene, Leonardo Da Vinci, etc. etc. etc.).

The 'Not-so-Good': Do these characters ever sleep? After being awakened at an un-Godly hour, Robert Langdon and Sophie Neuveu don't rest for days! That accompanied with their multiple, miraculous epiphanies as they try to break codes that are designed to be nearly unbreakable, stretched believability several times.

I also didn't care much for the ending. Mr. Brown loves to flip the protagonist/antagonist relationships of his characters. I don't mind that normally. But it happened so many times that it became ho-hum after a while. And I felt that the revealing of the prime antagonist was just a tiny bit forced. Something used for shock value more than possible reality. I know, I know, this is fiction, but let's not get too far out here.

Even with these faults, I'm glad that I read 'The Da Vinci Code.' It was worthy of my reading time and it made me look at our current world religions with a new light toward the feminine.

B+ read.

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: Solving the code ...
Review: Robert Langdon, a Harvard symbologist and Sophie Neveu, a french cryptologist, work together to solve a mystery: The curator of the Louvre was murdered, Langdon is being accused of the murder, and Neveu works with him to get him out of trouble. Of course they first have to get out of the museum, only to be led back to the Mona Lisa, inside of the museum. The cryptic message left by the curator has its' first clue with the painting, and that one message in the Mona Lisa painted an entire novel of trying to solve the curator's message.
The message of course is politically and religious oriented: The Priory of Sion and the Opus Dei are two organizations - the former was a secret society that historical figures belonged to; the latter was a devout catholic sect of the Vatican. Each clue confounds Langdon and Neveu: Was the curator a part of one of these groups? What was he afraid of, who was after him, and what was he trying to tell them? Most important, did they have to preserve an ancient historical secret ... and how were they going to do it?
The two go from the museum, all over France, to England and back to France - all in 24 hours mind you - as one mystery brings upon yet another...
This is a page turner until the very end, the surprises are endless and the solution to the code may just be as mysterious as the message itself. Some codes are never meant to be broken.