Rating: 
Summary: An unexpected page turner
Review: I bought this book because it was on the NY times bestseller list and the small blurb I read was interesting. I had no idea I'd be so captivated by the the story. It was a page turner that kept me wondering... what will happen next and who's involved. I do believe that these reviews should just be a REVIEW and not a book report, so I will end by saying, I recommend this book to anyone... I am not an artist.. or any sort of scholar or even a student researching DaVinci or secret societies... I read because I love to and this book beckons any on who's into a good mystery.
Rating: 
Summary: I'm puzzled
Review: I bought this book because my brother's birthday is coming up in six days, and he loves bestsellers. I've never heard of Dan Brown before, and actually had quite a job to find the book in local (New Zealand) bookstores. (I found it in a wine-and-food market! -- upscale market, and the book is new, I hastily add.)I'm puzzled because everyone calls it a page-turner. What is it I am not seeing? I've managed to get to page 217, so I've done quite well, I guess, but the cardboard characters and trivial-pursuit-driven plot just don't get me turning pages. It's fearfully easy to put down, and awfully hard to pick it up again, but if I want to get to the end, I have only five days to do it! This is quite an admission from someone who normally reads a book a day. Perhaps my problem is that the last book I read was the second in Bernard Cornwell's astounding Grail series. Granted, it is a different genre, but the craftsmanship and sense of immediacy that Cornwell manages is on a different plane, too. However, I would hesitate to suggest that anyone reads the Cornwell Grail series instead of this book, because so many people enjoy The Da Vinci Code, obviously -- and why should I ruin someone else's nice day. I guess it will be made into a movie. It reads like that was the ultimate aim. But I doubt I will bother to go to see it -- even if it does have Harrison Ford!
Rating: 
Summary: Quelle horreur...
Review: I bought this book out of curiosity since so many Americans have or are reading the book. Who wants to be left out? When I opened the book, I was unaware of the hubbub it has created in the U.S. However, from the start, I had to force myself to read on. I was too aware of the many italics thrown on every page, and the storyboard format. In addition, rather than developing his characters, the setting, the narrative suspense, I was constantly being lectured by someone so much more "knowledgeable". Very condescending! And I was constantly asking myself, are his facts accurate? Suspicion came already in his descriptions of Paris: Gare Saint Lazare to go to Lille (it is the Gare du Nord) and the Bois de Boulogne is not a forest but woods and not entirely sinister, filled with prostitutes. He does give interesting facts, PHI, the blade and chalice but all have the flavor of hocus-pocus. His historical sidetracks only tried my patience, it seemed like padding on to a contrived story. A couple of positive points, the book does encourage discussion and perhaps even motivate Americans to rediscover Paris and France.
Rating:
Summary: Terribly written
Review: I bought this book with excitement, based on the good blurbs on the back of it and the general buzz about it. If only I had read a page or two! The style of this thing is laughable, clunky, medodramatic and trite. It is HORRIBLY written. How can other writers say it's great? So that they themselves will seem superior? It makes no sense to me. If you have any sensitivity to language, don't buy this. Maybe the plot has some redeeming qualities--I could not get far enough to find out. I was too put off by the terrible prose.
Rating:
Summary: Just a little notice...
Review: I came by at this book by total chance, wandering around the bookstore looking for a good read, when by chance a woman stopped nearby and picked up a copy of The Da Vinci Code. I read a few pages, and I was grabbed. Eventually I bought it, finished, and loved it. I do not know much about art history, biblical passages, beliefs and/or studies. However, as I read through quite a few of these reviews, it was a bit...shocking, if I may, that people seem to dislike the book very much. I don't recall seeing as many 1 and 2 stars on a book rating on this than any other. I am trying to word this review very carefully as not to offend someone. I understand that many people would dislike the book for it's supposed/demanding inaccuracy in certain people's religions. Brown may or may not have researched thoroughly, but for goodness sake, it is fiction. I don't believe that Brown would intentionally try to offend someone. The book is targeting and a huge conspiracy. Whether it true or false, it is a good book, and many should appreciate the hard work many authors put into writing a book. For that, and a good read, I give it a five.
Rating:
Summary: Never would have guessed it
Review: I can honestly say this is a great book. Consider, that I am not a fan of books...or reading...except for my monthly Maxim. I saw the 400 plus page book and thought there was no way I would read it. Decided to pick it up one day....needless to say...it took me 3 days to read it. Never in my life have I come across a book that I "wanted" to read. Waiting to see if they have a movie come out for it...I would be 1st in line for tickets.
Rating:
Summary: Very compelling read.
Review: I can only chuckle at the hysteria of those who hated this book. It's not great literature but your not going to find many more thought provoking reads on the mass market. To those who cry blasphemy, thanks, you've made this book more enjoyable.
Rating: 
Summary: ...and scene.
Review: I can only criticize this book from its structural standpoint, as I am a product of the same liberal arts overdramatization as Brown's work. Consequently, I know nothing, but can craft it effectively into prose. Without other people's criticism, I would have fallen hard for this book. Look! "gullible" is written on the ceiling. Readers of Laura Esquivel's "Swift as Desire" will recognize in Brown's work the same annoying pseudo-scientific/religious psychobabble that plagues her fictional narrative. Ie- he found a good metaphor while writing a good first chapter- in Esquivel's case, the magnet/sun/earth core connection thing- then seems to get so distracted by it that he forgot what he was originally writing about. Sitting around in sweats and eating Grape Nuts, the whole "recovery of the sacred feminine" was a bit lost on me, and I was turned off by the main character's overtly revisionist, one-track interpretation of everything as a frickin' womb. Sometimes, "a rose is a rose is a rose". Much like the soundtrack to "Eyes Wide Shut," a movie Brown references in "The DaVinci Code," he takes an interesting premise and beats his audience with it. The cliffhangers do get annoying, but the most unforgiveable aspect of this novel (though I did read it all the way through, and found it entertaining- to qualify any future remarks), was the constant influx of new information on the verge of these remarkable discoveries. I suspect this has something to do with the critical praise Dan Brown has received that elevates him to "genius" stature. He waits until a critical juncture in the events before unloading vast quantities of symbolic history (revisionist or not) on his lowly, uneducated reader. This makes him seem smarter than us in the short run, as we are unlikely-, faced with the church opening, say- to associate the church structure with... what he associates it with... and tie that in with the dozen or so other late entries of staggering importance that he heaves on us. But this is not genius, it's sloppy writing. What he has here would make an intriguing first draft, but it doesn't feel like he did any editing for our sake. Even with my meagre historical knowledge, I was still put off by the sense that his research was equivalent to attacking history in the school hallway and stealing its lunch money. That said, the beginning of the book ain't bad- there are some genuine laughs and intriguing questions that get misplaced by an author who seems to not completely trust his initial instinct. In writers' empathy, it reminds me a bit of a Mathieu Kassovitz movie- able to captivate you with the director's sheer love for his work and the tangents it takes him on; and ultimately prevents you from judging the glaring problems too harshly. Unfortunately, as with the aforementioned, you get a sense that the author doesn't care what the audience of this his fabulous brainstorming session, thinks. Thus, you become a little reluctant to spend your money supporting their self-discovery (see liberal arts college comments). Lowly peon that I am, I would be a willing patron of unrecoginized genius if I had the funds. But I'm a night clerk at a hotel, and selfishly focused on paying my bills. In short- rent, don't buy, stay a bit skeptical, and enjoy the deference he shows to book nerds. Out of time...
Rating:
Summary: A total knockout!
Review: I can't believe how great this novel is. I literally opened the book and fell into it. It the fastest, best told story I read all year. It will totally suck you in! Also recommended: Will@epicqwest.com by tom grimes, the losers' club by richard perez
Rating:
Summary: Worst Book Ever
Review: I can't believe I even wasted my time with this book. To be fair, the writing was serviceable and the plot was "unusual". The sheer absurdity of the plot and ignorance of Western history, however, was impossible to get through. I suppose that's half the fun for those who enjoyed the book, but there are an alarming number of people who seem to believe the veracity of the author's "research". What Mr. Brown really does is "cite" a bunch of ridiculous cult anti-histories that prefer paranoia and cover-ups to verifiable historical fact. Two examples:
1. The description of Gothic cathedrals as having "a...long hollow nave as a secret tribute to a woman's womb", serving as a tribute to the "goddess". The reality is verifiable through any book on the history of architecture. The cathedral is actually a logical progression from Roman public buildings, which included naves, and had nothing to do with the worship of a "goddess", emperor worship being the official and chief Roman religion.
2. Brown claims that the tetragrammaton YHWH derives from "Jehovah, an androgynous physical union between the mascualine Jah and the pe-Hebraic name for Eve, Havah", as a means of supporting his notion that Jews secretly worshipped a feminine counterpart to the male deity through prostitutes in the Temple. In reality, Jehovah was a 16th Century creation, the name of God as found by combining the vowels of the Hebrew word for God (Adonai).
As a work of fiction The Da Vinci Code is passable entertainment. The sheer effort required to ignore the numerous re-inventions of history and suspend disbelief in the face of such implausable conspiracies, however, make reading it a chore for anyone who is even moderately educated about any of the issues it touches on.
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