The Da Vinci Code

Rating:
Summary: Amateur hour
Review: I couldn't make it past chapter three.This has to be the worst written book i've ever read.The dialogue is especially awful.Dan Brown has absolutely no idea how people really talk.How this book got to be such a big seller is beyond me.Go read some Alan Furst or Robert Wilson instead.

Rating:
Summary: Great read in every way.
Review: I couldn't put it down and was interested enough in all the information/history, after finishing the book, did research to find out what was true and what was fiction. And VERY surprised to find out most of it was true! This books goes on my shelf of books I won't pass along - I want to read it again.

Rating:
Summary: Loved it
Review: I couldn't put the book down -- I really enjoyed it. A very entertaining and educational book. Helps to have traveled to the same places.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome
Review: I couldn't put this down. It's entertaining, educating and incredibly thought-provoking. I definitely recommend this to anyone!!! I can't wait to read another Dan Brown book!

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Summary: The search for the Holy Grail...!
Review: I decided to read "The Da Vinci Code" after I thoroughly enjoyed reading a novel based on the end times prophecies of the Bible: Britt Gillette's "Conquest of Paradise". That book totally blew me away, and I read reviews about this book tackling the secrets to uncovering the Holy Grail, so I figured it would be an intriguing topic.

Like "Conquest of Paradise", "The Da Vinci Code" is set in the present. A murder one night in the Louvre provides evidence of a sinister plot to uncover a secret that has been protected by a clandestine society since the days of Christ. The murder victim, a member of this secret society, leaves clues at the scene of his own murder that can only be unraveled by his daughter and symbologist Robert Langdon. Working together the two set out one a wild adventure that leads them all over Europe. Dan Brown does an excellent job of entertaining the reader. His descriptions of religious history remind me a lot of Tom Clancy's work in the military thriller genre, and pound for pound, Dan Brown holds his own with any other writer in the thriller genre.

For those who enjoyed the heightened suspense of "The Da Vinci Code", I highly recommend "Conquest of Paradise" as another great read. It's like few books I've ever read, and I couldn't put it down. Either way, both books are fascinating entertainment.

Rating:
Summary: No Masterpiece (very minor spoilers)
Review: I decided to see what all the hype was about + read The Da Vinci Code. It's a little hard to understand why this became such a mega-bestseller and cultural phenom.

Dan Brown gives us a by-the-numbers thriller. It jazzes things up with a lot of puzzle clues the reader can try to solve with the characters - and some are clever enough. He also adds in some semi-interesting socio-historical perspectives on religion and art. Combined with the easy reading style of the prose, that can explain some level of interest.

But then there are the downsides to the novel, and there are many.

The quality of the writing is really bad in many places. The dialogue resembles nothing actual people would say. Typical "conversation":
#1: "[supposedly shocking revelation]"
#2: "Are you trying to tell me that [supposedly shocking revelation]???"
#3: "Yes, I am saying [supposedly shocking revelation]"

It goes on and on like that, and it gets irritating, as does the ham-handed way Brown tries to hold off on revealing information until it's (supposedly) more dramatic. The book takes itself VERY seriously, without a trace of wit or style. Rather than say "this could symbolize that", the characters always have to say "when one looks at it symbologically". ("Symbologist", and its permutations, seems to be a presumtuous word the book enjoys using ad nauseum to inflate its own importance.)

One of the "big secrets" - about what one character saw another doing ten years ago - is a yawner of an anticlimax. The main protagonists register absolute zero on the personality meter. Absolute zero also describes the amount of heat they generate, though of course they end up together.

Brown also plays fast and loose with real life stuff. Did you ever have a college professor who always declared that his one, overarching theory explained absolutely everything? That's what goes on here. Brown throws in enough real-life people, groups, events, art etc to make his fictional work sound legit, but mixes it with pure fiction - maybe hoping you won't be able to tell the difference.

[One real laugher: Isaac Newton is repeatedly mentioned in the plot. In real life, Newton was deeply anti-social, devoutly Christian and almost certainly died a virgin. His biographer, James Gleick, describes the physicist's attitude towards sex as "morbid distaste." The Da Vinci Code posits Newton as part of a pagan group that worships the "sacred feminine" - another phrase Brown beats to death - and engages in ritual sex. Yeah, right.]

It's not the worst thing I've ever read, but I certainly wouldn't recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: The danger of presenting fiction as history
Review: I did not like the Da Vinci Code. In fact, after the first 150 pages I felt manipulated and insulted as a reader showing faith in the author's good intentions. Along with its poor writing style, lack of essential argument, forced plot development, flat dialogue, absence of character development, and the lukewarm, impressively non-intelligent ending, the book manipulates the reader into believing that the author's references to history, art, geography and religion are facts and not his subjective interpretation or "poetic license" for the purpose of writing a mediocre novel. The inaccuracies are too many to count but the author makes no effort to remind the reader that his facts are, in fact, fiction. Instead, he provides a page titled "Fact" at the very beginning of the book as a priori confirmation that the ensuing narrative contains facts. This is dangerous for the uninformed readers. The author seems to use the same method on his readers that he accuses the church of having applied for centuries on the gullible folk to control and extort their faith, loyalty and money.

Rating:
Summary: Pretentious, preachy, and boring.
Review: I did not like this book. The characters were one dimensional, the writing was way to preachy. Tebing would explain something for 2 pages, and then Sophie would exclaim "Are you saying blah blah blah??!!!" I could barely get through this book. It did a good job of Catholic bashing also. I had to read it to see what all the talk was about, but it was a total waste of time. There are mistakes throughout the book. There is NO action what so ever. They stand around and talk through half the book. Just dull, dull and more dull. I want my money back!!

Rating:
Summary: I loved this book!
Review: I did not want to put this book down! It was a fast paced, educational read. Dan Brown is a fantastic writer who has sparked my curiosity about the holy grail and early christianity. I can't wait to read his other books! In the meantime, I'm going to read toher books about the subject matter of The Da Vinci Code.

Rating:
Summary: Did not want to put it down
Review: I did not want to put this book down. For four day's, when ever I had a minute, this book was in my hand. It makes you think, it makes you wonder. Is it all possible? Could all of this be true?
I first heard of this book on the special that ABC did. I was born and raised Catholic. Raised to believe what my parents, grandmother and church taught me was the truth. I'm still Catholic but I am old enough now to question things. Doesn't make me a bad catholic, just an inqusitive one. I never knew that Mary Magdalen was considered the holy grail. Not until the ABC special, did I even hear of the posibility.
The book mixes historical "fact/folklore" w/ intrigue, deception and murder. It keeps you on your toes, trying to figure out the little clues before you get to the answers, and trying to figure out what's going to happen, before it even does.
The mark of an amazing book, is when more than one person in your household wants to read it, and can't put it down when they are.
Not only a must read, but a must have!