 "A Heartpounding Adventure" | 2008-09-21 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2BNH38BBOHVV |
The Da Vinci Code begins with the murdering of Jacques Saunière, the Louvre's curator by Silas, a member of the Catholic cult, Opus Dei. From that point on The Da Vinci Code is a thrilling 452 pages of sheer genius. The plot is built upon the search for the holy grail and never slows its fast pace until the final page.
After Saunière's death, Robert Langdon, an expert on religious art and symbology, is called in to examine the scene; little does Langdon know, but he is also the number one suspect and is expected to give away incriminating evidence. While at the scene, gives Langdon a message to go to the lavatory and wait for her there. From there they send the police on a wild goose chase for Langdon and then escape with a safe-deposit box key from the back of a Da Vinci and from there Sophie and Robert became French fugitives on a mission. After purchasing useless train tickets they head to 24 Rue Haxo. After a car-chase through Paris, they steal amored car and head off into the night. This short introduction to the novel highlights the exhilarating pace of The Da Vinci Code.
Robert Langdon is one of two protagonists in The Da Vinci Code. He is a trustworthy Harvard professor who incorrectly becomes a fugitive with the help of Sophie. He doesn't wish to be involved with anything fast, but would rather spend time solving puzzles and studying zymology and art history.
Sophie Neveu, the other protagonist, is an attractive, intelligent French cryptologist and the granddaughter of Saunière whom raised her after the death of her family. She too enjoys solving puzzles and balances out the shyness of Langdon with her own quick-thinking and witty brain.
Silas, the main antagonist, is a member of Opus Dei and murdered several people throughout the novel. After facing rejection in his youth, he comes into contact with Bishop Aringarosa who helps Silas to find God's way. He immerses himself in self-punishment and religion, he believes that in murdering others he is helping Opus Dei and finding God.
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 "Silly history. Not his best" | 2008-09-20 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2UDIWFUWD1MUI |
| As a fan I was confused by the history which in an interview he actually seems to take seriously. He is no historian. As a fan, I would exit ecccentric materials based on little, and do what he can do well. |
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| "The Da Vinci Code Book Review" | 2008-09-09 |
| - Reviewed By User: AH5YW5ER58SEJ |
Dan Brown's popular, best selling novel, The Da Vinci Code, introduces the Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon who is suspected by Parisian police to have murdered the head curator of the Louvre. The curator is shot dead inside the museum, trapped inside one of the locked down rooms, and appears to have scrawled a message in ultraviolet ink next his own body. The message points to Robert Langdon and the Paris agent, Captain Bezu Fache, is dead set on arresting Langdon.
Sophie Nevue is a Paris cryptologist with the police force who receives a copy of the coded message left by the curator, who, in actuality, is her grandfather. She sees meaning in the message and immediately shows up on the crime scene to assist, though not in the obvious manner. She helps Langdon escape from the Captain and together they travel across France and Great Britain piecing together the tiny clues that end up guiding them on an epic quest to solve the curator's murder and ultimately uncover a two thousand year old secret; a secret that has been the cause of hundreds of years of war and bloodshed, kept hidden by a secret brotherhood.
The Da Vinci Code is a gripping story that moves from one puzzle to the next with surprising depth and reality. Amazingly enough Dan Brown creates a story that is not so entirely focused on characterization but keeps the reader's interest throughout the entire book. There is character development but it is not central to the story. Purely plot driven, this story takes you on a trip through the crusades to renaissance to the modern era easily with little awareness of time.
This story is well told, contains solid description, and is rife with historic and fictional details enough to almost convince you of this book being a true historic account. Truly a fictional tale it is told with a practical cadence that is undeniably compelling. The religious subject matter an obvious bone of contention for Christian believers that justifies the publicity the book has earned over the last couple years.
Over all, this is a very fast and entertaining book to indulge in, providing a thought provoking idea based in part on some truth, as the most believable lies can be. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys an action novel with a twist and likes to follow deeply meaningful puzzles throughout a book. Definitely not one to put down. |
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| "More Like "By The Numbers."" | 2008-08-20 |
| - Reviewed By iphonetype |
I read the Da Vinci Code because..., well, I was traveling and everyone seemed to be reading it. After I finished it, I felt as if I had had a lot of warm beer: bloated with empty calories, left with mildly unpleasant taste and a slight headache.
The fact that this book is a bestseller can make one question the value of universal literacy. It is really badly written. I didn't expect Updike or Vonnegut, but Dan Brown makes even Clive Cussler appear a decent wordsmith. To add insult to injury, the Da Vinci Code fails the genre and becomes predictable halfway through.
The story is inhabited by "comic strip" -grade characters bumping around, solving absurd puzzles placed there for reasons which make no particular sense. From time to time, a character stops what they are doing, leans against a wall, or stares into space and thinks "deep thoughts", through which the puzzles are solved and the premise of the book is laid out. These are sprinkled with what passes for historical and religious factoids, often researched poorly enough for the errors to be apparent to a layman like me.
Before I stand accused, I am not religious in the least. I don't find the book offensive (other than by being so badly written): in fact political correctness oozes from it, as does the author's apparent desire to be liked by everyone and sell to everyone (and this includes the good Catholics among book buyers:-)
If you want a well written and well researched "conspiracy theory through the ages" tale, get Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum. For a nice travel crime story, pick up P.D. James.
As for the Da Vinci Code..., I have played computer games that have higher literary merit than this. Really. |
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| "Dan Brown" | 2008-08-11 |
| - Reviewed By User: A26ZKNC3C3PBRD |
| Dan Brown hit a homerun here. This book has an awesome story line and really keeps you wanting more. The action is fast yet easy to keep up with. Brown has a great way of making you feel like you know what's going on in the story, but still surprises you in the end. Read the book first, saw the movie second, and the book was MUCH better. |
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| "Hard to put down." | 2008-08-07 |
| - Reviewed By jholesha |
| I found myself up very very late reading this book. The ending was ok, but overall a must read. |
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 "Last two thirds...not so great...far too predictable" | 2008-07-29 |
| - Reviewed By User: AF919M2UEDJJF |
Davinci Code had an interesting beginning. I liked how he drew the reader in with his introduction of the curator, langdon, the bishop and albino. Initially engrossing, but BEWARE, the last two thirds drag. He regurgitates a good deal of his plot twists as the novel wears on. I had his 'twists' and characters figured chapters ahead of time. I even guessed the last cryptic clue APPLE pages and pages before Langdon figured it out. These characters with their Ivy league PhD's should be able to outsmart me - but they didn't!
As far as the religious controversy. Any intelligent, practicing Christian takes it with a grain of salt. Obviously, those most vulnerable to this kind of tripe are people of little faith, minimal worship and study of Christianity. Brown is so repetitive in his love of pagan rituals, sun dieties, and feminine goddess garble that it turns the reader off completely. He seems to be writing for a less intelligent audience. Why else would an author insist on such redundancy unless he felt his audience wasn't smart enough to grasp his message the first time around? Yawn.
Overall, I'd give the first 150 pages four stars. Brown could have easily shaved off 100 of the last 200 pages and still made this a pretty good read. The last third (two stars at best) really dragged on and the ending was highly predictible (if your inferencing skills go beyond a third grade level). |
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 "Elitist Criticism Aside, It's Genius" | 2008-07-25 |
| - Reviewed By justinrpeterson2 |
| Loathed by elitist literary critics, wannabe highbrows and religious conservatives, The Da Vinci Code is by any measure a work of genius. To dismiss it as pop drivel is to overlook the fact that countless writers are striving to produce catchy pulp fiction that will propel them to stardom and riches - and few succeed. The book is riveting, fascinating, thought-provoking, surprising and a masterful work of entertaining fiction. If you feel above such light fare, fine, go read Dostoyevsky or James Joyce , but spare us your condescension. As for the religious opposition to the work, any book - in our postmodern day and age in which we are exposed to so many different realities - capable of stirring up so much passionate opposition and so much sincere interest in weighty topics like religion and philosophy and history, is frankly some kind of masterpiece. |
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| "What was the fuss about?" | 2008-07-16 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2G3U6AM951P6D |
A fast-paced suspense (more than pure mystery) novel about the Holy Grail and the secret societies (apparently a veritable Yellow Pages worth) whose goal is either to protect or expose it.
Good fun, although its statements about the verity of the Bible, the orthodox canon, and other apocryphal works are disturbing. In fact, my distaste for this part of the book, plus its fast-food-like lack of weightiness knocks it down a peg from the "Worth my Time" level. |
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 "Poor translation?" | 2008-07-14 |
| - Reviewed By User: A9AKII4N50QO6 |
Ok, I have neither bought nor read this 'book', and never will, but I read the excerpt.
If English is Dan Brown's first language, then he has major problems, unless he is a 10 year old slow learner. Ok, he has made a lot of money from this piece of rubbish, but why not take a quick course in creative writing beforehand to learn the basics of style.
The Hardy Boys books are advanced literature in comparison! |
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