The Da Vinci Code
by Dan Brown
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Book Reviews of The Da Vinci Code
Book Review: Brilliant, engrossing, fast-paced and unique - A must read
Summary: 4 Stars
This book, in short is about "Holy Grail" and its frenetic chase by 2 parties. The book starts by describing the murder of curator of the famous Louvre museum in Paris (Jacqueas Saunere). At the murder scene, the curator, while in last dying moments, leaves a very curious encrypted message, presumably for his granddaughter Sophie (and an American symbology professor from Harvard, Robert Langdon. Since he openly leaves Langdon's name but having never met him before, Police take him as their prime suspect so there is a bit of police chase too). Langdon discovers that Saunere was a member of a very prestigious ancient secret sociery called "Priory of Scion", whose previous grand-members included greats such as Da-Vinci and Newton. In short, Scion guards an ancient secret, so powerful and explosive in nature, that it could rock the foundations of modern church and christinaty. This secret is related to "Holy grail". The church wants to find this grail and its references to destroy them to save their skin (and maintain their powerful stature) and they have made such attempts in the past. The Scion, a natural adversary of Church, guards this secret. However on the ominous day of Saunere's murder, all the 4 prominent members of the Scion are killed by someone (presumably in Church's payroll) endangering the loss of this secret forever. In order to make the secret hiding place of "Holy Grail" as uncompromisable as possible, Saunere has designed a "keystone" (hidden in a locker of a swiss bank), which holds the map to this secret place. This keystone is a double layered cylinder of 5 attached pieces and each piece has letters A to Z on its rim. Each layer can only be opened by a password (by aligning all 5 pieces correctly), which can be derived by finding answers to his mystique and symbolic verses. (Note that due to ingenious design, one cannot just smash the keystone and hope to retrieve the map). Langdon, who is faced with murder charges and Sophie, must race against time, away from the Police and a shodowy adversary (who is also after the keystone) to find this secret location.On the positive sides, the chapters are short, fast-paced, intricately woven within each other and interesting. The author takes his time to slowly divulge many important details, which keeps your curiosity burning. The book is full of tremendous general knowledge, both interesting and mind-boggling. You get a crash course in the history of church, paganism, works of da Vinci, symbolism and much more.
On the drawbacks side, I was left with a few apprehensions in the end. We know who kills Saunere and other Scion members but it wasn't clear how he knew their names through such secrecy? Also in the end, though Langdon knew the secret location, the story ends right there (with Langdon getting a kiss and a date from Sophie - how predictable and Hollywoodish). At least some allusion to something interesting (like Langdon becoming Scion's grand master or he revealing the sacred secrets etc etc) would have been nice. What was the point of all this odyssey if this secret remains secret forever (It is told in the end that this secret will never be revealed as assumed otherwise)? It looks as if Robert Langdon won himself a French chick for all his toils and endangerement to his life...hardly a worth price. It left me with an empty hollowness. Maybe the author wanted to show (again symbolically) that Langdon, who through his manuscripts "obliviously" staggered around the pieces of the truth (through the story, it is revealed that Langdon almost knows the truth - he knows all the pieces like the Scion, the holy grail, the mystique symbology etc etc) only connected this jigsaw puzzle in the end and saw the truth in its pristine light. Maybe all this ordeal was great for Langdon, the true historian, who for this shred of immensely important historical knowledge would happily risk his life. But books are not written for characters, they are written for readers. As a reader, I was totally dissatisfied with the end. There are also flaws in the character behavior. Some brief examples are Sophie's estranged relation with her loving grandfather (Saunere) for a full 10 years, Langdon's decision to run when he knows he was falsely framed in Saunere's murder rather than surrender and take much better odds through legal means, the bank's manager's (Vernet) helping to Sophie and Langdon to avoid the police just to keep his bank's name out of the news - in all these instances, characters behave unnaturally.
However this is a "must read" because its good parts far outweigh a few anamolies.
Book Review: 3 Solid Stars
Summary: 3 Stars
The DaVinci Code has a 3.5 star rating overall, and that's probably accurate or somewhat high. There are a LOT of misinterpretations and flaws in the book, but there is also much to enjoy.This is a novel, a work of fiction. However, Brown has done limited homework and portrays this novel as a vehicle for promoting alternate and plausible histories. This is my biggest fault with the novel - that it pretends to be a peer-reviewed historical thesis. Brown's personal feelings and biases are rampant throughout the work, which is fine for a fictional novel but has no business in a historical treatise.
And often Brown is simply wrong. The number Phi, for example, appears to have magical properties until you learn it falls out in natural processes. The ratio of male to female bees in a hive tends toward Phi due to the way male bees are formed. The packing of seeds in a flower ratios to Phi because it is by far the most efficient arrangement and is a product of natural selection. However, Brown offers Phi as proof of Devine Creation, via protagonist Harvard Professor Robert Langdon and a math student during his lecture. To me this is irresponsible, like saying that the number Pi being buried within Egyptian pyramid architecture is proof of alien involvement. Sloppy and wrong, and annoying things like this riddle the book. Claiming the word "alphabet" comes from the first two letters of the Jewish language, "alef" and "beit" while completely ignoring the fact that the first two letters of Greek are "alpha" and "beta".
Brown also goes far overboard concerning symbolism and hidden meanings. According to Brown, anything anywhere concerning the number 5 is a hidden allusion to the sacred female - the way Venus moves in the sky, the rose, iambic pentameter, my hand, the number of pennies in a nickel - ok, I made up the last two, but some of his inferences are absolutely wrong. And these are just the instances I caught. A true historian would probably shudder at the leaps Brown takes via the characters, who are all supposed to be the most learned experts in the field.
And for such smart people there is an appalling lack of logic. From the first, where Sophie takes Langdon's transmitter and hides it in soap, then throws it onto a moving truck - I think I saw Cindy Brady do something similar in "A Brady Christmas", but this Harvard Professor remarks that she "is a hell of a lot smarter than he is." What a black mark on Harvard. And like the Keystone Cops the Parisian policemen all chase the truck, leaving the two fugitives alone in the Louvre to saunter on their merry way, even though this is one of the most sensational murders of modern time. No logic.
The codes are ridiculously easy. There was good logic hiding the keystone in the vault, but a modern CNC machine would have easily cut off the top of the Cryptex without destroying the contents. You could take it to a machine shop for 1000 bucks. If I had the most important secret of 2000 years in my hands, I would have spent the grand and had the answer in 20 minutes instead of jumping through those ridiculous hoops. There are far better ways to hide secrets then 14th ca technology, and I would imagine the Grand Leader of the Priory of Sion would know that.
Finally, the literary style itself is sophomoric. The 1 page chapters are geared for an audience that cannot concentrate on one subject for more than 10 minutes. There is no character development whatsoever, and the lack of logic and unbelievable circumstances allow for little character empathy.
So after all this, why did I give it 3 stars? It is, simply, a very readable book. A good book for late at night when you don't want to think too hard. Plus, the concepts were fascinating to me (which unlike other reviewers I'd never been exposed to before). I am not nearly as critical of his prose as others - I liked his dialogue and methods for advancing his viewpoints. Again, there is no character development, but the characters themselves are secondary to the central thesis, like watching a Discovery Channel historical recreation rather than an HBO movie. And while the character's lack of logic and Brown's incorrect assertions were definitely annoying, I found that they didn't really take away from my overall reading enjoyment. However, I have amended my original rating to 3 stars. The ending is definitely a product of an anxious publisher, and destroys the book.
So despite the many criticisms, I did enjoyed reading "The Da Vinci Code" and though it only merits 3 stars.
Book Review: Left Behind for pagans seeking the sacred feminine.
Summary: 2 Stars
7/17/03The DaVinci Code
In this best selling thriller, the second in a series about the renowned symbologist Robert Langdon (a modern day Indiana Jones), Brown takes us through one of history's more inflammatory legends in an action-packed ride through historical haunts of Paris and England.
There are many good things about this book. First of all, Dan Brown's skill for puzzle making is great, making the reader really want to figure out the conundrums before the protagonists do. I often found myself scouring the Internet for clues to crack the case while reading along, hoping Google would give me the answer first. Secondly, there are some beautiful descriptions of European churches and other famous historical landmarks. When reading about the Louvre, I often felt I was in Paris, watching the events take place. But the most interesting thing about this book is Brown's wealth knowledge about ancient legends and the history of many secret societies. Regardless of your religious persuasion, the premises of this book are interesting, at the very least. And the amount of information about symbology and history that he imparts through character conversations is staggering. I honestly feel that I learned a lot from this book, but this is where the problem begins.
I don't know what is true and what is false. Basically, the premise is that Jesus Christ was the husband of Mary Magdalene, who the Catholic church later besmirched as a whore to combat this knowledge. Supposedly, the true message of Jesus was one of sexual equality and the "sacred feminine," which was covered up by white males who liked their power too much, specifically the Catholic Church. What's more, Mary was pregnant when Christ was crucified, and His descendants are still alive in the Merovingian line, protected by the Priory of Sion. The Knights Templar and the Priory of Sion were created to protect this knowledge from the Church, who has been seeking it's destruction. The knowledge and practices of the "sacred feminine" (basically, orgies as religion), Mary's physical body, her descendants, and the knowledge about her connection to Jesus are revealed to be the Holy Grail, which is figurative (Mary holds Christ's blood by having his baby), rather than the literal chalice which held Christ's blood. They call this line the Royal line, despite the fact that, in this book's philosophy, Jesus is neither God nor anything more than a great man. His divinity was decreed by the Council of Nicaea, and was not the original belief of any of Christ peers. What's even more impossible to believe is that Christ's "rock," the man on who he would build his church, was supposedly Mary, but this role was usurped by a jealous Peter, who can be seen attempting to murder Mary in the Last Supper by DaVinci. There's plenty more about DaVinci's (who was a Grand Master of the Priory of Sion, along with such other notable figures as Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, and Victor Hugo) subversive works. The conclusion is unsatisfying, as Brown lets the big secret out of the bag halfway through, and I read on to find that the philosophy was all packed in the middle, while the beginning and the end were soulless plot. Throughout the plot, both the Priory of Sion and a Catholic organization, Opus Dei, fight to discover the truth about the Grail. While Brown avoids vilifying any specific Catholics or Christians, this is little recompense for his merciless slander of the Church and the tenets upon which it rests.
The second shortcoming of this book is that every character is one dimensional, with few exceptions. While they do some surprising things, and there certainly is enough plot twists to warrant the label "thriller," the characters frequently launch into summaries of history and symbology at the most peculiar times. By the end of the book, I got the impression that the characters and the whole of the plot existed just as a podium for Dan Brown to shout his interesting views, similar to the way the Left Behind series of books exists for little purpose than propagation of a narrow set of Apocalyptic views. It's ironic that books from such opposing worldviews share such a big similarity.
In conclusion, I would not recommend this book. In particular, Christians should stay away, as it has many inflammatory themes and lots of slanderous accusations. There are many great things about this book, namely the puzzles, the locations and the history, but the bad far outweighs the good, as a whole. This book is Left Behind for pagans seeking the sacred feminine.
Book Review: Weak Writing, Bad History, and the Hype Machine
Summary: 2 Stars
In the end, all this book has is hype.
Now, I'm fairly well versed in early church history, alternative gospels, the Council of Nicea, etc. I wish Dan Brown was too. He may have avoided some of the more glaring errors he made. Why is that important in a novel? Normally it wouldn't be, because a novel is make-believe. However, Mr. Brown was very adamant that all of the historical research, mathematics, blah-blah-blah, was absolutely true. Then when pressed in interviews, he falls back on, "Oh, it's just a novel." Fine, but couldn't he just admit he stretched the truth to sell 40 million novels.
Okay, enough of that, let's forget that part. Let's even pretend that the "historical" research is sound. How is it as a novel?
Let's see... I'll take Barely Serviceable for [...], Alex.
You see, despite my own personal beliefs, my own knowledge, and my own skepticism, I really enjoy when an author takes something outlandish, says, "What if?" then takes me on a rip-roaring ride to show me What If. Frankly, Brown did a better job of this in Angels & Demons, though even that was flawed.
The main problem is that Danny doesn't craft enough of a novel. Out of the gate the story is initially very compelling, and the intial code-breaking is fun. But then Dan gets so excited about telling the reader what he thinks is the truth about the Grail, Jesus, and Mary, that he forgets that there's a story to tell. The interactions between Langdon and Teabing degenerate into a horrible series of "As you already know, the blah-blah-blah...8 pages of exposition...blah-blah-blah Leonardo." "Why yes, Richard, and that's why, as you know,[...]." And God help me, why is Sophie so damn slow to pick up on anything? Well, I know why, it's because Dan needs another excuse to explain something again.
Another horrifying aspect of this book is how Dan skips right by ridiculous leaps of illogic and hopes you don't notice. The worse one for me is when Langdon is asked if this stuff is true (paraphrase, of course) and Langdon answers, "I've spent the last two years of my life researching it." Great. What does that mean? There are people with PhD's running around hypnotizing UFO "abductees," or researching crop circles despite the outing of hoaxers. People will spend their whole lives researching the most ridiculous crap. That's not convincing. That's not "evidence." Anybody with an ounce of healthy scientific skepticism would laugh in Langdon's face and say, "So? Show me some evidence that it's true, not evidence about how you're all wrapped up in your cockamamie theories."
And I'll tell you, the Opus Dei bashing gets old. I'm no longer Catholic, haven't been since my teens, but I know enough about Opus Dei to know that Brown is out to lunch. He would have been better served making up a secret, clandestine arm of the Vatican rather than besmirching an existing lay organization that has no resemblence to the dark, spooky, CIA-like caricature he tosses together here.
And finally, the characters couldn't be more, dry, one-dimensional, and empty. They are little puppets for Dan's exposition. They don't grow, they don't change, even at the end.
Okay, the ending itself... I mean the very end, was kinda cool. I liked that... Never you mind what it is if you haven't read it yet.
Another reviewer thought this will make a better movie than a novel. I hope so. In a movie like this, they won't have time to have those overlong, contrived conversations, and will hopefully have to do what Dan should have done, put the ideas into the dialogue and action that moves the flick along so the popcorn swilling masses (of which I am one) won't get bored or disinterested.
Overall, a very disappointing read. After all the hype, I expected that, even though I wouldn't at all agree with the "historical research," I would at least enjoy the thrill of the chase and the exercise in speculation. I was wrong, not because the potential wasn't there, but because the execution was awful. It is clear that the popularity of this book lies not in its quality as a novel, but in its supposed refutation of core Christian beliefs. Others have addressed this issue much more capably than I, but without that hype, this book is a mindless, messy thriller, and barely worth the time it takes to read the first page, let alone the whole thing.
Book Review: Controversial and dubious but absolutely smashing!
Summary: 5 Stars
Controversy? In spades! Dan Brown has created exactly what he, his editors, his publishers, and his agent crafted...controversy. Why? Because controversy sells. And no two subjects are the focus of controversy more than sex and religion. I applaude Mr. Brown for having the guts and keen insight into the simplistic psyche of the literary public. As to his book, THE DA VINCI CODE, I found it fun, fast-paced, and intriguing. But wait! Isn't that what one looks for in fiction? The continuing controversy and scorn Mr. Brown receives is in my opinion somewhat laughable. Mr. Brown has struck the nerve of many with this book but at what cost? This book can be loosely classified as "historical fiction," but the reader must decide where history stops and fiction starts. This intellectual conundrum is the core creator of the underlying controversy. Mr. Brown will suck you in with a known historical fact while weaving his fictional storyline around those very facts. So, by the time the reader is through a passage or chapter, he/she says, "Hmmmm." To say this isn't ingenious is disingenuous.
To the book...
Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is in Paris attending a conference when he is awakened by a phone call from hotel management and taken to a murder scene. After dusting the sleep from his eyes, he finds the victim is the curator of The Louvre, Jacques Sauniere, a man Langdon was to have met earlier that evening. However, Sauniere never showed and now the mystery of his rude imposition is clear. The Parisian authorities ostensibly ask Langdon to assist them in their investigation due to the mysterious and arcane message left on Sauniere's body. Unbeknownst to Langdon however, the French Police consider him the prime murder suspect due to an undisclosed line in the archaic message.
Enter Sophie Neveu, an attractive, brainy cryptologist working for the French Police, and, conveniently, the granddaughter of Sauniere. She has seen pictures from the murder scene, including the "undisclosed line" kept from Langdon, and as such, believes Langdon to be innocent. Moreover, she believes the message grotesquely situated on her grandfather's body was left for her as a bizarre yet pointed "treasure hunt." The treasure? The Holy Grail.
Langdon is a returning character from Brown's earlier novel, ANGELS AND DEMONS. THE DA VINCI CODE is an ostensible history lesson albeit dubious at best. The action however, is pure fiction and masterfully wound. His use of parallel storylines with chapter-ending cliffhangers keeps the book fast-paced and suspensful to the end. Just like a good novel should.
To say Da Vinci was a man ahead of his time is a supreme understatement. Perhaps a great deal of this furor is entrenched solidly in our ignorance of Da Vinci and his "sight" into the future. Remember, history has him pegged as the first to envision manned flight. This, in the 16th century, well before the Wrights put it together. So, to say Dan Brown found the right recipe for a blockbuster novel would also qualify as a supreme understatement. Brown's focus on Da Vinci's paintings and ostensibly interpretive messages within is ingenious. Let's face it, Da Vinci lived 1,500 years after the events in question. One MUST question HOW Da Vinci would KNOW the actual facts of these events. This is the overriding "pinch of realism" that will continue to make the reader wonder yet this same "pinch" continues to make the reader thirst for more.
I read a review wherein the author indicated the following: "There is a paragraph or two in 'The Da Vinci Code' conveying the true meaning of history and man's involvement with it. Those who dominate & win can write history as they see fit. Those who lose will cease to exist in history." How poignant. If this theory were applied to Da Vinci's paintings and the purported sybolism/meaning, one might be able to brush aside the zealous rhetoric and enjoy this book. Again, how does Da Vinci KNOW these facts? Everyone has their own beliefs and will reach their own conclusions. Mr. Brown can be criticized for his research and promulgations relative to Christian history and the Catholic Church but the question that one must ask (if taking Brown's storyline to heart) is: Do you believe the history you know as an undeniable truth or do you question it? Is history as black and white as we learned it in school or is there room for interpretation, shades of gray if you will? You be the judge.