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Title: The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown ISBN: 0-385-50420-9 Publisher: Doubleday Pub. Date: 18 March, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.48 (2897 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Much More Than A Super Suspense Thriller!!
Comment: Once I began this extraordinary book, I could not put it down. "The Da Vinci Code" is so much more than a gripping suspense thriller. Dan Brown takes us beyond the main plot and leads us on a quest for the Holy Grail - a Grail totally unlike anything we have been taught to believe. With his impeccable research, Mr. Brown introduces us to aspects and interpretations of Western history and Christianity that I, for one, had never known existed...or even thought about. I found myself, unwillingly, leaving the novel, and time and time again, going online to research Brown's research - only to find a new world of historic possibilities opening up for me. And my quest for knowledge and the answers to questions that the book poses, paralleled, in a sense, the quest of the book's main characters. What a trip! What a read!
A violent murder is committed in the Louvre Museum. The museum's chief curator, who is also the head of a remarkable secret society that has existed since the death of Christ, is found dead and gruesomely positioned on the floor near The Mona Lisa. In the minutes before he died, this very complex man was able to leave clues for his daughter to follow. The daughter, a brilliant cryptographer, along with a famed US symbologist, follow her father's codes and leads, hoping that he will, through his death, finally tell her what he wanted to confide in her while he lived. The secret society included members such as: Leonardo Da Vinci, Boticelli, Gallileo, Isaac Newton, Victor Hugo, Jean Cocteau, etc. These folks really Did belong to this society, which Really existed! This is when I first began my online search.
The mystery, or mysteries, take us through England, France and far back in time. We learn about the secret of the Knights Templar, and the symbolism in many of the world's most treasured paintings, as well as architectural symbolism in some of history's most sacred churches. Of course, we also learn who committed the murder and why - although this is almost secondary next to the real epic mystery the novel uncovers.
If there are flaws in the plot, I was too busy reading to discover any. That is probably the sign of a terrific book! The writing is excellent and the characters are a bit on the super-hero/heroine side, but who cares? Is what "The Da Vinci Code" proposes true? Well, the research is correct. The historical events and people explored in the book are real. But no one knows the Truth...nor will we ever, probably. I think that some things are meant to be a mystery. With all the world's diverse religions and each individual's belief in what is Divine - the Truth would have to destroy the beliefs, hopes and lives of many of the world's population. So, perhaps, in the divine scheme of things, there are many more Truths than one. Don't take the book too seriously. Just read it and enjoy!
Rating: 1
Summary: A serious disappointment
Comment: My sister, an avid reader as I am, said, "You've GOT to read this book!" She failed to see it as fiction, and thought it was based on real secret research. (And she is an intelligent reader and great lover of thrillers.) This book ranks with The Red Tent in seriously disappointing books. The story is based on an old, old heresy the Catholic school kids used to share on the back of the school bus--that Jesus had an affair with Mary Magdalene. It takes the story a bit further than the nuns did (who may have shared that story just to make Jesus more 'human' and appealing to their students), suggesting that a daughter born of that liason inherited Jesus's Genes or something like that. It's not clear.
Brown may have intended to appeal to feminists with the premise that the early Christian church was headed by Mary Magdalene, after Christ ascended, and that some young woman of her line still exists as a secret leader of the underground Christian church, but this idea is so fuzzily presented as to look like a ploy to appeal to women readers. I found it insulting.
Like the much - touted Red Tent book, this is presented in a great cloud of detail, some of which adds to the fiction, most of which drags it down. It is hard to keep focused on the point of the story. It gets hard to even identify the point of the story. And, as with The Red Tent, it was a passable story until about mid-way, then it falls flat -- just too stupid to merit the hype. I did finish the book. I wanted to see whether it got better later. It didn't. It was lame at best, and a waste of time. One star is really too high a score for this tale.
Rating: 1
Summary: A dumb book for an ignorant culture
Comment: I have found that in religious discussions, people tend to believe what they want to believe. Having once been one who looked at Bible-believing Christians with amused contempt, I know that was true for me. I am grateful I took coursework on the history of Christianity at a time in life when I had an open-mind. It actually stimulated my faith, partly because I was able to approach the subject without the blinders of hatred for Christians or anti-intellectual religious doctrine.
That said, Dan Brown's book is a perfect example of how to take advantage of widespread biblical and historical illiteracy in our society. It is an Oliver Stone approach to biblical history.
So much of this book shows a general ignorance of core Christian texts and of the history of Christianity. Brown's characterization of conspiracies within the early church
could only be believed by someone with no knowledge of how the early church started, or its theology, or the persecutions it faced in the first 300 years. Brown even gets basic chronologies wrong.
This is a work that will play well to nominal catholics who resented their upbringing and never truly chose nor understood the Bible or its teachings. Those are the types who feel the need to respond to a mythical early church as if it were filled with conspiracies and overpowering hierarchy. But those who have read a little history and a little Bible will find this to be a work as laughable as Howard Dean's assertion that his favorite book of the New Testament is "Job." When you acquaint yourself with the humility, the purity, the conviction and the spiritual maturity of the earlier Christians, you'll be embarassed you ever fell for this garbage, and you may look at the apostles and the latter-day descendants of that movement (ie. evangelical Christians) in a whole new light.
If you want a real book on this time period, get the multi-volumed set on the "Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire." You'll be acquainted with historical facts, not sophomoric tripe. It is still the seminal work on the history of Rome and of the rise of the Christian movement. You'll learn historical fact, rather than filling your head with irrational prejudice and conspiratorial thinking from a third-rate author like Dan Brown.
Ben in Derwood
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Title: Angels & Demons by Dan Brown ISBN: 0671027360 Publisher: Pocket Star Pub. Date: 26 June, 2001 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom ISBN: 0786868716 Publisher: Hyperion Press Pub. Date: 23 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Life of Pi by Yann Martel ISBN: 0156027321 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: 01 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd ISBN: 0142001740 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 28 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Deception Point by Dan Brown ISBN: 0671027387 Publisher: Pocket Books Pub. Date: 26 November, 2002 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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