The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Da Vinci Code
Book Review: 300 mile-an-hour mystery
Summary: 4 Stars
If you are the mood for a fast-paced, highly entertaining mystery, this is your next read. The extent of the author's research into the worlds of western religion and art history become evident immediately. In fact, the breadth of need-to-know-tidbits are about the only parts of the book that will slow you down. Brown's descriptions of Paris and the Louvre visually launched me into the world of the main characters Robert Langdon and Sophie Nuevue. If you are looking for depth and character development, look elsewhere. Remember, this is a mystery, not historical fiction.Book Review: 4 1/2 Stars...Everything is Suspect
Summary: 4 Stars
Not since the breathlessness of "The Day of the Jackal" or "The Bourne Identity" have I read a thriller this riveting. Dan Brown sinks the hooks in and drags us through the night hours with a plot that won't let go."The Da Vinci Code," like Ludlum's classic "The Gemini Contenders," deals with secrets within secrets of the Catholic Church. In this case, the Church has tried to suppress certain relics that would cause embarrassment and doubt for many of its billion believers. The relics, discovered by the Knights Templar during the Crusades, have been entrusted to a line of guardians to this present age. The problem: the guardians are being murdered, threatening the knowledge of this ancient secret. When a renowned symbologist and a female cryptologist find themselves joined at a murder scene in the Louvre, they are about to go on a twenty-four hour dash for their lives and for the survival of the secret, as hinted at by the Da Vinci Code.
Brown not only keeps the pace at a gallop for the full 454 pages, he deals out clues and deceptions and word games like a Vegas dealer flipping cards. (In fact, the origin of the four suits of cards is even broached in this fascinating book!) Somehow, with mesmerizing skill, Brown draws us deeper into the mystery without setting our heads spinning. But you might find yourself nodding, smiling, and gasping in reaction.
Ultimately, "The Da Vinci Code" swings the pendulum from run-of-the-mill thriller to a discourse on religious roots. Yes, I believe the Church has put forth a male-dominant view of God that is inconsistent with the Bible. The Bibles states in Genesis that both man and woman were created in God's image. Where Brown, or his Knights Templar, might swing too far the other way is in asserting God as the sacred goddess instead. Biblically, yes, God is spirit, encapsulating all the traits of man and woman in the divine. However, "The Da Vinci Code" dips into pagan practices and gnosticism, calling into question the veracity of Scripture.
As a thriller, this book can hardly be beat. As a treatise on spirituality, it comes up suspect on factual and theological levels.
Book Review: 5 Wows
Summary: 5 Stars
Wow 1 for indepth development of the characters; Wow 2 for a marvelous plot contrived of fiction and truth and a whole lot of research; Wow 3 for page turning events that consumed me from the moment I bought the book; Wow 4 for suspending any sense of reality I previously felt and replacing it with wanting to find the tomb; and Wow 5 for wanting to tell everyone I know who likes a good read about it and get them to read it so we could join in the quest. I have ordered the rest of his books and can't wait to read them. Couldn't have been better.Book Review: 5 stars for a great book, but -2 for bad research!
Summary: 3 Stars
Since it is written as a vehicle for supposed 'facts' I have to give this a 1... because the facts are distorted or outright fabricated. However, it was well written and highly enjoyable as a story... very fast paced. I'm looking forward to book three of the Robert Langdon stories.That said, let me go over some of the weaknesses:
For starters, Jesus is not mentioned in the Dead Sea Scrolls. The scrolls are Jewish texts, not Christian. There are no accounts of the Gospel, standard or otherwise.
Next up. sex rites were NEVER performed in the Jewish Temple. There is absolutely nothing to suggest there were. This is one of the most absurd claims I have ever heard.
The author gives two reasons the Crusades were launched... two opposing reasons. Were they a product of AOMPS or the Vatican? Make up your mind!
The Knights Templar were not exterminated by the Vatican, but by King Philip le Bel of France. In some countries, they got off practically Scot Free (pun intended).
Most modern scholars who have actual degrees in European history discount the stories of Joseph of Arimathea and the Magdalen fleeing to France. Perpetuation of these stories is an outright deception.
Finally, the Council of Nicea did not "vote" on the divinty of Jesus... merely to include the statment in the Nicean Creed. The author seems not to know that an intact codex of Matthew from the secind century exists, and it is identical to our current copies... no alterations.
Please, read the book, but read it as fiction... ALL FICTION.
Book Review: 5 stars for plot, but left me wanting a bit more
Summary: 5 Stars
Not sure what I can say that has not already been said by the hundreds of reviewers who have weighed in on the subject. But anyway, I will... I found the plot very fast-paced and a good page turner. However, I was a bit dismayed at the lack of depth in the historical backing of many of the details. If you are interested in this type of fiction, I would recommend Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum, which I still reread from time to time.I thought Brown laid a good foundation utilizing Opus Dei as one of the main antagonists in the book, but so much more could have been done developing this facet of the book, and moreover the last few chapters really had me asking for more.
Nevertheless, Brown has made a good effort, and if you want a book that you can read over the course of a rainy weekend, then this is one for you. I enjoyed it, but would have liked to see Brown develop the plot just a bit more.
Enjoy!