The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Da Vinci Code
Book Review: Not As Good As All The Hype
Summary: 3 Stars
Sorry to run counter to the rest of the reviews to date, but I've read better. The endorsements from "today's hot writers" should have been a dead give-away - only average books need that kind of hype (see also, for instance, James Siegel's "Derailed" - a disturbing, voyeuristic book with little to commend it but the "hot" endorsements found on the dust jacket).First, mechanics. The novel's structure is okay. Plot is fairly predictable, character development adequate. Plot resolution, to my mind, is a cop-out. I guess the ending is meant to be satisfying on some sort of metaphysical level, but I didn't like it either emotionally or structurally. So Mr. Brown, just what exactly is the Grail? What happens to the descendants of Jesus and Mary M., the Priory, etc.? Can it be that the "royal" Sophie will take a commoner for her mate...?
As to the "Grail," there's nothing new here. We've heard all of this before (which Brown dutifully, but obliquely, states up front in the opening "fact"). In presentation I wish Brown had been a bit more subtle and less heavy-handed. So much in-your-face lessons on symbology that I thought I had died and gone to Joseph Campbell heaven. And if I read just one more reference to the "sacred feminine," I was going to go on-line, buy all of Marion Zimmer Bradley's "Avalon" series from Amazon.com and OD.
Radical anti-Church feminists, Gnostics, conspiracy theorists - feel free to rejoice. You'll probably find this book a worthy addition to your library of "anti" polemics. Christians will do well to remember Romans Chapter 1 when they find themselves getting all riled up.
As a novel and as a work of theology, I can't think of a better way to describe the book than to state "See Ecclesiastes 1:9." I should have borrowed the book from the library or waited for it to come out in paperback.
Book Review: The Holy Grail ?
Summary: 5 Stars
While the story is about a hunt for the grail, this book may be the Holy Grail ! It starts fast and hooks you right away. The story has many twists and turns as the heros take a fast trip in France and England. This intelligent mystery will keep you guessing (wrong) all the way through. One of the best books I have ever read and highly recommended.Book Review: This is no Name of the Rose
Summary: 3 Stars
This is fundamentally a chase-scene thriller book, dressed up in codes and ciphers, ancient conspiracy theories, scavenger hunts, and a lot of silly stuff. As such, it's an ok beach read. But those reviewers who say this is the new Name of the Rose (or even a rich mystery) are exaggerating.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: All nighter
Summary: 5 Stars
I was up all night reading The DaVinci Code--Dan Brown's newest thriller is too hard to put down to let something like a good night's sleep get in the way. He manages to give art, religion and history lessons wrapped in a fast-paced mystery novel. Throw in a little Holy Grail mixed with lost gospels and faith-shakingbiblical conspiracy theories and it's an irresitable pull toward a satisfying conclusion.
I wonder if Opeis Dei has put out a fatwa on Dan Brown? If I were him, I'd keep one eye open.