Dan Brown

The Da Vinci Code

Corgi Paperback, 2004.

First published in 2003.

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It seems that I really should be ashamed of myself for having enjoyed this book a great deal; even more for rating it with the maximum five stars. Strangely enough, I am not. There are simple reasons for that: I picked up the book with as an unprejudiced mind as it is possible for human being to have and I didn't expect more than it could give me. So I found it gripping, compelling and fascinating read; a real page turner from cover to cover - and I had already watched the movie and knew pretty well everything that would happen; still the book hold my attention consistently, and that's saying a great deal. Certainly it isn't a book that is designed to make you think and enrich your personality. Far from it. It is book to be read solely for pleasure and entertainment. Is there anything so bad in that?

Before proceeding with this review there are two extremely important things about The Da Vinci Code that must be mentioned and stressed firmly since many people don't seem to remember them. This book is: 1) fiction; 2) a thriller. Now, let's look at some of the most debatable points about it; I fully realise that I myself must be a damned fool to bother with others' stupidity but then again, nobody's perfect.

Historical inaccuracy.
Did you expect historical accuracy in a work of fiction? If you did, you hardly know the meaning of the word 'fiction' or you are too lazy to read historical studies in order to gain some knowledge and you hope to get it in the easy way, through a novel. Obviously Dan Brown cannot hold a candle to Gore Vidal, for instance, but then again The Da Vinci Code is not a historical novel; not that it would have mattered if it was. A novelist is at full liberty to manipulate his facts, historical or not, in every possible way he chooses. His aim is to write a story, not history. His story must be coherent, plausible and convincing; and Dan Brown did an excellent job. Of course there are some improbabilities but no more that should be expected in a thriller. Now some of you may cry out: 'Ah, but Dan Brown said in so-and-so interview that everything in the book is true!'. He may well have. It only shows that Dan Brown is not a very intelligent man and as we all know, one can be an excellent novelist without being very intelligent. If the most readers of The Da Vinci Code had been so, they might have enjoyed a nice little game called 'read more history, learn something new and historically accurate about the fictional events described in the novel'; but it was not to be. For my part, beside a great deal of entertainment, the book did tickle my interest into reading more history about the Holy Grail, sacred feminine, the Knights Templar and so on. That's far more than it should be expected from a thriller and it is an excellent bonus indeed. But it is much harder, and requires much more mental power and application, than just to spill venom on how historically inaccurate the novel, a work of fiction, really is; obviously this is how most people fulfill heir characters. Well, there is no harm in it. Actually, it is rather amusing spectacle to watch.

The story wasn't new.
So what? Dr Johnson said more than two centuries ago that if a story is new it is unlikely to be good and if it is good it is unlikely to be new. The story of The Da Vinci Code is very good indeed. Moreover, it is told in skillful way that shows a good deal of excellent sense for dramatic incident. By the way, the story was new for me and I find it compelling. But that doesn't at all mean that I am going to accept everything in it as a gospel truth, nor do I have time, or desire for that matter, to waste my time and energy with scathing attacks on the historical inaccuracy of a novel, a work of - I repeat! - fiction.

The characters are dull.
Of course they are - they must be. For this a thriller, remember? And thriller is made with action, not with profoundly drawn characters of immense psychological depth. If you are looking for such thing in, I repeat, a thriller, you are looking in the wrong place. If you could find it, the book would not be a thriller. By the way, at least the main characters are not at all so badly drawn. Both in Robert and Sophie there is something; not much for sure but something nonetheless. Furthermore, the flirt between them is limited to five lines out of five hundred pages and that's something highly commendable indeed.

Dan Brown writes badly.
Well, if anything The Da Vinci Code is eminently readable. I call something 'badly written' if it is totally unreadable or utterly tedious; I found Dan Brown's style neither. His sentences can be somewhat clumsy sometimes but nothing terrible at all. Moreover, their meaning is rarely unclear. I surmise most of these accusations how badly Dan Brown writes are made by people who try to write themselves and are green with envy that somebody who doesn't at all write better (actually much worse, if you ask them) should attain such a popularity and make pots of money while their considerable merit still remains unrecognised by the world. It is very natural. I guess another reason for this may be the deep preconception in the minds of many people, who probably don't even realise how conceited they are, that something readable can have any value, that something popular must be valueless. It must be a great comfort for such people that what they read is not read by the common run of men because it so much above their intelligence. It is flattering for the human vanity, is it not?

The book offends a good many devout Christians and Christianity as a whole and so on and so forth.
Well, frankly speaking, all people who are offended as Christians and think their religion, nay their faith even, compromised by a work of fiction are - no apologies! - perfect morons. No excuses can be found and no allowances can be made for people who so obviously and so completely lack common sense. There is no obligation to read, much less to like, any work of - I repeat yet again - fiction; and if you don't have the slight amount of imagination, should you like it, to enjoy it, you'd better not read it at all. The tremendous religious hysteria that The Da Vinci Code has caused is just another perfect example for the uncommon stupidity of the human race as a whole.

Is The Da Vinci Code a great book? I don't know - and neither do you. Only time can, and will, tell this. I can certainly say it is an excellent thriller and since I think a book should be judged, if at all, only within its genre I have no hesitation to give it full five stars. Surely it is isn't a book designed to make you think or to develop your personality; it is such by design; so any accusations that it actually doesn't are simply pathetic. It is book to be read solely for entertainment and enjoyment. It is a thriller and the first and foremost you should ask from a thriller is to give you a thrill. If it does that, it does quite enough. I don't expect I will ever re-read The Da Vinci Code but I certainly don't consider the time spend reading it as lost. It's been quite a thrill ( )

I like the concept of the book but it's certainly not worth all the hype it's gotten. It's ok but don't expect anything spectacular ( )

Unfassbar ...: ...schlecht! Obwohl es mittlerweile fast 800 Rezensionen zu dem Buch gibt, muss ich mein Entsetzen hier festhalten.

Ich habe vorher noch nie etwas von Dan Brown gelesen und weiss jetzt auch warum. Um eine längere Reise zu überbrücken, habe ich es gewagt, das Buch an einem Bahnhofkiosk zu kaufen, wo es definitiv auch hingehört.

Ich kann mich den 1Stern-Rezensionen nur anschliessen. Die unheilvolle Allianz aus Indiana Jones und MacGyver - Story, gepaart mit dem Schreibstil eines Konsaliks, ist eine Beleidigung für das Papier. Die Darsteller sind so schamlos simpel und der mit einer Prise Esoterik und pseudo-wissenschafflichen Fakten angereicherte Plot dermassen dümmlich, dass das Gehirn beim Lesen schmerzt.
Ein Klischee jagt das nächste, wobei dem Leser null Fantasie zugetraut wird und einem die Emotionen der Figuren regelrecht aufgedrängt werden mittels plumpen Beschreibungen wie "er seuftze erleichtert auf", "mit ihm ist nicht gut Kirschen essen" etc. Dan Brown bzw. der Übersetzer fühlten sich offenbar bemüssigt, der Geschichte durch schülerhafte Adjektive, Adverbe und Standardfloskeln Leben und Spannung einzuhauchen.

Meine Skepsis sog. Bestsellern gegenüber wurde mehr als nur bestätigt. "Sakrileg" hat es geschafft, meine ohnehin schon bescheidenen Ansprüche um Längen zu unterbieten. Angesichts meiner Erwartungen wirklich eine reife Leistung.

2003 ( )

Very good. ( )

Yes, I read it, and yes, I liked it. ( )

Some books have to be read because they are canon, and there are others which must be engaged for the simple, solitary reason that one will be pestered to death by their friends, family members and a multitude of outright strangers until they have done so. The Da Vinci Code, a cheap, popular, and ultimately predictable thriller, is, of course, one of the most famous contemporary examples of the latter group. While it may be utterly expendable, it is, at the same time, more enjoyable than I would like to admit when taken at face value. ( )

This book will entertaining you the entire time. Keeping the reader interactive with the mystery the entire time, Brown finds a way to intertwine the plot with side stories in a way that doesn't confuse the reader one bit. If you like a good mystery and thrill, this book is definitely for you. The chase after a myth that some say still is unknown is full of adventure, clever syntax and diction, and brilliant character development. The characters of this book are all very multi-dimensional and have a lot more to them than you think.

The Da Vinci Code is a thrilling, exciting novel. Some readers may find the first few chapters a bit confusing as the foundation for the story is introduced. Initially it is hard to keep track of the latin and Roman Catholic religious terms and names. Some of the character names also have puns, and hidden clues to the story. Once past this introduction of the story line, the rest is a fast read that is hard to put down. The story takes you from Paris to London with the two principle characters Robert Langdon and Sofie Neveu as they investigate the murder of the curator of the Louve Museum in Paris, Jacques Sauniere. They learn the murder is connected to an old mysterious society called the Priory of Sion and the search of the Holy Grail. The twists and turns in the plot lend to the tension created by the story and produce an anxiousness to know what is around the next corner. All in all this book was a great read.

Loved the historical nature (although not factual) of the book intertwined with the detective-ness, mytery, riddles and puzzles. It was fun to try and figure out some of the "codes" and "riddles" the main character Robert Langdon had to solve, before he solved them. For example, when Langdon had to solve the cryptex, I tried figuring out what the solution could be before I read what it was. Such involvement and activeness makes a book more entertaining, a huge reason why we read books. I enjoyed the general plot of the book. It is basically based off an old man's symbols and codes he left before he died that Langdon has to solve. Therefore, as the story progresses, new information, twists and turns are added into the story as Langdon figures out more and more pieces to the puzzle. Such a plot leaves a feeling of "What will he figure out next?" or "What is going to happen next?"; questions almost always leading a reader to keep reading. Dan Brown's novels are definitely entertaining and worth the read, but if you are looking for a novel submersed in historical facts, this is not the one.

I first bought this book because of all the furor it raged within the church. I am a practising Catholic that is willing to read about anything for or against the church, because I believe my faith needs to be educated and challenge.

But spirituality aside, I just like to read and so I bought it just to see what the fuss was all about.

In a book such as this, it was intriguing and engaging enough to make me wonder what were facts and what were made up. I stopped several times through out the book to check up historical facts of what was written in the book, going so far as to look at the prints of "The Last Supper" and finding out more about the texts of Mary Magdalene.

However, there are some inconsistencies in the book (such as one pointed out elsewhere, how could a dying man waste so much time writing up a clue?!) and there were many parts of the book that just didn't flow.

For a book that created that much fuss and was eventually incorporated into a movie, I find it just pretty average. I would have given it a 2 star, but for the fact that it made me curious enough to do some research... it is great that it made me question what was real and what was not so there's the 3rd star for making me work ^_^ ( )

It wasn't that great. The hype was over-publicized. Below average. ( )

Disappointing reworking of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail with a disproportionate weight on description but little characterization. The caricatures of Catholics and the implicit message that Christianity is a depraved lunacy worries me. ( )

I've read quite a few books in my lifetime that have offended me as a Christian, but none as poorly-written and inexplicably popular as The Da Vinci Code. I recommend it to anyone who wants to be informed about the hype, but if you're looking for a good novel on its own merit, skip it. ( )

Well, now I know why so many people hated the movie. The book's ending is much more satisfying (and sensical). In case you missed all the hubbub, this is about a search for the Holy Grail, which is not a cup, but rather a dark secret of the Christian church. The evidence supporting this claim was largely suspect: the history was mostly inaccurate, and the symbology and mathematics was usually either misinterpreted or arbitrarily designated. Still, it was a fun ride and inspired me to look up several of the paintings and buildings described in the story. (Anything that makes me think or learn wins bonus points.) While I don't think it lived up to the hype - I was prepared for it to be far more blasphemous and insulting - it made for a good bit of light fiction. ( )

Can't stand fiction

Can't stand fiction

I shudder to give this book a single star rating since I believe it qualifies for a negative five star rating. It's blatantly obvious that Brown has a strong dislike of the Catholic Church and painting Opus Dei in such a negative light is out and out slander, leaving the non-Catholic readers of the book believing the garbage written by Brown.

Finding the story interesting is a chore knowing that Brown plagiarized three other author's works to 'create' this novel and though the notion of such a 'code' would exist is clever, the idea is borrowed and not original from Brown. A disclaimer from Brown would have been appropriate in my estimation on his desire to slander Opus Dei and the Catholic Church. ( )

Much has been said about this book so I keep it short. I was suprised how well I liked the book. It features a good combination of highly interesting topics - and the whole story happens within one day. It's not high literature but very entertaining. You could do much worse with other books... ( )

Much has been said about this book so I keep it short. I was suprised how well I liked the book. It features a good combination of highly interesting topics - and the whole story happens within one day. It's not high literature but very entertaining. You could do much worse with other books... ( )

good plot

A page-turner, but not well written. Reminds me of Nancy Drew.

I was preparing myself to dismiss 'The Da Vinci Code' on the basis that a few years earlier, I had tried to read the book, and found the writing style disagreeable in its simplicity, and the characters largely unlikeable.
Having now read the book in its entirity, I can definitely see a variety of angles which have served to cause this book to have become such a fuss - particularly the interesting and controversial theory regards a continued bloodline from Jesus Christ existing, and thus being supported by a wide range of reputable sources.
The pace of the book, the events of which all take place within the space of 24 hours, is what makes it so difficult to put down, as well as the series of riddles which Langton is forced to solve, and which the reader finds themselves encapsulated in trying to solve too. The reader finds themselves constantly on their toes and eager to know what happens next, and credit needs to be given to Brown for providing a mystery unlike any other with various twists, that readers of all ages will find they are either thinking about intermittently, or exploring the rationale of a continued bloodline from Christ existing.
A very cleverly written book, but in my opinion, not a well written one, and my initial reasons for dismissing 'The Da Vinci Code' still stand. I am not a great lover of Brown's work, however credit needs to be given for this book in provoking such a wide sphere of debate afterwards. ( )

Yes, it's horribly written and yes, it's the literary equivalent of mac n' cheese, but then again: how many long-haul flights has it made bearable? ( )

2006 ( )