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Loading... The Secret Supper: A Novelby Javier Sierra
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. I wanted to like this book because I find the subject interesting, but it read like an over-zealous professor trying to make a dull subject interesting. The irony is that it isn't a dull story, but the over abundance of facts reiterated throughout the story made it tedious. I kept getting the feeling there would be a test later. If I wanted an education on 15th century religion and artwork I would read a text book. I wanted an intriguing story and didn't find it here. (  ) psferris | Jul 8, 2009 |  Ganimede | Jun 14, 2009 | A well written historical suspense book about the Cathars. The premises are believable, and the historical detail well researched. I rather suspect that this would not have been published in English if it weren't for the Da Vinci Code. Which is about the first positive thing I've ever said about that book. Even if you have had an overdoes of Leonardo Da Vinci and Mary Magdalene, you might want to give this one a chance. (  )1  MarthaJeanne | May 18, 2009 | It's a book I borrow from a friend of mine, who loves book as much as I do. We share our books everytime we purchase. I haven't read this one yet but I like to add it to my library here. I used to collect the English verson and she used to collect the Chinese verson. FlorenceKho | Feb 19, 2009 | More enjoyable than The Da Vinci Code, which had similar themes but a far less subtle approach. (  ) Tulimeeria | Jan 20, 2009 |  no reviews | add a review
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Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Ultra-Renaissance art movement |
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Fra Agostino Leyre, a Papal Inquisitor, is sent to Milan to confirm--or not--the messages of the "Soothsayer," who alleges that Leonardo Da Vinci is a heretic and has hidden heretical messages in his painting of The Last Supper. Leonardo is a figure larger than life, literally. A blue-eyed, tall, handsome man, always dressed in white, he is surrounded by faithful students and friends who are his acolytes. His brilliant mind, ranging over a multitude of ideas, has gained him a reputation for "hiding heterodox ideas in paintings apparently pious."
What Father Agostino follows is a labyrinthine path through alliances and rivalries, differences of opinion about Leonardo and a discussion of the heresy of the Cathars. They are a fascinating sect, more extra-Christianity than Christian heretics. Their practices are based on a belief that certain deprivations--primarily food and sex--will purify and make them worthy. Sierra is a very fine guide, taking the reader through palaces and monasteries rife with intrigue and typical of the flowering of intellect that came after the Dark Ages. It is a time when "Suddenly, from one day to the next, Plato's Greece, Cleopatra's Egypt and even the extravagant curiosities of the Chinese Empire that Marco Polo discovered seemed to deserve greater praise than our own Scriptural stories." Dangerous for the incumbency.
A compelling case is made that Leonardo's heretical beliefs are there for all to see in The Last Supper, if only we know how to find them. Sierra gives us the key--and keeps the suspense going right up to the end of the book. It isn't necessary to believe any of it, or even care if it's true, to enjoy this pilgrimage through another time and place. --Valerie Ryan
(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:08 -0400)
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