Finished "DaVinci Code" my thoughts & ***SPOILERS***

[Coventina]

Overall, a very fun book. I would recommend it for anyone open to the subject matter & looking for a fast, fun read.

I give it an A++ for the subject matter and a B- for the execution.

If I were in Sophie's position I would have a case of the severe shakes if I found out I was a descendent of Jesus!!

If I were Langdon, I would NOT be able to let the matter rest until I got my hot little hands on the Grail documents. I would want to read them. I am assuming that there would be a complete "family tree" included.

I am also surprised by so many people thinking the book is anti-Catholic. The way I read it, the (modern day) Catholic Church doesn't come off looking all that bad.
:shrug:

As far as the historical atrocities go, they are all so well-documented and publicly known that I don't find anything "shocking" about them.

[terryg11]

1. so, I assume its fiction with historical fact thrown in?

have heard talk of the book but nothing specific. was good though, eh?

[Coventina]

3. Yes, it fits into the genre of a "murder mystery-suspense thriller"

So if you like that kind of thing you should enjoy it.

It's hard to resist a book that begins with the main character looking at a photo of a murder victim and remarking on what had been done to the body, and then being told the victim did it to himself before he died!!

The larger "fact-based" aspect of the book has to do with the ongoing search for the Holy Grail, conspiracy theories regarding the Knights Templar & the Catholic Church. Lots of fun.

[nostamj]

4. historical and present-day fact

they describe the NYC Opus Dei headquarters, etc.

it is a fascinating read (if you're interested in the subject matter)

for myself, I don't think the Catholic Church comes off very well AT ALL...

but it's a very fast read, with tons of details and factoids... (I did not know the origin of Friday the 13th, much less the Fibonacci series, 'divine proportion' and details about the Last Supper, Mona Lisa, etc.

it even inspired me to add some Da Vinci Code products to my online store!

inspired by the Da Vinci Code...

[youngred]

30. not well, but true

and the criticism is real and relevant rather than the usual variety of bigotry that some try to pass off as criticism when the topic of the church comes up.

the book is fantastic and goes a long way towards showing the reason why Europe and the west turned out the way they did and how the good message of Jesus was lost to the power hungry grabs of men

[morningglory]

11. It was an enthralling search for the "holy grail", but the ending was very

good. I thought all along, there was no way to end this without some way out craziness. It was good.

[BigDaddyLove]

23. The only 'fact' he got right was that the Louvre is in Paris.

.

[youngred]

31. not really

but thanks for playing.

[CaptainClark23]

2. If you like the subject

Move out of fiction into "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" and "The Messianic Legacy" by Leigh, Lincoln, & Baigent

a couple of Dan Brown's primary sources.

Fact or Fiction? Historians and theologians are, of course, divided. For my money, this theory explains a hell of a lot. I buy it.

Where is the Widow's Son now, I wonder....

[Coventina]

8. I'm thinking I will

I came really close to buying "The Templar Revelation", before I had read or even heard of "The DaVinci Code". The reason why I was tempted to buy it is because I'm a fan of Colin Wilson, who wrote the introduction.

I keep an open mind about these things.

It might be true, it might not. But it is a lot of fun to speculate!

[Eccho]

14. The Templar Revelations is very good

Much more detail and analysis of the history and facts that Da Vinci Code just touches on.

[TrogL]

29. Holy Blood, Holy Grail is fiction and logical fallacy

nicely combined to sell a lot of books about basically nothing.

HBHG was one of the first books to exploit the conclusion->facts books many of which are still best-sellers that teach you how to connect various disconnected dots to reach their conclusion.

My favourite of the lot is their books about the Masons that literally shows which set of dots to connect to create various geometric figures to further their delusions.

[Khephra]

5. I'm reading "Angels and Demons" right now

It's modern pulp conspiracy fiction, which isn't a bad thing in my eyes. Right now the DaVinci Code is pretty popular in my Masonic circles, but I decided to start with the first book instead of that one. I'm a stickler about starting with book one of any series, even if they're loosely connected.

[Coventina]

12. I am planning on reading Angels & Demons next

I was completely unaware of the connection between the books until I started TDVC.
My sister gave me TDVC and said, "You must read this!" So I read it!
:-)

[Exultant Democracy]

22. "Angels & Demons" was the better book

The DC was fun and all, but I was so pulp formulaic mystery that I can only grant it about a C+ to "Angels & Demons" A.

[maxanne]

6. the research

and detail is great - and the plotline isn't bad - but the dialogue sucks and the characters are stilted.

A good quick enjoyable fiction read, nonetheless. Dan's folks live in my area, and he lives downstate in Exeter. His wife is an art historian, and he's been given access to parts of the Vatican that most are barred from.

[Khephra]

9. the dialogue sucks and the characters are stilted

Yep, no argument there from me. Still, he manages to rise above that. Damned if I understand how he does it. Maybe it's because he keeps throwing new "hmmmmm...neat!" things at you?

[maxanne]

10. LOL Kef

that might be it! You're right, he does rise above it.

He worked in a restaurant in my area one summer, for a chef I know. The chef said he's never met anyone he considered less likely to write a best seller than Dan Brown. ;-) He said Dan was a dork.

Of course, dorks do good research!

[BigDaddyLove]

19. If dorks do good research, then Danny is no dork.........

This is the best 'debunking' of the DaVinci Code that I've seen, though granted it is from a religious organization, who more or less had an axe to grind.

http://tektonics.org/davincicrude.htm

The book is chock full of misrepresentations, stretched truth, and crap the author just decided to make up to make his 'theory' seem more believable.

[Bozola]

7. I found it annoying in a number of ways

I found the "cliff-hanger"-type story construction irritation.

The bad guy was obvious once he was introduced.

He bases a lot of the Merovingian bloodline on some pretty speculative sources. But, heck, it's fiction and fun to read.

The knights in effigy on the floor were not killed by Clement V.

The Holy Grail, is, and always was, a tale.


Oh, yes...I was disappointed he didn't mention the BIG penis/phallic symbol in Da Vinci's Madonna of the Rocks.

[Richardo]

13. The supposedly expert characters knew nothing about DaVinci...

The fact that the so-called specialists in codes and symbols took many many pages to figure out simple anagrams and letter-substitution codes, and were baffled by backwards handwriting (common knowledge that Leonardo did this) put me off the story entirely.

Plot: A
Suspense: C-
Execution and characterization: D-

:thumbsdown: x(

[BigDaddyLove]

15. The only good thing about the book was that it............

was a 'fast, fun' read.....that it was over quickly.

I just do not understand the fascination with this book at all.


If one is looking for a thriller with semi-religious overtones, then I suggest 'The Name of the Rose' by Umberto Eco....incredible book.

[Richardo]

17. I'm hip, BigDaddy...

:thumbsdown:

[Bridget Burke]

24. "Foucault's Pendulum"--also by Eco--is even better

It's got ancient conspiracies, Knights Templar, the Grail, etc. NOT a quick read, but Eco can actually write.

I read "Holy Blood/Holy Grail" some time ago & enjoyed it. Not so much that the central argument was true--but that, through history, some people believed that it was. Colin Wilson's stuff is also fascinating.

Haven't made time for "The Da Vinci Code" yet. Little things like crummy writing style do bother me. Life is short.

[BigDaddyLove]

26. I tried reading Foucault's Pendulum.......

right after The Name of the Rose, but I had too much other stuff going on and I couldn't concentrate well enough to absorb much of it.

I've been considering trying to find a copy of it and giving it another go.

[myrna minx]

27. I agree, I loved Foucault's Pendulum. n/t

[youngred]

32. horrible horrible book

sorry, but Eco is one of the worst writers I have ever read.

[Khephra]

16. If you like the DC, you might like the comic book Rex Mundi

Agents of the Inquisition assassinated Martin Luther in 1520, before the Reformation could gain enough momentum to loosen the Roman Church's grip on political power. However, Luther has become something of a martyr for less conservative Christians, and a largely non-violent Lutheran underground exists. A sizeable percentage of lower echelon clergymen are secretly Lutheran sympathizers, although the vast majority of Europe believes Luther died for his sins against Christ. Consequently the Protestant Reformation never occurred, and the Catholic Church is still a major political force throughout Europe, America and the colonies in Africa and Asia. Other upstart heresies, such as Calvinism, met fates similar to that of Lutheranism at the hands of the Inquisition. Some of these movements still survive and have evolved into terrorist undergrounds, Calvinism being the most extreme example.


In Rex Mundi, "crime" and "sin" are largely interchangeable terms. It is through this lack of distinction that the Roman Church maintains its power over the nations of Europe. The Church employs a permanent Inquisition, which serves two purposes. First, it is a spiritual police force, dedicated to exterminating heresies, witches, devil worshippers, Jews, Muslims… all those perceived to oppose the Church. Secondly, the Inquisition acts as a secular law enforcement agency with essentially the same powers as the FBI in present-day United States. Extra-ecclesiastical constabularies exist, but they are locally funded, often by corrupt landowners.

http://www.shrunkenheadstudios.com/rexmundi/index2.html

[Coventina]

18. Wow! That sounds awesome!

I will check that out!

[salinen]

20. These people were experts

on decoding and symbolism right? So how could they be so slow. I figured out the two triangles being the star of David before the expert did. Kinda silly.

[BigDaddyLove]

21. I too was surprised by how much I knew of what was.....

to come before it actually came.

It was too easy.

[Bridget Burke]

25. "Pavane" by Keith Roberts--Elizabeth I was assassinated....

The Armada was successful and England remained Catholic.

This is a delicate, episodic work. Not one of those worked-out-by-diagram Alternate Histories.

At the end, one wonders whether the alternate England was actually worse than the actual one.

[One Taste]

28. Can't wait to read the Da Vinci Code,

but I have to finish The Teeth of the Tiger first.