martytdx's Full Review: Dan Brown and Daniel Roche - The Da Vinci Code
Deep in the depths of the Louvre, the last holder of an ancient secret breaths his final breaths even as he leaves a cryptic cry for help – help in preserving a secret few even realize exist. As the enemy moves closer to discovering the key to ultimate power, one man must decipher the clues to protect the mystery he is tasked with discovering...
If you’ve read Angels and Demons, you’re familiar with Robert Langdon, the Indiana Jones meets Sherlock Holmes hero of the (as of now) Dan Brown duology of mysteries. Uber-cool Langdon is the Professor of Symbology at Harvard (and which of us haven’t put back a few with our local Professor of Symbology, right?), yet finds himself finding trouble in the unlikeliest of ways.
This time, Langdon has unwittingly become a “person of interest” – and later suspect – to the French police in the murder of the curator of the Louvre in Paris. Of course – he didn’t do it, but all signs point to the unwitting symbological anthropologist. Luckily, someone out there knows he’s innocent and needs his help to solve the murder - and foil the plot behind it. Secret societies, tenacious French police – not to mention Brown’s favorite character, the Catholic Church – make appearances as Langdon races against time to solve the mystery surrounding the Da Vinci Code.
[ • MY VIEW • ]
First of all, I love the semi-mysticism of the stories by Brown – part mystery, part fantasy and part history. The detail in the plot is simply amazing, and he does a convincing job of making them seem not only plausible but probable. Unlike Angels, the character of Robert Langdon is believable in his logic. In the former novel, his leaps of logic (and from helicopters) were a tad over the top, but Da Vinci Code stays much closer to reality. His cohort, Sophie Neveu is also more real and more believable – quite conveniently, she is a cryptologist, but that’s part of the fun.
The villains in this case are also a little more reasonable than previously. More misguided than evil they present a more human nemesis. I did find Brown’s use of a dark villain in Angels and an albino in Da Vinci Code an interesting contrast of black and white, evil and good. Whereas the protagonist in Angels was secure in his motives – morals be damned – the "white villain" of Da Vinci Code offers a tormented soul’s justification that his actions are for the greater good.
Dan Brown isn’t Faulkner or Hemingway, but he’s a great writer for the style he’s chosen. He uses his writing to transport the reader to the catacombs of ancient temples, letting you touch ancient tablets with their secret messages and experience mystical ceremonies rarely seen by outsiders. His characters are simpler – this isn’t Dostoyevsky – but it works. The characters are pieces of the puzzle and the mystery, but the hidden story is the star.
And that’s where Brown shines. His exquisite descriptions of the components of the mystery and the amazing history he gives pull the reader into the darker stories of human history and pulls those stories and legends into the modern day. His knowledge of history – the Church, secret societies and art – is amazing, even if some of it might be a little creatively described (the Catholic Church, for example, refutes many of the traditions he ascribes to Opus Dei). Whether fiction or fact, it makes for great reading and I have found myself on more than one occasion doing research to find out more about some of the things he speaks of. Not only do you get a fun read, but you get to exercise your mind, something that too few of us get to do with the drivel being put out in both text and on TV.
From my point of view, Da Vinci Code was better than Angels and Demons, and I can only hope that his next project is even better yet. If you haven’t gotten a chance to read it, you should – and even though I like it better than the first novel, I would suggest reading them in order – you’ll enjoy the inside jokes better.
[ • IN THE MOVIE • ]
The movie version of The Da Vinci Code is already optioned and being set up for production. I think that they should do them in order, but since I have about ZERO clout in Hollywood, they’re going to do what they think will make the most money… ANYWAY, if I did have some clout and could control the casting, here’s who I would cast in the roles. Anyone else have some suggestions?
Robert Langdon - Harrison Ford or Dennis Quaid
Sophie Neveu - Keira Knightley
Sir Leigh Teabing - Philip Seymour Hoffman
Captain Bezu Fache - John Rhys-Davies
Silas - Jake Busey
Bishop Manuel Aringarosa - Jürgen Prochnow (from Seventh Sign)
P.S. My title has 2 anagrams for "Da Vinci Code". The first is self-explanatory. The second means "The End of God's Rule" (loosely translated).
[ • RELATED LINK • ]
http://www.danbrown.com/secrets/bizarre_facts/davinci_code.html
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