mrs-j's Full Review: Dan Brown and Daniel Roche - The Da Vinci Code
Overview
I've been a bookworm since before I can remember. As a child my summers were spent reading book after book. My father would just keep them coming and as a result, I have boxes and shelves and rooms devoted to books.
Imagine my pleasant surprise, then, when I discovered what a "book-wormish" family I had married into. My semi-retired father-in-law devours books at an astonishing rate and then invariably he passes the best ones around the rest of the family to read.
Over Mother's Day he told me that he was reading The Da Vinci Code. I had heard of the book and when we discussed the principles and ideas covered in the book I was completely intrigued. He told me that he was almost finished with it.
When we came to visit for Father's Day, he said he had something to give me before I left. He handed me his copy of The Da Vinci Code to read. I was incredibly flattered. Just two months in and I'm already a part of the family book circle - and I got first shot at the book ahead of my husband and my two new sisters-in-law!
I couldn't have been happier when I settled in on Sunday night to begin reading the book. Three nights later I completed it, after hours and hours of staying up late, turning the pages quietly so as not to disturb my husband's sleep.
Plot Summary (no spoilers)
Dan Brown's novel centers around Robert Langdon, a Harvard symbologist and one of Brown's recurring characters.
While in Paris delivering a lecture, Langdon gets a call in the middle of the night, to assist the French police. Suddenly he discovers that he has been thrown into the center of a controversy surrounding the death of the curator of the Louvre.
Langdon visits the Louvre to assist in decrypting the strange messages left at the site of the murder and while there, encounters Sophie Neveu, a French cryptologist.
Langdon and Neveu spend the rest of the night and early into the next morning unraveling the mysteries surrounding the death of Saunière, the curator, and the Priory of Sion, a mysterious organization with which Saunière was affiliated.
The discovery that Saunière is linked to the Priory of Sion, an organization which counted among its most devout members Sir Isaac Newton and Leonardo Da Vinci, leads Langdon and Neveu to delve deeply into the clues at the scene. Before they leave the Louvre, they realize that they have to find one of the most revered religious symbols of our time.
To unravel the mystery, Langdon and Neveu embark on a wild chase through the french countryside and into England. Along the way they must both flee and confront members of Opus Dei a religious sect that is hot on their heels and is responsible not only for Saunière's murder, but also for the murder of three other high ranking members of the Priory of Sion. And of course, they have to flee the police and Interpol as well, for good measure.
The plot has many twists and turns, most of them completely unpredictable. It's so gripping that as I was getting to the end of the book I found myself eyeing the two or three pages left with regret, knowing that the experience would soon end.
Symbols and Codes and Goddesses, oh my!
At the heart of this book is an amazing portrayal of old-world religious beliefs, paganism, math and science. Dan Brown, the author, is a relatively unassuming man who has a fascination for code breaking and has spent time in the past as an English professor.
Brown weaves an erudite tale so suspenseful and so filled with unbelievable claims that I have found myself researching them even after I put the book down. I think the most amazing part of this story is that so much of it is historically accurate.
It is exceedingly rare to find a thriller that not only thrills, but educates: about such fascinating topics as the Fibonacci sequence, Phi (the Divine Proportion), religion and goddess-worship. Brown introduces these principles in terms that we can all understand, and delves just deeply enough into them to pique the reader's interest and provide the groundwork for the story. The reader is inspired to research more for themselves; to learn more.
The book had a profound effect on me and my views of religion and the world around me. I believe that it will affect most readers in a similar fashion.
Fundamentalists may find some of the assertions about modern-day Christianity and Catholicism offensive, or at the very least, completely contradictory to the doctrines to which they subscribe. Women are likely to find this book not just compelling, but empowering.
Intimidating - But Easily Digestible
The book is not a short one, at well over 400 pages. It is, nonetheless, an exceedingly quick read. I found myself having to remind myself to go to the top of the page and start reading there because I was so eager to get to the bottom to find out what happened next.
Contributing to the quick pace are the very short chapter sequences that Brown utilizes. Each chapter is merely a few pages, and the book has over 100 chapters. Almost every chapter is a scene change.
In addition to the short chapters, Brown utilizes italics to convey inner thoughts as well as other conversational conventions in order to move the book along and make it a compelling page-turner. If you're anything like me, you will find yourself thinking, "just one more chapter" each time you reach the end of a chapter. Until it is well after midnight and your spouse is grumbling at you to turn the light off.
Summary
A quick summer read, a suspense-filled thriller, an educational tool and a mind-bending experience. The Da Vinci Code has it all. The only problem with this book is that eventually it ends, and you're left having to research some of the more fascinating topics you've read on your own, rather than having them laid-out before you using Brown's masterful words.
The book has been passed to my husband, and will be passed to his sisters after that. I'm looking forward to Brown's next book, and July 4th at my in-laws' house, where we will no doubt discuss this fantastic book and what we discovered from it.
Want a Test Run?
If you're thinking about this book but aren't sure, try reading the excerpts from it posted at: http://www.danbrown.com/novels/davinci_code/excerpt.html
The excerpt includes the Prologue through Chapter 6 (out of the 100 chapters) and should be just enough to whet your appetite for more.
The textbook, Da Vinci Code : Special Illustrated Edition, by Dan Brown, available in Hardback. Published by: Random House, Inc.. Edition: . ISBN...More at Textbooks.com
Espionage/Intrigue Fiction - This special collectors edition of The Da Vinci Code is filled with sumptuous full-color illustrations that bring the art...More at Barnes and Noble
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