jc_hall's Full Review: Dan Brown and Daniel Roche - The Da Vinci Code
The controversy surrounding this book has been nothing short of astounding. The fact that the Roman Catholic Church has taken the unprecedented step of speaking out against it has only made certain that it remained in the Top 10 list (and, of course, enabled the author, Dan Brown, to continue laughing all the way to the bank).
After all’s said and done, this is a novel, and all Dan Brown needs to say to his critics is merely, ‘Hey, guys, lighten up. It’s just a work of fiction.’ If the academics who took umbrage at Brown plagiarizing their life’s work (re the Holy Grail) have nothing to stand on, then one can only wonder why the Catholic priests have got so hot under their clerical collars. Could it possibly be that their depiction in the novel was nothing short of scandalous? Well, surely no more so than the Church trying to defend the indefensible, viz. shielding the pedophiles in their midst. Ah, could it be that Brown paints a lousy picture of Opus Dei, that Vatican prelature/deeply devout Catholic sect that uses strong-arm tactics to recruit young members, encourages them to flagellate themselves, disown their families, and so on? Hmm…one senses some connection there. The novel’s prologue is prefaced by a page unequivocally titled ‘FACT’, and goes on to define the Priory of Sion and Opus Dei in no uncertain terms. By doing so, Brown blurs the line, as I’m sure he meant to do all along, meshing fact with fiction with something approaching gusto.
The story starts with the murder of the curator of the Louvre Museum by a hulking albino monk who, we later learn, works for the Opus Dei. Drawn into this murder and its repercussions is the protagonist, Robert Langdon, an American symbologist in Paris to lecture on symbology. Incidentally, Langdon is a gauzily-veiled alter ego for Brown. Having described Langdon as a nattily-dressed professor with a velvety voice, swooned over by female collegiates, Brown still could not resist that bane of writers and readers everywhere—the self-appreciating once-over in the mirror, where we are treated to a detailed description of Langdon’s rugged good looks, right down to the cleft in Langdon’s chin. Imagine my complete and utter surprise, therefore, when I turn to the back of the dust jacket and see a photo of Brown, the cleft in his chin so deep it defies polite description.
But putting my own feelings aside, let me assure any potential reader that The Da Vinci Code is not a bad novel at all. In fact, it is an eminently readable, fast-paced thriller, equal to most of that genre. Its genius lies in Brown’s blurring of fact and fiction, and its unprecedented success in his masterly exploitation of controversy.
The Da Vinci Code has spawned a veritable enterprise--other books which try to sift fact from fiction, to ‘debunk’ the mysteries set out in Brown’s novel, as well as entire websites devoted to the many mistakes and errors littering the novel. Nevertheless, the novel can, and should be read as the thriller that it purports to be. In that spirit, it is a delightful flight of fancy. I do not hesitate to recommend it, so long as readers read it in the same spirit in which it was written, which I suspect was very much tongue-firmly-in-cheek.
The textbook, Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown, available in Hardback. Published by: Random House, Inc.. Edition: . ISBN10: 0385504209. ISBN13: 978038...More at Textbooks.com
Espionage/Intrigue Fiction - Robert Langdon is a Harvard professor of symbology who can't stay out of trouble. Last seen in Angels and Demons (2000), ...More at Barnes and Noble
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