ram_cv's Full Review: Dan Brown and Daniel Roche - The Da Vinci Code
Introduction
The Da Vinci Code came with high recommendations. A couple of my well read friends suggested this book to me about a few months back. But it was only last week that I managed to get my hands on the book.
The author of this book Dan Brown, relatively unknown before this book, has three other books to his credit including one that features the central character of this book, Robert Langdon.
The Plot
The Da Vinci Code starts with the murder of one Jacques Sauniere, curator of the World Famous Louvre Museum in France. Before dying, Sauniere leaves a strange message, one that seems to point to his murderer. Enter, Bezu Fache, the hotshot captain of CDPJ (equivalent of FBI in US). Fache brings in Robert Langdon, a professor of religious symbology at Harvard to get some clues about the strange message that Sauniere has left. Little does Robert know that he is himself the prime suspect in the murder of Jacques Sauniere, the person for whom he has utmost respect.
Robert gets help from unexpected quarters, in the shape of Sophie Neveu, the grand daughter of Sauniere, who believes in his innocence. When the clues begin to get cracked, the secret that seems to shake the foundations of christianity and the Vatican Church begins to take shape. The secret cult of Priory of Sion comes into the open, alongwith the desperate need of the Church to silence the Priory of Sion. Robert knows only one person who can help them crack all the clues and he is British Royal Historian, Leigh Teabing.
Together they start a treasure hunt taking them through a world of churches, tombs, altars in the hunt of a breathtaking historical secret that could change the face of Christianity as we know today.
I would love to delve deeper into the plot of the book, but believe me if I add anything more than this about the plot, you would be the first person to send me a hate mail while reading the book.
The Writing
There are two things that really distinguish popcorn fiction from serious fiction. One of them is research and second is the vision of the author. Both these aspects are there in plenty in this novel.
The novel deals with the story of the secret cult of Priory of Sion and their secrets. So the research done by Dan on this organization and the way he brings the various aspects of the cult into the storyplay of the novel is brilliant. Again to add more value to this aspect, he brings the popular legends who have figured in these set of topics, the legends like Da Vinci, Sir Isaac Newton etc. make cameo appearances in various stages of the novel. Also some of the secret rituals of the cult has been touched upon along with the idealogies of the cult and its differences with the Church.
To weave all this research with fiction and come out with an fast paced, thriller is the vision of Dan Brown, that has come out on tops.
The novel at times seems inspired in parts by Mario Puzo's "The Family" wherein Puzo has mixed historical characters like Da Vinci again into a fictional story. Another striking resemblance between the two novels is that they put a close scrutiny on the inside workings of the Vatican and the lengths to which people use/misuse powers.
Dan uses an nice style of writing where there is a liberal mix of flashbacks and parallel story telling which keeps the readers tied to the book. The book is fast paced and seems to keep most of the historical facts as factual as possible which makes reading it all the more interesting.
Central Characters
Robert Langdon: Professor of Religious Symbology from Harvard, finds himself pulled into the treasure hunt by a strange message left by Jacques Sauniere. His expertise in symbols comes handy in cracking some of the ingenious clues that Sauniere had in store for the treasure hunters.
Sophie Neveu: Agent at Department of Cryptography is the grand daughter of curator Jacques Sauniere. She inherits the treasure that Jacques has hidden, but the challenge for her is to crack one last puzzle her grand father had set for her.
Sir Leigh Teabing: British Royal Historian who has spent his whole life looking for the Holy Grail. His quest and the knowledge of the Holy Grail gets him into the hunt with Robert and Sophie.
Manuel Aringarosa: Head of Opus Dei, a flavor of catholic church that believed in stringent measures like cilices, self flagellation and chastity.
Silas: An albino, who is raised by Manuel Aringarosa, and will do anything to help the growth of Opus Dei, including murder!!
Bezu Fache: The hotshot captain of the CDPJ, who is convinced that Robert Langdon is the murderer of Sauniere.
Jacques Sauniere: The curator of the Louvre Museum who keeps coming back from the dead in the form of the various puzzles he set enroute the treasure hunt. A master of puzzles and double entendres!!
Pros of the book
1) Fast Pace: The book goes at a jet pace, with one event leading to the other, so on and so forth. It is difficult to put the book down, once you pick it up.
2) Well Knit Plot: A simple plot narrated in a brilliant manner knitting together historical events with a fictional treasure hunt background.
3) Puzzles: One of the biggest hit with this book, the various puzzles which keeps you glued as to what clue will get you where? The puzzles are of varying levels of difficulty.
4) Narration: The narration keeps switching between flashbacks and current events. Flashbacks are left incomplete at times to be completed at a later point in time to make the narration that much more gripping.
Summary
After a long time, in fact after the Foundation series and the Harry Potter series, this is the first book that I could not wait to finish from cover to cover. Though I am not sure of the validity of the claims of religion in this book, some of the facts are common knowledge and some of the hoaxes regarding the Priory of Sion etc. have existed for a long time. The best part of the book is that at the end of it all it tries to stay away from taking any stance on the issue of religion.
Overall, for the well knit plot and gripping story telling, I would give this book a five star rating.
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
While in Paris on business Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon receives an urgent late-night phone call: the elderly curator of the Louvre has been mu...More at Discovery Channel
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