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366th out of 738 books
—
1,610 voters
The Secret Supper
by
Javier Sierra (Goodreads Author),
Alberto Manguel
The most-talked-about international bestseller of the year!
Tightly paced and atmospheric, The Secret Supper is a dazzling historical thriller with a unique vision of both Leonardo da Vinci's genius and his masterpiece -- which you will never look at in the same way again.
Milan, 1497: Leonardo is completing The Last Supper. Pope Alexander VI is determined to execute h
...morePaperback, 329 pages
Published
March 20th 2007
by Washington Square Press
(first published 2003)
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quiz time!!
1. let's say you have a killer idea for a plot. do you:
a) concoct a ridiculously complicated plot involving five million characters, none of whom grow in the least, leading your readers to not give a damn about their fates?
OR
b) develop your damn characters?
2. okay, now let's say that you are writing historical fiction about people who actually existed. do you:
a) eschew character development because, hey, they did that for themselves while they were alive and anyway, they are just tool...more
1. let's say you have a killer idea for a plot. do you:
a) concoct a ridiculously complicated plot involving five million characters, none of whom grow in the least, leading your readers to not give a damn about their fates?
OR
b) develop your damn characters?
2. okay, now let's say that you are writing historical fiction about people who actually existed. do you:
a) eschew character development because, hey, they did that for themselves while they were alive and anyway, they are just tool...more
10 likes · like · see review
view all 3 comments
My first comment: NOT a Da Vinci Code ripoff, not a clone, not even close! So don't let this put you off of reading this book. The author has written a good mystery which stands on its own, so if you're worried about "oh no, another DaVinci Code," forget it. Or, conversely, if you're looking for a Da Vinci Code type book, this isn't it.
Set in late 15th-century Milan, when one of my favorite historical bad guys is gaining in popularity (Savanarola), the story is told by a Father Augustino Leyre,...more
Set in late 15th-century Milan, when one of my favorite historical bad guys is gaining in popularity (Savanarola), the story is told by a Father Augustino Leyre,...more
4 likes · like · see review
The jury is still out on this one. While the story was intriguing and the secret of Da Vinci's Last Supper revealed on the final page was unexpected, the journey to the final destination was convulated and confusing. I am, however, willing to take some of the blame for this as I did not have nearly the grasp of Church history needed to breeze through this book easily; instead I struggled through it bit by bit determined to reach the end in order to learn the secret touted throughout the book. It...more
Jul 01, 2012
John
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommended to John by:
I was browsing at Border's Book Store in Eureka California.
I love good history. One of the things we must all appreciate about historical discourse is that any given subject is slanted by the biases and predjudices of the writer or the observer. Historical writings are therefore full of contradictions, disagreements, interpretaions and misinterpretaions, exagerations ad infinitum.
One subject in our very rich historical past that is wide open to such mystery is the event of the creation of the "Last Supper" on the walls of the Systine chapel by Leonardo...more
One subject in our very rich historical past that is wide open to such mystery is the event of the creation of the "Last Supper" on the walls of the Systine chapel by Leonardo...more
Akhirnya buku ini khatam, setelah lebih dari dua bulan yang lalu mulai kubaca.
Aku selalu suka novel investigasi. Mulai dari Lima Sekawan, Trio Detektif, Agatha Christie, buku-buku John Grisham dan Sydney Sheldon. Aku suka Nefertiti, investigasi dengan setting Mesir kuno. Agatha Cgristie juga punya, aku lupa judulnya.
Melihat sekilas buku ini pertama kali, aku langsung tertarik. Selain tema investigasi dan teka-teki, settingnya Itali kuno, dan terutama ini adalah tentang Leonardo da Vinci, manusia...more
Aku selalu suka novel investigasi. Mulai dari Lima Sekawan, Trio Detektif, Agatha Christie, buku-buku John Grisham dan Sydney Sheldon. Aku suka Nefertiti, investigasi dengan setting Mesir kuno. Agatha Cgristie juga punya, aku lupa judulnya.
Melihat sekilas buku ini pertama kali, aku langsung tertarik. Selain tema investigasi dan teka-teki, settingnya Itali kuno, dan terutama ini adalah tentang Leonardo da Vinci, manusia...more
Set at the eclipse of the Middle Ages and the dawn of the Renaissance, this murder mystery is set up like another DaVinci Code, except Leonardo is a rather central character in this story. There is limited action and the clues/ links/ riddles are a bit difficult to follow even with the explanations and keys that are necessary. Sierra obviously did considerable research to include actual historical characters. It is uncertain if the hero was real or just imaginary. Nevertheless, he did a very goo...more
The Secret Supper, was by all means an enjoyable novel. If you like historical fiction, some mystery, some murder and a little bit of spice, it has all the ingredients for a fun, beachy, relaxing page turner. If your tastes run to the more intellectual, descriptive and stickler for accuracy my suggestion is to look elsewhere, perhaps the wonderfully written "Historian." At any rate, this novel centers on Papal Inquisitor, Agostino Leyre and his experience in 1492 Milan and is told in a flashback...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
El autor tuvo la mala fortuna de publicar su libro un año después de que Dan Brown publicase El Código Da Vinci y eso le resta todo el factor sorpresa a su historia. Si bien la historia de esta se desarrolla en los meses durante los cuales Leonardo Da Vinci culminó La Última Cena y no en el presente como la de Brown, el argumento es el mismo en ambas novelas.
Por lo tanto pueden esperar encontrarse con las verdaderas enseñanzas de Jesús, el culto a María Madgalena, loas a la figura de Juan, cátar...more
Por lo tanto pueden esperar encontrarse con las verdaderas enseñanzas de Jesús, el culto a María Madgalena, loas a la figura de Juan, cátar...more
Jun 08, 2010
Bettie
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Shelves:
summer-2010,
mystery-thriller,
published-2004,
translation,
art-forms,
historical-fiction,
italy
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Nov 08, 2009
Shalyn
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
librarians-in-fiction
It took me a while to get into this book. The first few chapters move slowly, there are many different characters introduced, and period pieces are not really my thing. Also, the protagonist is a member of the inquisition, and my hazy memory of church history tells me that the inquisition was generally bad; so, from the start, it was difficult for me to accept this character as a good person. About a third of the way into it, though, I had met all the characters, the protagonist proved sympathet...more
Disappointing book. I almost gave up from boredom at page 250, but plowed on until the end. I should have quit while I was ahead.
If Sierra took three years to research this book, as he claims, he should have at least described the Cathar faith correctly, which he didn't. And Omega isn't O in the Greek alphabet, it's Ω - O is Omicron.
And, as Jesus probably spoke Aramaic and not Greek, it is unlikely that he said anything about alpha and omega, this was made up later by Greek speaking Christians....more
If Sierra took three years to research this book, as he claims, he should have at least described the Cathar faith correctly, which he didn't. And Omega isn't O in the Greek alphabet, it's Ω - O is Omicron.
And, as Jesus probably spoke Aramaic and not Greek, it is unlikely that he said anything about alpha and omega, this was made up later by Greek speaking Christians....more
I bought this book because I saw the cover and read the excerpt and immediately thought of The DaVinci Code. I should have known...
This is basically a story about different versions of religion. When Leonardo DaVinci begins his painting of the Last Supper in a church, word spreads that he is hiding symbols of heresy within the painting. On the outside, it looks like a perfectly good rendition of the Bible, but after a closer look, it deviates from traditional Catholicism and lends the viewer an...more
This is basically a story about different versions of religion. When Leonardo DaVinci begins his painting of the Last Supper in a church, word spreads that he is hiding symbols of heresy within the painting. On the outside, it looks like a perfectly good rendition of the Bible, but after a closer look, it deviates from traditional Catholicism and lends the viewer an...more
Working with the assumption that Da Vinci was a Cathar and thereby a heretic, a papal investigator is sent not only to try to decipher some scribbles found in the famous painting, but to determine the meaning of some aspects of the painting as a whole … there is no meat on the table, the bread is missing and strangely the faces of the apostles bear striking resembles to heretics of the day. Mixing in real historical figures with some fictional ones (I, personally, am not familiar enough with the...more
Se trata de otra más de las innumerables obras literarias que conectan a los cátaros, María Magdalena, Leonardo Da Vinci y unos supuestos saberes secretos transmitidos desde los tiempos de Jesucristo. Todo ello aderezado con crímenes, misterios, análisis de obras artísticas y situado en un tiempo y lugar sugeretes: el Milán de Ludovico el Moro, en tiempos del Papa Borgia. En suma, nada original.
Tampoco los personajes, los ambientes, el lenguaje o los diálogos están construidos con especial maest...more
Tampoco los personajes, los ambientes, el lenguaje o los diálogos están construidos con especial maest...more
The most-talked-about international bestseller of the year!
Tightly paced and atmospheric, The Secret Supper is a dazzling historical thriller with a unique vision of both Leonardo da Vinci's genius and his masterpiece -- which you will never look at in the same way again.
Milan, 1497: Leonardo is completing The Last Supper. Pope Alexander VI is determined to execute him after realizing that the painting contains clues to a baffling -- and blasphemous -- message that he is driven to decode. The Ho...more
Tightly paced and atmospheric, The Secret Supper is a dazzling historical thriller with a unique vision of both Leonardo da Vinci's genius and his masterpiece -- which you will never look at in the same way again.
Milan, 1497: Leonardo is completing The Last Supper. Pope Alexander VI is determined to execute him after realizing that the painting contains clues to a baffling -- and blasphemous -- message that he is driven to decode. The Ho...more
A friend of mine gave me this to read and I was expecting some sort of Da Vinci Code knock off. I was not only wrong, thankfully, but this book is a truly amazing read. The author has definitely done his homework in terms of historical accuracy and the story flows so easily I read it in one sitting. It really does have all the elements required for a really good mystery, right down to the red herrings and unexpected twists and turns. The characters were three dimensional and utterly believable a...more
Thriller-ino-ino-ino, nel senso che suspense non ce n'è tanta (solo due morti in 300 pagine), però tutto sommato me lo sono goduto. La prosa è molto semplice, fluida, lo stile è scorrevole e fruibilissimo. Mi ha affascinato soprattutto la lettura che viene fatta (o meglio, l'illazione, le ipotesi di lettura) de L'ultima Cena di Da Vinci. Bello sviscerare un dipinto fino al suo significato più profondo, fino ad evincere quelle che erano le reali intenzioni e il reale messaggio dell'artista. Qui è...more
I had hoped this would be like the Da Vinci Code or The Name of the Rose and was rather disappointed. This was slow going until half way through the book and then it started getting interesting with some murders. I found the whole idea of the hidden images and the riddles rather tiresome and it's hard to believe the turf wars over the doctrines of the Church. Turf wars is too kind a term as any person who thought differently was labeled a heretic and killed. Whole villages were cleansed of their...more
The story begins when an inquisitor for the Catholic Church in Rome receives letters written in calligraphy from a tipster in Milan warning him about a plan to turn Milan into a new Athens. He then heads north to unmask the evil Soothsayer and get to the root of the alleged anti-catholic trickery. The trouble seems to center on Leonardo da Vinci's new fresco "The Last Supper" which some believe is crammed with hidden messages.
I found there are too many oddities piling up to give this complicated...more
I found there are too many oddities piling up to give this complicated...more
Very interesting story about the visual codes built-in to da Vinci's "Last Supper." A lot of research went into this. However, the book is mainly a first-person narrative from a certain monk's point of view, then changes to the third person and back again. It is sometimes confusing as to who is really doing the observing and the talking. At one point, the monk isn't even present, and another person is telling a story to someone, and in that story there are quotes of someone else talking, so ther...more
I read this right after reading "Birth of Venus". The books were by different authors and were written in very different styles, but they take place in about the same time period. "Birth of Venus" takes place in Florence, Italy, and concerns Michelangelo. This book concerns Leonardo and takes place in Milan. People that appear in one book are mentioned in the other. It was a lot of fun to be reminded of the other book. If you like codes, you'll enjoy this little read. I think readers of Dan Brow...more
I got more than half-way done when the audio book started skipping, and I realized I didn't care enough to actually clean the disc, much less go check out a paper copy. Not nearly as gosh-awful as The Da Vinci Code, but still bad. I'm always taken in by these kinds of books because of their promise of mystery and codes, and the pretty pretty covers, but I just don't care. I don't find anything about them controversial or shocking. Plus, Leonardo was read with the voice of a swashbuckling, barrel...more
Es una novela interesante. Un poco densa por las descripciones de las pinturas de Leonardo Da Vinci y las citas de los evangelios. Me gusta la historia de la época de los asesinatos de los Papas, la inquisición y las extravagancias de la iglesia y como siempre los que pensaban que esto iba totalmente en contra de las enseñanzas de Jesús. Creo que ahora con la nueva el lección de Francisco I y su postura, es muy relevante leerlo. Podría decir que este Papa argentino, entinede perfectamente el eva...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Aug 03, 2011
Nancy
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
art lovers, those who like Da Vinci, monastic life, fifteenth century
The Secret Supper by Javier Sierra is one of my favorite books. It was published around the time that the Da Vinci Code, but it takes a very different tack from that book. This one takes place during the lifetime of Da Vinci, during the years that he was actually painting "The Last Supper" on the wall of the Church of Santa Maria Delle Grazie in Milan.
In the years since The Secret Supper and The Da Vinci Code were published, many articles, books, and TV programs have come out describing the sym...more
In the years since The Secret Supper and The Da Vinci Code were published, many articles, books, and TV programs have come out describing the sym...more
"kereeeenn..
walopun gue masih tetep bingung, pada akhirnya si pengarang ini mau menyampaikan apa tentang Leonardo da Vinci?" (Farah - Pendapat pribadi)
Oke, gue katakan dengan jujur bahwa gue belom pernah baca bukunya Dan Brown. Baik itu yang the Davinci Code, ataupun Angel and Demon. Tapi gue udah nonton film Angel and Demon. Dan menurut gue, filmnya menarik. Tapi gue tetap masih belum memutuskan mau baca bukunya apa engga. Sama seperti Eragon, yang gue udah tonton filmnya, tapi belom baca bukun...more
walopun gue masih tetep bingung, pada akhirnya si pengarang ini mau menyampaikan apa tentang Leonardo da Vinci?" (Farah - Pendapat pribadi)
Oke, gue katakan dengan jujur bahwa gue belom pernah baca bukunya Dan Brown. Baik itu yang the Davinci Code, ataupun Angel and Demon. Tapi gue udah nonton film Angel and Demon. Dan menurut gue, filmnya menarik. Tapi gue tetap masih belum memutuskan mau baca bukunya apa engga. Sama seperti Eragon, yang gue udah tonton filmnya, tapi belom baca bukun...more
1 like · like · see review
Immediate assumption - DaVinci Code Knock-Off.
None-the-less, I enjoy this type of fast paced historical based, but yet fantastical fiction, so I checked it out from the library. Two days later the phone rings and The Poe Shadow is waiting for me. What else could I do? I finished The Secret Supper, and it really didn't require any extra encouragement.
For the record, the DaVinci Code was published in 2003 in the United States and the Secret Supper was published in Spain in 2004, with the English t...more
None-the-less, I enjoy this type of fast paced historical based, but yet fantastical fiction, so I checked it out from the library. Two days later the phone rings and The Poe Shadow is waiting for me. What else could I do? I finished The Secret Supper, and it really didn't require any extra encouragement.
For the record, the DaVinci Code was published in 2003 in the United States and the Secret Supper was published in Spain in 2004, with the English t...more
Maybe I just wasn't in the right frame of mind for reading this right now. It seemed contrived, dry as dust, and utterly irrelevant. Set in Milan during the painting of the Last Supper, an Inquisitor has been sent to look for the person sending damning clues that something is being concealed in the mural, and it could crumble Christianity. He settles in among the priests at the monastery and starts detecting. An expert at codes, he must solve the riddle that is the writer's signature so he knows...more
Father Agostino Leyre is a Dominican Inquisitor at the very end of the 15th century. He is sent to Milan, more specifically to the monastery Santa Maria delle Grazie. He is sent there because a mystery informer is sending letters to his order espousing a heresy taking place in that monastery. This is also the very same place where Leonardo da Vinci is creating what some consider his greatest work, The Last Supper. Who this informer is and whether there is a true heresy underfoot is the mission...more
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