Goodreads | The Da Vinci Code

topics	replies	last activity
Sexist?	11	03/18/2008 11:55AM
Totally amazing	21	03/13/2008 12:25AM
fun story, but what crappy writing!	67	11 days ago, 07:20AM

Mer rated it:

(review of isbn 1400079179)

12/25/07

bookshelves: tripeshitandgarbage

Read in January, 2004

recommends it for: morons and troglodytes

PLEASE do NOT recommend The Da Vinci Code to me because you think it's brilliant. Please do not try to explain to me that it is a "really interesting and eye-opening book." Just don't. Please.

I've read Iain Pear, I heart Foucault's Pendulum, Dashiell Hammett is my hero, Alan Moore is My Absolute Favorite, I listen to Coil on a fairly regular basis, and cloak n' dagger secret society/Priory of Sion/Knights of Templar-tinged num nums make me a very happy girl... but if you truly bel...more PLEASE do NOT recommend The Da Vinci Code to me because you think it's brilliant. Please do not try to explain to me that it is a "really interesting and eye-opening book." Just don't. Please.

I've read Iain Pear, I heart Foucault's Pendulum, Dashiell Hammett is my hero, Alan Moore is My Absolute Favorite, I listen to Coil on a fairly regular basis, and cloak n' dagger secret society/Priory of Sion/Knights of Templar-tinged num nums make me a very happy girl... but if you truly believe that Brown's stupid airport thriller has ANY right whatsoever to be placed in the same category with Michael "Wooden Dildo Dialogue" Crichton, let alone Umberto Eco, kindly keep this opinion very far away from me, or the ensuing conversation we have will not be constructive or polite in any way.

I loathe Dan Brown. I resent him for spoon-feeding the masses pseudo-intellectual "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" D-grade thriller shite under a pretense of real sophistication, and getting orally serviced by The New York Times for his effort.

I'd heard that the novel was meticulously researched and contained some really interesting and controversial assessments of religious zealotry. Um, not really? Well, not by my Merovingian standards, anyway. :D

Let's put it this way. If Dan Brown was teaching an Insurgent Christian Symbolism in Art and Literature 101 class at my local community college, I'd definitely have a different opinion about him.

But NO. Dan Brown is not a professor of anything but pap. He is a barely competent thriller writer who wrote an AWFUL book that I could not bear to finish because I felt my IQ plummeting a little further with every "Let's Go to Paris! Guidebook" description and blowhard authorial essay. Oh, don't even get me started about those cute soliloquies the main characters are so fond of delivering, ever so calmly, often while cops n' bovvers are chasing them.

The characters are weakly drawn. The dialog is excruciating. The research is shoddy and self-serving at best. The plot, no matter how open-minded you are, is beyond ludicrous. It's laughable enough to be incorporated into the next Indiana Jones movie. That'd be sweet, dude.

What really irks me are Dan Brown's sanctimonious interviews, wherein he shows off all of his priceless antiques while expressing his abiding convictions that the American public needs a "deeper appreciation" of art and history and culture. What a shallow, self-aggrandizing hypocrite. I'm all for fictional subversion of the dominant Catholic paradigm, but only if the subverter knows what the hell they're talking about. Brown DOESN'T. He's all "la la la, connect the dots" but the picture he comes up with is awkward and unconvincing.

The DaVinci Code is a dead easy, nay, downright lazy read, and yet droves of people are patting themselves on the back for having read and *gasp* actually understood it. Like this is some spectacular achievement? WHY? What, because the slipcover describes it as "erudite"? Are you fucking kidding me?

Don't believe the hype, kids. You are profoundly more intelligent than this holiday page-turner gives you credit for.

If you really, honestly, just plain liked the book, that's cool I guess. Maybe you also prefer Anne Geddes to Alfred Stieglitz, Kenny G to Sidney Bechet, John Tesh to Igor Stravinsky. Your prerogative. Just.... please don't try to tell me that this is "fascinating" or "meaningful literature". Frickin' read The Club Dumas or something. Then we'll talk, and I won't want to shoot myself in the face.

Alright, glad I purged that poison from my system. Carry on....less

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Michael rated it:

(review of isbn 0307277674)

02/10/08

The following is Dave Barry's take on the book, which is a lot better than any review I could write.

`The Da Vinci Code,' cracked
by Dave Barry

I have written a blockbuster novel. My inspiration was The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown, which has sold 253 trillion copies in hardcover because it's such a compelling page-turner. NOBODY can put this book down:

MOTHER ON BEACH: Help! My child is being attacked by a shark!

LIFEGUARD (looking up from The DaVinci Code: Not now! I just got to page...more

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Jim rated it:

(review of isbn 0307277674)

07/17/07

This is a pretty formulaic page turner, a fun quick read. Written at about the level of the average Nancy Drew mystery, it is best appreciated at that level. As far as the content, there are howlers on virtually every page (starting with the hero who looks like "Harrison Ford in Harris tweed" and is a "Professor of Religious Symbology at Harvard" -- good work if you can find it). You have to ignore very pulpy, cheesy writing to enjoy this romantic thriller.

Intended as a b...more This is a pretty formulaic page turner, a fun quick read. Written at about the level of the average Nancy Drew mystery, it is best appreciated at that level. As far as the content, there are howlers on virtually every page (starting with the hero who looks like "Harrison Ford in Harris tweed" and is a "Professor of Religious Symbology at Harvard" -- good work if you can find it). You have to ignore very pulpy, cheesy writing to enjoy this romantic thriller.

Intended as a book that a dedicated reader could finish in a day, or something you take to the beach and casually finish in a weekend, The Da Vinci Code makes for a reasonable airline novel, so much so that it is often a bit clunky in its desire to ensure that no intellectual effort on the reader's part will be required. Here's a recurring example in this novel: a bit of unfamiliar terminology, say "crux gemmata" (jeweled cross) will will be explained on page N, then on page N+1, a character will finger his jeweled cross and explain, "Oh, yes -- this is a crux gemmata." I've read dinner menus that were more demanding on the reader. My wife and I both read about a third of it in a day, sharing the same copy, and that's a full work day plus taking care of kids, bedtime, etc. That's also a kind of virtue, I guess -- it's fast and peppy.

As far as history goes, Dan Brown apparently thinks that "most historians" give credence to the hoary forgeries and frauds promoted in sensationalist best-sellers like Holy Blood, Holy Grail. This author gets the best of both worlds: simultaneously claiming that "it's just fiction," while introducing the novel with claims that the historical record contained within is "fact." That claim is ridiculous. To pluck a random example, he spends some time talking about the Council of Nicaea, and incorrectly summarizes it as the origin of the doctrine of Christ's divinity by Constantine. He ignores the Arian controversy out of which it arose, which is like trying to explain the Treaty of Versailles without mentioning World War I. He ignores the documented fact, agreed upon even by the cheerleaders of the gnostics that he is sympathetic to, that the earliest gnostic doctrines held that Christ was *purely* God, and not really man -- the very reverse of the doctrine that serves as the linchpin of his novel's intellectual base (such as it is). This is a bad novel for weak or misinformed Christians, but anyone familiar with history should spot the train wreck of Brown's ideas a mile off.

Oh yes, and in Brown's world, Opus Dei has shadowy assassin "monks" (in real life, Opus Dei is not a monastic order -- there are no Opus Dei monks, let alone trained assassins), and the Catholic Church has been promulgating known lies as its central dogmas, promotes violence throughout the world, and has been retarding the progress of science and knowledge for 2 millennia. Brown leaves the reader with the impression that this, too, is a matter of settled historical record. Oh, but then again, it's just fiction. Except when it's not.

In general, if you're looking for a heady thriller wrapped around Christian arcana, I'd recommend Umberto Eco's excellent The Name of the Rose, not this dumbed down, by-the-numbers novel....less

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Dan rated it:

(review of isbn 0307277674)

08/09/07

recommends it for: people who want an awkward, random discussion about the origins of the word Cloister

I don't hate this book because everyone loved it. I don't think mass appeal is a sign of a shitty book. I'm not that guy.

But.

Have you ever played the old Nintendo game Castlevania? Or for that matter, any old Nintendo game? When you get to the end of the game, or the end of a level, you have to get to the badguy up in the attic someplace. He lives in the top room of a ten story tower. It's spooky.

Now. In order to get to the final bad guy, you have to open the door to his lair. And to...more I don't hate this book because everyone loved it. I don't think mass appeal is a sign of a shitty book. I'm not that guy.

But.

Have you ever played the old Nintendo game Castlevania? Or for that matter, any old Nintendo game? When you get to the end of the game, or the end of a level, you have to get to the badguy up in the attic someplace. He lives in the top room of a ten story tower. It's spooky.

Now. In order to get to the final bad guy, you have to open the door to his lair. And to open that door, you need the key to that door. And the key to that door is on the fifth floor. And the fifth floor door? Well, that's locked too. And the key to that door is on the eighth floor. And that's behind a locked door. And the key to that door is outside in the cemetary. And in order to get to that key, you're going to need a shovel, which is in the basement. The basement is located beneath a trapdoor and the trapdoor is being sat on by a giant, lets say, octopus. And he needs killing. Also, there are several other monsters sitting on several other keys throughout the level. It's a standard set up for an old nintendo game.

That's what this book is.
"In order to get to the most valuable artifact we own, we'll have to first go to France!"
"Oh my god the artifact is in France!"
"No, I didn't say that. There's a picture in France that we have to look at the back of and that will --"
"Tell us the location of the artifact??"
"No, no, that will give us the location of a super high tech key that opens a lock box in the most secure bank in the world."
"Of course, it's in there, the most secure bank in the world."
"No, I didn't say that either. See, we try to keep the most important thing we own at least seventeen convaluded steps away from our hands. That way if anyone tries to get it, like now, all we have to do is trek all over creation to get at it, so that we can protect it."
"So where is it really."
"In a broom closet in a museum under a towel."

It's just a painful series of stupid hoops. Oh, and all the characters blow except for the albino and nobody that needs to take a class in murder school knows anything about da vinci and he was claustrophobic the whole book just so he could let you know that he looked up the word cloister in a dictionary once and also, Jesus was not a transvestite, is that what it was saying? That's what I took from it....less

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Mirna rated it:

(review of isbn 0307277674)

02/15/08

Read in April, 2005

Buku ini ditulis belakangan dibandingkan Malaikat dan Iblis (Angels and Demons) oleh Brown pada tahun 2003, namun Serambi menerbitkannya lebih dulu daripada MdI yang cetakan pertamanya pada 2005 sementara buku ini dicetak pertama kali pada 2004.

The Da Vinci Code disebut sebagai buku paling kontroversial tahun ini karena memberikan sebuah teori konspirasi pembuktian bahwa Isa al Masih yang dianggap suci itu pernah mengawini seorang wanita yang tak kalah terkenalnya, Maria Magdalena. Dan perka...more Buku ini ditulis belakangan dibandingkan Malaikat dan Iblis (Angels and Demons) oleh Brown pada tahun 2003, namun Serambi menerbitkannya lebih dulu daripada MdI yang cetakan pertamanya pada 2005 sementara buku ini dicetak pertama kali pada 2004.

The Da Vinci Code disebut sebagai buku paling kontroversial tahun ini karena memberikan sebuah teori konspirasi pembuktian bahwa Isa al Masih yang dianggap suci itu pernah mengawini seorang wanita yang tak kalah terkenalnya, Maria Magdalena. Dan perkawinan itu membuahkan keturunan. Rupanya perdebatan status kemanusiawian Yesus yang Kristus itu sudah berlangsung cukup lama dalam kalangan kristiani sendiri.
Tokoh jagoannya masih juga Robert Langdon yang otaknya seksi dan kali ini pendamping wanitanya adalah seorang perempuan Perancis yang cerdas dan dididik di Inggris bernama Sophie Neveu. Thank God he didn’t romance her at all. Kalau tidak Langdon akan sangat kehilangan keistimewaannya sebagai jagoan berotak. He will be just another horny man who happens to be very smart and classy.

Alurnya masih kurang lebih sama dengan MdI, sanak keluarga Sophie terbunuh dalam sebuah rancangan konspiratif raksasa yang melibatkan pemecahan sandi yang rumit dan pengungkapan konspirasi tertua di dunia mengenai sejarah kehidupan pribadi Kristus. Kalau Vittoria Vetra kehilangan seorang ayah angkat, dalam artian yang kurang lebih sama Sophie juga kehilangan seorang ayah angkat, yaitu kakeknya Jacques Sauniere; seorang kurator Musee de Louvre dan sejarawan Perancis ternama yang merawatnya semenjak kecil karena orangtua, nenek dan adik lelakinya konon terbunuh dalam sebuah kecelakaan mobil.
Tokoh lainnya adalah Capitaine Bezu Fache, kepala biro intelijen Perancis, Police Judiciale (setara dengan FBI) yang diibaratkan seekor banteng mengamuk tak pandang bulu dan mempertaruhkan reputasinya. Ini semacam olok-olok khas Amerikanya Brown pada orang Perancis yang digambarkan selalu mematuhi hukum dan mudah tersinggung. Tokoh-tokoh polisi Perancis bawahan Fache juga digambarkan “khas” Perancis.

Olok-olok lebih lanjut ditujukan pada orang Inggris yang diwakilkan pada Sir Leigh Teabing, antagonis bangsawan sejarawan bergelar ksatria yang jadi gila karena obsesi terhadap legenda dewi dan Maria Magdalena. Karakternya sangat eksentrik, khas tokoh Inggris yang seringkali digambarkan oleh tulisan novel detektif picisan atau film Hollywood yang sudah ada sebelumnya (sejenis dengan Artful Dodger atau bahkan Remington Steele yang tampan). Kaya raya, memiliki selera humor yang aneh (maksudnya: sulit dimengerti orang Amerika), senang memperolok diri sendiri, sangat sophisticated, dan tahu benar apa yang diinginkannya—karena itu ia membuat rencana rumit untuk menjebak ketua lembaga gereja besar menjadi kambing hitamnya.

Kambing hitam dalam cerita ini adalah Uskup Aringarosa, kepala gereja Opus Dei, dan Silas, anak angkat albinonya yang tercerahkan dengan terlahir kembali setelah rangkaian “cobaan penebusan dosa”. Dua tokoh ini digambarkan begitu ingin dekat dengan Tuhan—dalam kasus Aringarosa, ia ingin menyebarkan jalan Tuhan yang paling benar, heh not the first of his kind— hingga bisa diterjemahkan sebagai fanatik fundamentalis yang sangat naif hingga bisa diperalat untuk tujuan yang kurang mulia.

Karakter dalam buku ini sedikit lebih manusiawi daripada dalam MdI. Sophie jelas jauh lebih manusiawi dari Vittoria yang bagai jagoan dalam sebuah game RPG. Fache, Teabing, dan si penjahat Silas masih dapat kita kenali blueprint Hollywoodnya. Timbul dugaan kalau Langdon ini Indiana Jones versi nerd Brown, yang memang ia akui dalam buku ini.
Senjata utama plot misterinya masih seputar konspirasi dan sekelompok teka-teki yang cerdas. Selain bepergian ke tempat-tempat yang dikisahkan dalam buku ini, Brown konon menyusunnya dengan berkonsultasi dengan orang yang pernah terlibat dalam Opus Dei, sejumlah ahli matematika, sejarah dan setumpuk buku referensi yang menyegarkan otak. Tak salah lagi buku ini cukup mendidik.

Kekuatan fiksi buku ini terletak pada dua hal. Yang pertama adalah settingnya yang berputar pada kehidupan kepercayaan Kristiani dan pertentangan yang sudah cukup sering dieksploitasi antara Ilmu pengetahuan/sekularitas dengan keagamaan/religi.

Yang kedua adalah alur konspirasi yang dibangun sangat kuat dan meyakinkan di atas landasan setting tadi.
Kegemparan yang ditimbulkan oleh buku ini pada umat Kristiani sepertinya terlalu berlebihan. Pembaca yang jeli akan melihat selera humor Brown dalam membeberkan plotnya. Dia bahkan menggunakan sistem anagram, meminjam beberapa nama asli orang dekatnya, untuk menamai karakter dalam buku-bukunya. Misalnya Jason Kaufman yang menjadi Jonas Faukman (keduanya sama-sama berprofesi sebagai editor). Atau Stan Planton dan Sylvie Baudeloque, yang terakhir muncul di buku MdI sebagai sekretaris presiden CERN. The Da Vinci Code seharusnya disebut The Dan Brown Code. Coba kita lihat berapa orang yang bisa memecahkan teka-teki dan anagram yang disebar Brown di buku itu berkenaan dengan kehidupan sehari-harinya.
Misteri dalam novel ini cukup menghibur dan suatu hari nanti mungkin Robert Langdon akan disejajarkan dengan Sherlock Holmes yang ternama.
...less

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Alana rated it:

07/31/07

bookshelves: thriller

Robert Langdon, a Harvard symbologist of a pedantic turn of mind, and Sophie Neveu, a cryptologist trained by a master of an ancient secret society, come together as they flee the police in an attempt to solve the bizarre mystery of her grandfather's murder. They become entangled in an intricate web of pagan religions, artwork and the Holy Grail with both the police and a fanatical branch of the Catholic Church determined to stop them.

While it is true that the writing is facile at best, the...more

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Maura rated it:

(review of isbn 0307277674)

07/30/07

Read in July, 2006

recommends it for: someone interested in a completely mindless beach read

I've finally started reading that ever so controversial best-seller by Dan Brown. Actually, not reading it, listening to it while driving around Lansing, MI. This book seems to have changed the minds of many Catholics (my grandfather included) and Protestants alike. Granted, there have long been rumors of secret societies and organizations within the Roman Catholic Church, and historical cover-ups are rampant throughout civilization.

HOWEVER,

The book is crap. It's not at all well wr...more I've finally started reading that ever so controversial best-seller by Dan Brown. Actually, not reading it, listening to it while driving around Lansing, MI. This book seems to have changed the minds of many Catholics (my grandfather included) and Protestants alike. Granted, there have long been rumors of secret societies and organizations within the Roman Catholic Church, and historical cover-ups are rampant throughout civilization.

HOWEVER,

The book is crap. It's not at all well written. Brown seems to feel that in order to impress the mystery of the supposed Holy Grail conspiracy upon his readers, he must be repetitive and condescending. It almost seems that the whole purpose of the book is to tell the world how much Brown knows about obscure art history and symbology, and that he is willing to explain it to the teeming masses of uniformed Christendom. His constant use of cliff-hanger chapter endings (almost every chapter) makes the novel read like it was originally intended as a serial publication. Much of Brown's story hinges upon the loss of the Sacred Feminine, and yet his main female character (a cryptologist for the French police) is constantly having to be led clue by clue to obvious conclusions by her quicker, more worldly, male counterparts.

I might have put some stock into Brown's "history," he writes with conviction, if not much style. I may even have looked into some of his sources on my own. Today, though, Brown completely lost any stock I would have put into his actual knowledge. He referred, multiple times, to Jesus Christ as the Immaculate Conception. As every half-informed Catholic knows, Mary was the Immaculate Conception (conceived without sin), Jesus was the Miraculous Conception (conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit).

How this novel came to be as popular as it is, I can understand. Everyone today is dying to get to the big TRUTH, something which can never be done in religion. Faith is by definition something that is unsubstantiated, we must just believe. What I can't understand is how people can believe this absolute drivel.
...less

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Jeremy rated it:

(review of isbn 0307277674)

11/17/07

Read in January, 2005

This book, and everything written by Dan Brown (to varying degrees), represent much of what I most dislike about pop literature. First of all, Mr. Brown, despite teaching English at Amherst College, is a bad writer. This is not to say that I am a good writer. But I recognize a person who can't "show" you vivid scenes, he has to "tell you". Various characters wear expensive clothes. How do we know? The text says they're expensive. How do we know Mr. Langdon is brilliant? The t...more This book, and everything written by Dan Brown (to varying degrees), represent much of what I most dislike about pop literature. First of all, Mr. Brown, despite teaching English at Amherst College, is a bad writer. This is not to say that I am a good writer. But I recognize a person who can't "show" you vivid scenes, he has to "tell you". Various characters wear expensive clothes. How do we know? The text says they're expensive. How do we know Mr. Langdon is brilliant? The text makes no bones about telling us. Langdon is also famous. Blah.

Furthermore, Mr. Brown's books are ridiculously formulaic. Every single "thriller" that he has written to date begins with the murder of a key character at the hands of a shadowy and "terrifying" assassin individual/group. This group is controlled by a larger group with dubious intentions that generally have to do with world domination. The protagonist is introduced as an "expert" whose credentials relate to the matter at hand, and who takes the job of hunting down the bad guys. He enlists the aid of an extremely avuncular, wise, benevolent helper. This person provides assistance as the protagonist (with a love interest) finds clues to the murder, attempts to find the bad guys, is pursued by the assassin(s), all while TIME IS RUNNING OUT. The avuncular father figure turns out to be pulling the strings of the assassins, is behind the original killing, and provides a forgettable monologue at the end where he pleas for understanding. But our hero takes him down. The end. I'm sorry if I just ruined all Dan Brown's books for you.

Finally, Mr. Brown likes to write about what he sees as religious conflicts. These conflicts take place between believers and non-. Unfortunately, he proves unable to adequately and convincingly describe these conflicts, because he reveals a striking inability to understand why people believe, in the first place. His highly religious characters therefore invariably turn out to be crazed nutjobs. I don't like stories that exploit religion for entertainment, and then use the attention that they draw to this entertainment to subtly undermine the reasons for faith.

But by all means, read the Da Vinci Code. People say it's smart. Others describe it as a fast-paced thriller with historical and theological implications. It could've been in the hands of another author. ...less

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Cara rated it:

(review of isbn 0307277674)

03/26/08

bookshelves: mystery

Read in January, 2005

recommends it for: people who are gullible

Caveat Academics!!!
I won't belabor the obvious, as it's been done quite well by other reviewers, but I just couldn't stand not to add my own "hear hear!" to the fray. If you're going to create a character who is an expert, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE make sure you check your facts! Whoever edited this drivel ought to be sewn in a sack with a rabid raccoon and flung into Lake Michigan.

And just as a matter of good taste - your expert should not be an expert in everything under the sun. Th...more Caveat Academics!!!
I won't belabor the obvious, as it's been done quite well by other reviewers, but I just couldn't stand not to add my own "hear hear!" to the fray. If you're going to create a character who is an expert, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE make sure you check your facts! Whoever edited this drivel ought to be sewn in a sack with a rabid raccoon and flung into Lake Michigan.

And just as a matter of good taste - your expert should not be an expert in everything under the sun. That's one of the hallmarks of poor writing.

Even if I were not a practicing pagan, I would find it stretching credibility that every single item the characters run across is a symbol of goddess worship. Five pointed star? Goddess worship. Chalice? Goddess worship. Porcelain toilet bowl? Goddess worship. Pilot ball point pen? Goddess worship. You get the general idea. Not only is every item part of the mythology of the divine feminine, but every number is also part of the divine feminine. Hello? Is a cigar NEVER just a cigar?

And some of the claims of symbolism are just plain wrong, as the editor would have found out if he'd bothered to do some fact checking. Remember those military chevrons that, because of the way they were pointed, represented the female divine and those poor slobs of soldiers had been running around all these countless centuries with goddess symbols flaunted on their uniforms without knowing it? The only problem with that premise is that the chevrons facing in their current direction is relatively recent - according to my military historian husband, they faced the OPPOSITE direction for quite some time before being reversed (for what reason, I have no idea...unless the generals all got together and decided they didn't have quite enough goddess symbols on their uniforms and needed it fixed post haste).

My theology professor ended up traveling around the country giving talks about this book to thousands of interested people. He loves the book if only because he's now giving pretty much the same information that he used to give to dozing freshman and sophomores to packed theaters of interested listeners now. He tells a story about being somewhere in southern Ohio and making a joking remark about the celice being something that all Catholics wore and how now the secret was out, and there was a lady in the back row who elbowed her husband and said "See? I told you so!" The increased interest in history is about the only positive thing that's come out of this book. Honestly, you don't need to make anything up about the Catholic church to point out that it's been the source of some horrible things.

I could go on about the poor research and editing in this book, but others have done a pretty thorough job of finding the problems with it.

If you want a decent page turner, go for it. If you want something well researched and accurate, give this one a big ol' pass.

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Devi rated it:

(review of isbn 0307277674)

10/02/07

Read in March, 2005

Salut untuk Dan Brown, dia bisa membuat buku diluar Imagination pembacanya. Bayangkanlah untuk cerita perjalanan dua hari tokoh dalam buku ini aja bisa mencapai 641 halaman. Wah kok bisa ya…padahal bikin 6 halaman aja udah bisa bikin aku stress (maklum amatiran sih).
Hebatnya lagi, semua cerita disertai fakta yang telah diakui oleh semua pihak. Penjelasan tentang sejarah, tempat dan latar belakang cerita digambarkan secara detail. Dia bisa mengajak pembacanya seolah berada ditempat itu. Lebi...more Salut untuk Dan Brown, dia bisa membuat buku diluar Imagination pembacanya. Bayangkanlah untuk cerita perjalanan dua hari tokoh dalam buku ini aja bisa mencapai 641 halaman. Wah kok bisa ya…padahal bikin 6 halaman aja udah bisa bikin aku stress (maklum amatiran sih).
Hebatnya lagi, semua cerita disertai fakta yang telah diakui oleh semua pihak. Penjelasan tentang sejarah, tempat dan latar belakang cerita digambarkan secara detail. Dia bisa mengajak pembacanya seolah berada ditempat itu. Lebih hebat lagi, dia berani mengutarakan pendapatnya padahal itu bertentangan dengan kepercayaan yang dianut oleh seluruh umat nasrani di dunia.
Cerita diawali dengan terbunuhnya seorang curator seni terkenal di Louvre Museum Paris, Jaques Sauniere. Misteri pembunuhan itu melibatkan seorang professor simbologi Robert Langdon berhubung sang curator menuliskan namanya dalam pesan aneh di lantai museum.

13 – 3 –2 – 21 – 1 – 1 –8 – 5
O, Draconian devil
Oh, lame saint!
P.S Find Robert Langdon

Dibantu oleh cucu sang curator, Sophie Nevue (seorang Kriptology) maka mulailah mereka memecahkan satu demi satu kode yang diberikan Saunere. Perjalanan mereka melibatkan benda-benda seni dunia seperti lukisan Da Vinci Monalisa, Madonna of the rocks, The last supper maupun lainnya sehingga berakhir pada kesimpulan bahwa ada konspirasi tingkat tinggi antara Vatikan dan Opus Dei untuk menghancurkan Prior of Sion. Hal ini berhubungan erat dengan Holy Grail atau cawan suci yang masih misteri sampai saat ini.
Dari cerita tersebut terungkap pendapat beberapa ahli tentang Yesus yang menimbulkan kotroversi yang isinya bahwa Yesus mempunyai istri yaitu Maria Magdalena yang selama ini umat Nasrani sangat percaya Yesus anak tuhan yang tidak mungkin menikah dan Maria Magdalena diakui sebagai wanita penggoda Yesus (weksss!!!). Hebatnya lagi untuk itu Vatikan sampai mengeluarkan sanggahan khusus loh.
Cerita tambah seru ketika Robert dan Neveu berhasil menemukan Crypto yang kemungkinan berisi petunjuk disimpannya Holy Grail. Namun perjalanan mereka tidak berjalan mulus karena mereka dikejar oleh polisi Perancis dan seorang pemuja Opus Dei yang fanatic bernama Silas. Karena kesulitan memecah kode yang ada di Kripto maka mereka datang pada sejarahwan yang expert dibidang holy grail yaitu seorang bangsawan Ingris bernama Sir Teabing.
Pemecahan kode didalam krypto tersebut membuat mereka lintas negara dari Perancis ke Ingris, namun diluar dugaan ternyata ada orang lain yang menjebak Robert dan Neveu yaitu pihak yang sangat menginginkan isi Holy Grail dan tanpa diduga orang tersebut adalah Teibing.
Setelah lolos dari Teabing, mereka akhirnya berhasil membuka isi krypto yang sesungguhnya. Tidak lain adalah informasi tentang keluarga Sopie Neveu yang selama ini dianggap telah meninggal karena kecelakaan mobil 20 tahun yang lalu. Ternyata keluarga Neveu masih ada yang hidup yaitu nenek dan adiknya.
Udah deh, ceritanya kurang lebih kayak gitu. Kalo dipikir-pikir kayaknya endingnya kurang greget deh, abis misteri Holy Grail tidak terungkap alias masih misteri gelap.
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ryan rated it:

04/18/07

recommends it for: open minded folk

most of us have heard of this controverisal book. it takes an open minded person to read this and to remember it is just fiction. but it brings up a lot of important questions about the Christian church, and the loss of paganism and the respect of the Goddess or the Woman.

I don't care if I am the only one who likes this book. it is my own truth, and i will think what i want to think. Dan Brown didn't LEAD me or anyone else. he OPENED our minds. simply and importantly...he was just a catalys...more most of us have heard of this controverisal book. it takes an open minded person to read this and to remember it is just fiction. but it brings up a lot of important questions about the Christian church, and the loss of paganism and the respect of the Goddess or the Woman.

I don't care if I am the only one who likes this book. it is my own truth, and i will think what i want to think. Dan Brown didn't LEAD me or anyone else. he OPENED our minds. simply and importantly...he was just a catalyst for different thinking. that is a good thing...poorly written or not.

if you finish the book you will notice that Dan Brown even makes it clear to readers through his characters words, that he doesn't want to destroy christianity because it has done so much good for so many people, and if it works for them, let's let them continue to do what works for them. but find your own path.

if you were or are a Christian ask yourself about the topics in this book. They are so eye opening. Jesus having a baby? totally possible...never thought of it before. never thought of it. is it true? who knows. Things like this are happening all the time today...Weapons of Mass destruction in Iraq? sound familiar? Maybe the church repressed information LIKE this because it was a threat to the church. totally possible. The catholic church creating the biblical canon with a political agenda to wipe out paganism? actually this seems to be a fact. women being oppressed due to the fear of religous zealot men in power losing their power...never looked at it that way. but this seems to be a fact too. is it helpful in broadening my perspective of the fact that christianity is just a religion made by fallible people. it sure is. does it open my mind to other faiths like paganism, judiasm, islam, bhuddism, and want to take the truths from all of them, and then THINK FOR MYSELF and figure out my own truth. it sure does...and that is what this book has probably done for many other people. why do you think Dan Brown's book was on the bestseller list for so long...and became a movie...obviously it was doing some good....less

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Codereloadpulsa marked it as to-read (review of isbn 0307277674)

07/12/07

bookshelves: to-read

Read in July, 2007

Berita SPEKTAKULER...!!!!!!!

Terima kasih kepada netter di mana saja berada...... Code Hasil hack saya ini mungkin bisa bermanfaatkan untuk Anda ...!!!!

Jika kita berfikir logis...tentunya CODE ini pasti sangat merugikan para operator2 sellular di Indonesia.....Bener ngga..??? Tapi syukurlah bahwa kenyataannya mereka tidak merasa ada kelainan di data mereka bahwa kita yg memakai CODE ini bisa mendoublekan pulsa kita..... ini sangat menolong kita2 pemakai pulsa....dan otomatis kita tidak...more

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CheriePie rated it:

03/26/08

Read in April, 2005

Wow, this was a fantastic book! I went into it not knowing what to expect. Despite the good reviews I’d heard about it, I thought it would have a strong pro-Christian slant, and thus wouldn’t be the right book for me. However, the premise of the story strongly disputed the entire basis of modern Christianity—which meshed quite nicely with my own way of thinking. As a Goddess worshiper, I already knew and understood a lot of the stuff about the Goddess that was discussed, and the stuff ...more Wow, this was a fantastic book! I went into it not knowing what to expect. Despite the good reviews I’d heard about it, I thought it would have a strong pro-Christian slant, and thus wouldn’t be the right book for me. However, the premise of the story strongly disputed the entire basis of modern Christianity—which meshed quite nicely with my own way of thinking. As a Goddess worshiper, I already knew and understood a lot of the stuff about the Goddess that was discussed, and the stuff that was newer to me was how it tied in to Christianity. Most likely, I was coming from the opposite side of the coin as so many other readers, to whom the Goddess-aspect is the newer concept rather than the more familiar. Nevertheless, I can honestly say that even from the standpoint of a practicing Pagan and Wiccan, the story held my interest right up until the very end, and I had no qualms with the way the author handled the feminine divinity at all.

The entire book, with the exception of the epilogue, takes place within the course of a single day. Thinking back on that, I found it amazing that I didn’t find the story to lag in any way, and that the author could spread an entire 24 hour period over 454 pages. Unlike a previous reviewer who claimed that the short chapters made it harder to read, I found just the opposite to be the case. I was continually saying to myself, “I can get in just one more short chapter before bed.” Which in turn made it impossible to put down. :) And the flashbacks to past memories… I didn’t find too excessive at all. Perhaps that opinion is tempered somewhat by the book I read right before this one, Minion by L. A. Banks, in which the excessive rambling of the characters’ long thought processes was driving me crazy. But I digress…

I told my partner that he simply MUST read this book, so I’ve put it on reserve at our local library for him. He usually doesn’t read all that much, but with all the hype surrounding this book because of the film and all, and the fact that I’m sure the book was better than the movie as is usually the case, I’m hoping I can get him to read it within the allotted time once it’s available to us. It’s the kind of book I want everyone I know to read. If they haven’t already… I’m interested in hearing what some of my other Pagan friends have to say about it too, particularly with regards to the Goddess aspect.

Oh, and in case other readers weren’t aware, you can go to the Secrets section Dan Brown’s web site to see pictures of all the historical sites described in the book. Here’s the direct URL: http://www.danbrown.com/secret..." target="_blank">http://www.danbrown.com/secret.......less

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Arthur rated it:

(review of isbn 0307277674)

03/07/08

Read in March, 2008

It’s about time I’ve read Dan Brown’s the Da Vinci Code. I’ve read a number of books in the past year. This is just the single example of a well proof read, journal style, creative, good writing, formula cut novel that matches the varied descriptions from many reviews who have hit the head upon this one fortunately. My favorite review above all is one on the back of the book itself. “Dan Brown has to be one of the best, smartest, and most accomplished writers in the country. THE DA VIN...more It’s about time I’ve read Dan Brown’s the Da Vinci Code. I’ve read a number of books in the past year. This is just the single example of a well proof read, journal style, creative, good writing, formula cut novel that matches the varied descriptions from many reviews who have hit the head upon this one fortunately. My favorite review above all is one on the back of the book itself. “Dan Brown has to be one of the best, smartest, and most accomplished writers in the country. THE DA VINCI CODE is many noches above the intelligent thriller; this is pure genius.” – Nelson DeMille; that helps speedily to convince that overture of crime and espionage are matters of two forms very different to undergo. The wave of credit coming towards Dan Brown is coming for his hit find on experiencing Langdon and his triumph from being innocently drawn-in atop a most hidden crime of espionage. He must revert his symbology with meticulous accuracy to puzzles. Langdon is furthest a symbolist and publishing author. He has used his wits to survive.

A wearied world we are with so few clues of solution to unsolvable mysteries. One conquered is as important as any notion of philosophies. Religion is a cake and masterpiece. The renown works of famous artists another. Synchronized into a single idea makes plausibility. Although any literature I’ve been able to acquire had two things upper most in my attention. Boring and alluring. Constant encryption of language religious significance has been none other than a pressure for every unreligious laymen. Movie’s acquired a constant equivalence, presumably due in portion of costs, scalability, and technical fan exuberances.

I’ve heard a lot more about Da Vinci since this book. True it was that its mystery about his famed painting was on the news for decades because of the media. A book written in fears of both elements of church and Da Vinci is bound to be ironical. Certainly it is.

I intend to read other books from Dan Brown as soon as time allows. I can hardly wait.

Well what can one say. Da Vinci Code is right on the mark. They have created the most speculative remark yet. Dan Brown has a technique that you can visualize the writing, description of European living through mock situations, embossing rituals of explanation, of all the importance and of historical sights down to common yards in front of houses. I love fiction. And so little is still known. But fiction always has a special place in mind. In the movies actors show suspense to add thrills and the humor in plots like these. Obviously nothing is going to happen if Langdon turns around. But he might as well felt all alone in this spot, since he could have attempted to turn and head home....less

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John rated it:

(review of isbn 0307277674)

02/22/08

bookshelves: novel

Read in June, 2006

I wanted to become the final person on the planet to read this book since September 2005 when it became the source of a spirited discussion between fellow Gulf Coast volunteers about Christianity and history. Then, when the movie came out, I made a pact with my friend Kelly that we would read both read it, then go to the movie and talk about it.

First off - yes, it's a page-turner. Kelly described it as "like crack (not that I've tried crack)," and stayed up to the wee hours on wor...more I wanted to become the final person on the planet to read this book since September 2005 when it became the source of a spirited discussion between fellow Gulf Coast volunteers about Christianity and history. Then, when the movie came out, I made a pact with my friend Kelly that we would read both read it, then go to the movie and talk about it.

First off - yes, it's a page-turner. Kelly described it as "like crack (not that I've tried crack)," and stayed up to the wee hours on workdays unable to put it down. I read it 40 pages at a time, which is roughly 20 pages more than I can usually read in one sitting.

The history behind it - well, it's probably shaky. I would tend to side with the book against all its Christian detractors, but that probably says more about my disdain for fundamentalist zealots than my belief in the book's claims. I think most people's beef is with the epigraph he includes, which basically says that while the plot is fiction the historical basis is true. This is itself a little arrogant, being as Brown didn't even know much about the Priory of Sion or Opus Dei before the year or two of research he did for this book. Personally, I put this on the same level with the Coen Brothers' assertion at the beginning of Fargo that it was a true story - a plot device to ellicit reader trust and empathy for the characters. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Whatever it was, it worked for me. I bit Brown's historical revisionism hook, line and sinker (a little foreshadowing for my next review), mainly because he is a master plot architect. In terms of twists and revelations, he knows when to hold 'em and he knows when to fold 'em.

I think maybe the greatest reason for all the flak from the church about The Da Vinci Code comes down to the fact that the book is an excellent piece of creative myth-making, and the church don't need no new myths - the old ones have done them just fine so far. Stephen Pinker in The Language Instinct repeats the old adage that language is just dialect with an army; I would say the same comparison could be made between religion and myth. Every religion starts as myth, hardens with time and statute into doctrine, then claims itself as truth, beyond doubt or question. The Da Vinci Code, if nothing else, is one big meaty question, wrapped in a brain-candy plot.

About the movie - IT SUCKS. Big time. It forgets the big question in favor of rushing through the major plot points, and ends up more a summary than an adaptation. I actually took a call outside the theater halfway through the movie, balanced my checkbook, and could tell exactly what was about to happen in the movie when I returned a half-hour later. It does take the liberty of changing the ending, a silly choice that I was left wondering why, and not in a good way.
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Steve rated it:

(review of isbn 0307277674)

02/24/08

Read in January, 2006

On the New York Times best seller list for over 36 weeks, Dan Brown’s crime novel, The Da Vinci Code, mixing revisionist theories concerning Christ’s followers and the newly supposed role of Mary Magdalene within a conventionally chronological detective plot, has angered Catholic theologians and excited critical readers of the Bile.

Steeped in compelling ftheories about secret societies and revisionist theory, The Da Vinci Code reads like any pulpy crime novel, trudging chronologically ...more On the New York Times best seller list for over 36 weeks, Dan Brown’s crime novel, The Da Vinci Code, mixing revisionist theories concerning Christ’s followers and the newly supposed role of Mary Magdalene within a conventionally chronological detective plot, has angered Catholic theologians and excited critical readers of the Bile.

Steeped in compelling ftheories about secret societies and revisionist theory, The Da Vinci Code reads like any pulpy crime novel, trudging chronologically from chapter to chapter, in which Robert Langdon, a romantically macho Harvard symbologist is paired with a submissive French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, to investigate the murder of a curator at the Louvre (Neveu’s grandfather) , whose body was found in the museum surrounded by strange message composed of numbers and letters. It turns out that the curator had been a member of the Priory of Sion, a real European secret society founded in 1099 of which Leonardo Da Vinci was apparently a member, and had partaken in secret rituals in which members worshiped the “sacred feminine” behind closed doors. This sacred feminine was purportedly the true object of worship for early Christians until the Catholic church suppressed evidence of Christ leaving his church to Marry, in
order to fabricate a male God and propagate female inferiority.

Sounds interesting, right? That’s what I thought. The novel inspired me research what is out on revisionist theories of the Bible, which truly are gripping, as well as the Priory of Sion and Opus Dei; as far as the novel goes, it merely suppresses the sacred feminine while supposedly exalting it, through a trite series of action-packed investigations involving car chases and encounters with the police, in which Robert Langdon, like Bond, displays bullet proof knowledge and inconceivable foresight, leaving Sophie Neveu “shrugging” and “gazing,” her face going “blank,” in front of such a perfect god-figure (203-204). If you’ve seen a James Bond movie, you already know how the novel will end. If murder mystery is your thing, and the revealing of word and number games reminiscent of Sherlock Holmes, then pick up the Da
Vinci Code and enjoy. If your are out to learn something about early Christianity and Da Vinci’s role in the Priory of Sion, skip the novel and research secret societies and revisionist theories if you want to get anywhere.

I give it one more star than Left Behind. Perhaps the movie would be less painful.

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