My rating:

add to my books

The Da Vinci Code (Robert Langdon #2)

by Dan Brown

3.60 · rating details · 730,792 ratings · 25,841 reviews

An ingenious code hidden in the works of Leonardo da Vinci. A desperate race through the cathedrals and castles of Europe. An astonishing truth concealed for centuries . . . unveiled at last.

While in Paris, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is awakened by a phone call in the dead of the night. The elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the muse...more

Paperback, 597 pages

Published March 28th 2006 by Anchor (first published 2003)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

There is a good chance some of your friends read this book. Sign in to see!

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

Best Books Ever

24th out of 16,938 books — 57,043 voters

The Book Was Better Than The Movie

4th out of 1,035 books — 12,136 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 845,699)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Dec 25, 2007

Mer rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: morons and troglodytes

Shelves: tripeshitandgarbage

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 t...morePLEASE 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 dialogue 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 Choad 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)

like 536 likes

· see review

Jul 17, 2007

Jim rated it

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.

Intende...moreThis 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)

like 100 likes

· see review

May 26, 2007

Keely rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary-fiction, novel, reviewed, american

A thriller devoid of pacing or exciting language. A mystery devoid of clues, foreshadowing, or facts. A tell-all of half-truths based upon a forged document written by a schizophrenic conman. A character-driven modern novel devoid of character. The second draft of Angels and Demons. Page-turning action thanks to the literary equivalent of pulling out at the moment of orgasm. A spiritual awakening built on new-age conspiracy theory. This book is many things, and none of them good, new, or interes...moreA thriller devoid of pacing or exciting language. A mystery devoid of clues, foreshadowing, or facts. A tell-all of half-truths based upon a forged document written by a schizophrenic conman. A character-driven modern novel devoid of character. The second draft of Angels and Demons. Page-turning action thanks to the literary equivalent of pulling out at the moment of orgasm. A spiritual awakening built on new-age conspiracy theory. This book is many things, and none of them good, new, or interesting. However, it is an excellent litmus test for idealistic delusion.

Upon the first reading, I must admit I found it a bit interesting, but then I turned the final page, and there was no bibliography. No explanation of how the author became familiar with all the concepts he claimed to 'faithfully portray'. He wrote this book and pretended it was a history book, and then refused to support it in any way. And any history you can't check up on is a bad one.

He's no better than James Frey. In fact, he may be worse, since I know people who base their religious beliefs on this book, whereas Frey's only crime was wishing he was Scarface. And really, what macho thirtysomething male doesn't?

Brown had good reasons for hiding his sources: they were forged by con-man Pierre Plantard and snuck into the Bibliotheque National in Paris back in the seventies. And it's not like Plantard got away with it, either--the whole 'Priory of Sion' thing was debunked thirty years before this book was even written.

The artistic 'iconography' that figures heavily into the mystery is also completely made-up, and was declared ludicrous by an art history professor of my acquaintance. There are a lot of well-known symbols and allusions in classic art, but none of them resemble Brown's claims. The whole hinge on which the plot turns--the notion that an inverted triangle is automatically symbolic of women--makes about as much sense as declaring that the use of the swastika by 3rd century, BC Buddhists was proof that they were fascists.

The rest of Brown's book is filled with the sort of cliched religious conspiracies you get from your first year as a theology student. Not only that, but these conspiracies were already explored by better writers in 'Foucault's Pendulum' and the 'Illuminatus! Trilogy'.

Well, I've already done more legitimate historical research on this review than Brown did in his whole book, so I guess I'll call it a day.(less)

like 40 likes

· see review

Jul 30, 2007

Maura rated it

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 no...moreI'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)

like 59 likes

· see review

Apr 18, 2007

ryan rated it

· review of another edition

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...moremost 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)

like 87 likes

· see review

Aug 22, 2011

Stephen rated it

Shelves: conspiracies-and-weird-science, 2000-2005, mystery, thriller, religion-spirituality, audiobook

OKAY PEOPLE…someone let me in on the gag because between the cries of "Greatest Book of Greaty Greatness EVER" and the screams of "Lamest Load of Lamey Lameness EVER", my itty bitty brain is left very…

So post Hype-a-ganza, I finally got around to reading this popular, polarizing, pop culture icon and thought it was….drum roll……………………FINE(sigh). It was a solid read with a slight lean towards the “eh” side of MEH and few moments of genuine “that’s neat.” I don’t see all...more

like 71 likes

· see review

Apr 21, 2008

Ruth rated it

Shelves: total-crap

Impossibly complicated plot. Really, really, really bad writing. This book was forced upon me. I should have known better.

like 46 likes

· see review

Nov 17, 2007

Jeremy rated it

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...moreThis 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)

like 48 likes

· see review

May 07, 2007

Joey rated it

This book is non-stop action.This book is non-stop action.This book is non-stop action.This book is non-stop action.This book is non-stop action.This book is non-stop action.This book is non-stop action.This book is non-stop action.This book is non-stop action.This book is non-stop action.This book is non-stop action.This book is non-stop action.This book is non-stop action.This book is non-stop action.This book is non-stop action.This book is non-stop action.This book is non-stop action.This bo...more

like 36 likes

· see review

Jul 15, 2008

Ethan rated it

· review of another edition

Four stars for pure entertainment value.

However, Dave Barry's review gets five stars:

`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 Da...more

like 104 likes

· see review

Oct 19, 2007

Lauren rated it

This book, this book, this hopelessly stupid book. It's okay. It's something to read. It's not the worst book I've ever read. I did get through the whole thing. But, simply, it is not THAT good.
I will now proceed to quote from another reviewer, Mer, who has said exactly what I have been saying for years -albeit she does it far more eloquently than I:

"The characters are weakly drawn. The dialog is excruciating. The research is shoddy and self-serving at best. The plot, no m...moreThis book, this book, this hopelessly stupid book. It's okay. It's something to read. It's not the worst book I've ever read. I did get through the whole thing. But, simply, it is not THAT good.
I will now proceed to quote from another reviewer, Mer, who has said exactly what I have been saying for years -albeit she does it far more eloquently than I:

"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.(...)
"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."

So, so, so true. And if you've read "Angels and Demons" you'll see that it starts out precisely the way "Code" does, nearly word-for-word, even using the dreaded looks-at-himself-in-the-mirror character description cop-out.

This, and the man (the author, that is) looks like a troll. A self-aggrandizing oh-so-clever stuffed pompous troll. All he did was capitalize on a theme that's been out there for years, insist that it was all 100% factual, and put a pretty red cover on it. He's created a sensation and got himself a movie, I'll give him that. I bet he swims around in vaults of money every night cackling at his deluded readership.

But the book is just NOT THAT GOOD. Get over it. Want something historical? Read Anya Seton. Something thrilling? Read Thomas Tryon. Richard North Patterson. Jon Krakauer. Croikey, even Clive Cussler! Anything but that damn Dan Brown.(less)

like 21 likes

· see review

Dec 14, 2007

Tortla rated it

Recommends it for: nobody, ever

Shelves: suckysuckybooks

I accidentally deleted this from my books. So that sucks. I don't remember when I read it anymore. It was horrible.

EDIT:
...But not quite as horrible as the idiotic discussion which this review spawned. I hate this book. That is my opinion. Many people share that opinion. I do not claim to be capable of writing a better book (although I suspect I already have written better pieces of literature, for some school assignment or something). You can like this book if you want. But if...more

like 21 likes

· see review

Jun 01, 2009

CJ rated it

Recommends it for: people who are gullible

Shelves: mystery

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...moreCaveat 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. 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.

(less)

like 27 likes

· see review

Jun 26, 2007

Michael rated it

I read the Baigent book a decade before I read this novel.

Somehow, Brown managed to "dumbify" everything.

Afterwards I read Eco to wash the taste out of my brain.

like 17 likes

· see review

Jul 03, 2007

AJ Griffin rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: trying to think of a clever joke here....the pope? ron howard? i don't know. no new ground here

First of all, let's try to rid our mind of all the hype and hoopla surrounding the whole thing. Let's pretend the whole thing is just some spiral bound notebook that you found on the train and read because you were lonely.

Ok, having accomplished that, let's dole out some compliments. Good plot, Danny boy! You managed to write an interesting crime/mystery/whatever thing WHILE managing to blaspheme one of the most worshiped dudes of all time. That takes some creativity, and some ...more

like 16 likes

· see review

Apr 23, 2007

mary rated it

it's an action movie! it's a book! it's an action movie!

it surprises me that the movie version was so dull, having such a simple adapted screenplay to write. this book reads like a blockbuster looks. and i will admit that i totally loved it while i was reading and forgot it promptly after, but i did the same when i watched vin diesel in XXX.

it's a very fun read. it's horrendously written, the characters are rather shallow, there are enough chase scenes and things popping...more

like 12 likes

· see review

Aug 17, 2007

Brian rated it

Recommends it for: No one

I read this because someone recommended to me. To this day I would like tell them off. This book is complete crap. Stereotypical one-dimensional characters (c'mon! an albino monk assassin?? Gimme a break people!). There are really only 4-5 actual characters so it is no mystery of "whodunnit?"

Yeah it's a page-turner. So what? So is any Dr. Seuss book. But at least Dr. Seuss was a genius. Dan Brown is a hack. A rich hack, now. But totally talentless. He is the Brittney Spea...more

like 14 likes

· see review

Aug 24, 2007

Crystal rated it

Recommends it for: men, conspiracy buffs, religious skeptics

Shelves: books-i-didn-t-enjoy, novels

Believe it or not, my BOSS lent me this book. He said it was so great that I HAD to read it, and he pressed it into my hands. I said thanks in surprise, because that was about as personal as my boss ever got. well, imagine the awkwardness when I didn't really like the book. what do you say to the man who signs your paychecks when you think his book is nothing more than a creative version of what I call the man's romance novel--boring, average man (okay, in this book very smart--but not special ...more

like 15 likes

· see review

Apr 10, 2007

rachel rated it

I was genuinely confused by the stupidity of the DaVinci code. The two protagonists were touted as supergeniuses, yet kept making the most amazing dumbfuck moves. Sometimes this could be written off as making the book accessible to its intended public (e.g., to insure that his readers understand the concept of a keystone, Brown has one of his supergenius characters exclaim, "but wait, vaulted ceilings don't *have* keys!" as an intro to a suitable-for-third-graders explanation). Othe...more

like 11 likes

· see review

Jun 10, 2008

Jen3n rated it

Shelves: fantasy, mystery, awful, books-made-into-movies, history

I found this book condescending, unexciting, and ill thought-out. I wanted it to be better. I had been TOLD it was fun. I was lied to. This is an awful book.

like 15 likes

· see review

Aug 08, 2008

Robert rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: female-divinity

For the most part, it seems that people either passionately love this book or they passionately hate it. I happen to be one of the former. For my part, I don't see the book so much as an indictment of the Catholic Church in particular but of religious extremism and religion interfering in political process in general. The unwarranted political control granted to extreme religious organizations like the CBN is an issue that we will be forced to address one way or the other. To my eye, our politic...more

like 28 likes

· see review

view all 19 comments

Loveena Hi :) Did you read 'The Lost Symbol'? Well, history seems to be repeating itself! Anyways, I liked it. It certainly was not a waste of time. Maybe for...more
Sep 18, 2009 01:11am

deleted user Robert wrote: "For Jeff --

Gotta agree with Mindy on this one. Womens' voices have been excluded from the religious narrative or only st...more
Oct 13, 2009 05:42pm

Jul 12, 2007

Codereloadpulsa marked it as to-read

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 oto...more

like 6 likes

· see review

Jun 29, 2007

Seth Hahne rated it

For cheap supermarket fiction, this sure was cheap supermarket fiction. It would have helped if this was the first book I had ever read. Unfortunately, having read Curious George as a child (a towering work of literary genius by comparison), The DaVinci Code suffered perhaps unjustly.

like 25 likes

· see review

Nov 08, 2007

Purple rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: The countless sheep that blindly read anything recommended to them. They deserve it.

Shelves: 1-star, crime-fiction

Like the bible itself, it's a great story ruined by horrific storytelling.

Apt, I suppose.

like 7 likes

· see review

Sep 14, 2007

Irene rated it

Recommends it for: illiterate dumbasses

Worst. Book. Ever.

like 16 likes

· see review

Jul 09, 2008

Jake rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, pulp

If for some reason you haven’t heard of the Da Vinci Code before now, I have no help for you. I live under a fairly substantive rock, and even I had heard of this book to death. I had even attempted to read it once or twice, during my stint at Waldenbooks, but couldn’t really get into it. So I gave up, and decided to relegate it to the same place as Titanic and Forrest Gump—works of popular culture that I have no interest in, and therefore, will not partake of. But in a testament to the power of...moreIf for some reason you haven’t heard of the Da Vinci Code before now, I have no help for you. I live under a fairly substantive rock, and even I had heard of this book to death. I had even attempted to read it once or twice, during my stint at Waldenbooks, but couldn’t really get into it. So I gave up, and decided to relegate it to the same place as Titanic and Forrest Gump—works of popular culture that I have no interest in, and therefore, will not partake of. But in a testament to the power of the feminine wile, SV convinced me to read it, and so, at the suggestion of Professor Mortis, borrowed a copy from my local library before setting out for the Thanksgiving holiday (Thanks to PG and Laurion for their lending offers, though I did not take them up on it.).

So what did I think of this incredibly popular, highly controversial work that sold literally millions of copies, spawned a movie, and produced comments from the Vatican itself? In a word, it’s bad. Other appropriate single words might be awful, atrocious, terrible, or abominable. Other similar synonyms can be found here.

The Da Vinci Code is a combination of bad writing, shoddy history, poor plotting, and unconvincing characters that blends together to form a barely readable work. The fact that anyone took this work seriously in any capacity is amazing to me. The characters are flat, boring, and none of them exceed two dimensions at best. The “history” is so riddled with holes as to be completely unbelievable to the semi-alert observer (my favorite part is the explanation of how the Church’s desire to destroy the “sacred feminine” is responsible for Orthodox Jews and devout Muslims barring women from certain rites.). And finally, the plot just makes no damn sense. Even the much vaunted puzzles are fairly trite, and usually explained so quickly that it’s barely worth thinking about. The final puzzle that the main character is faced with is so mind-bogglingly obvious that anyone who knows how to draw a Mogen David (Star of David) can figure it out instantly.

So the question for me became this: given how awful this book is, why the hell is it so popular? I can offer the following explanations/observations.

First off, Brown employs a clever (and I use the term loosely) narrative structure in which he ends every single chapter on a cliffhanger. This forces the reader to continue reading, hoping to reach a payoff or stopping point that is never quite realized. Thus the reader keeps going to the next chapter, hoping to finally hit a point where the story will relax, only to discover that the story never really relaxes. It just plods relentlessly forward, like the Terminator chasing Sarah Connor with a SuDoKu puzzle.

In a similar vein, Brown keeps his chapters short. In fact, I’ve read verse poetry that was longer than some of the chapters in this book (and considerably better written). This helps the reader feel as though they are making progress, because they’re suddenly on Chapter 44, and can reach Chapter 50 with only a few extra minutes of reading. Hooray for the short attention span.

Likewise, Brown taps into some popular political and historical fallacies that are guaranteed to make him well-liked. Namely that the Catholic Church is an evil conspiracy (Christianity is one of the few religions it’s still ok to hate in this day and age, after all) and the notion that ancient Europeans were all ecologically conscious, goddess-worshipping pacifists until the evil patriarchy destroyed their edenic culture. And hey, both of those are popular, if totally un-nuanced and historically questionable viewpoints, but shoddy history is always popular with the masses. The popularity of this book is proof enough.

Knowing that I’m one of the last people in the United States to have read this book, I can hardly imagine my recommendation can save anyone at this point, but on the off hand chance it can—don’t read this book. It’s a waste of time. At the very least, take it out of the library so you don’t put more money into the pocket of an author of questionable talent. There’s much better writers in this world.(less)

like 14 likes

· see review

Dec 11, 2007

Shannon rated it

Recommends it for: complete idiots

Shelves: festival-of-suck

First, I'd like to say that I'm only giving this one star because I don't think it's possible to give something zero stars and still rate it.

Second of all, I haven't actually read this book. So it seems unfair for me to rate it, I'm sure. I have, however, read the first... 20 pages. And those first 20 pages contained some of the worst writing I have ever read. Everything about it was painful.

I don't think I can ever bring myself to actually read this book entirely. The t...more

like 9 likes

· see review

Nov 05, 2008

Ibrahim added it

Recommends it for: nobody

Shelves: books-i-loathe

It is no secret that I am deeply charmed and swept off my feet by atheist who make the engine of my mind work and work; they make me feel alive. What Dan Brown does on the other hand is spreading around historical fallacies and lies. Even as fiction, his work at best is nothing but literary parasitism. It is now a fashionable trend in the world of literary market to see actual parasites who can't stand on their own intellectual merit but take advantage of the vast resonance associated with the n...more

like 8 likes

· see review

Dec 15, 2007

Espen rated it

Recommends it for: nobody

Shelves: dustbin

The book is a clunker, and once you start noticing it there is no way back.

The premise is great and the plot at least starts out promising, but the writing, particularly the exposition, is breathless and shallow - Paris is described barely better than Marlo Morgan describes Australia. The book features a Harvard professor of "Religious Symbology" trying to make sense of the death of a Louvre curator - who turns out to be the grandmaster of a secret society guarding the 2000...more

like 7 likes

· see review

Aug 19, 2009

Hannah Eiseman-Renyard rated it

Shelves: i-don-t-get-it, didn-t-finish-it

Dan Brown Used to Teach Creative Writing? Pity the Students

I got to page 17 before I was pissed off enough to stop reading. The little author biog states that Dan Brown used to teach creative writing at a US university. How?!

The old adage of "show, don't tell" has perhaps been over-used, but Dan Brown's text is like a masterclass in what not to do. Facts are clumsily shoe-horned in or splattered about the page like pigeon-poop:
"So-and-So - the ruggedl...more

like 10 likes

· see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 28189 28190 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
do u like it?	105	234	2 minutes ago
The Da Vinci Code, or Angels and Demons?	71	226	13 minutes ago
Worst Ending Ever	19	263	Jan 04, 2012 04:13am
middle of the road	20	68	Nov 23, 2011 11:28pm
Viskanta Readers: The Da Vinci Code	1	4	Nov 18, 2011 09:21am
Did anyone else like it?	82	450	Oct 28, 2011 08:15pm
Pointless plot	14	133	Oct 08, 2011 04:09pm

combine
Other Editions (181)

More editions...

Genres

Mystery

2,670 users

Thriller

1,616 users

Suspense

489 users

Adventure

379 users

Historical Fiction

361 users

Novels

329 users

Thriller > Mystery Thriller

369 users

Adult Fiction

324 users

Adult

285 users

Religion

274 users

See top shelves...

Readers Also Enjoyed

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Pin It

About Dan Brown

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Dan Brown is an American author of thriller fiction, best known for the 2003 bestselling novel, The Da Vinci Code.
Brown is interested in cryptography, codes, and keys. Currently his novels have been translated into many languages.
Although many see Da...more

More about Dan Brown...

More quotes…

Groups That Shelved The Da Vinci Code

The Book Addicts!

4487 members

last activity 40 minutes ago

shelf: read

Romance Readers Reading C...

4349 members

last activity 6 minutes ago

shelf: read

Books on the Nightstand

1909 members

last activity 1 hour, 16 min ago

shelf: read

title link	preview: The Da Vinci Code
avg rating	preview: The Da Vinci Code Goodreads rating: 3.60 (730792 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/968.The_Da_Vinci_Code?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1303252999m/968.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/968.The_Da_Vinci_Code?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown[/url]

The Da Vinci Code (Robert Langdon #2)

Friend Reviews

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topic
Discuss This Book

combine
Other Editions (181)

Genres

Readers Also Enjoyed

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website

About Dan Brown

Books by Dan Brown

Trivia About The Da Vinci Code

Quotes from The Da Vinci Code

Groups That Shelved The Da Vinci Code