The Da Vinci Code question

Fiction and speculation disguised as history.

The writing style was fine and the story was fast paced and highly entertaining. Mr. Brown's particular style may not be for everyone but I've also noticed that there are a lot of pretentious pencil necks just itching to turn their noses up at every book they see for the sake of appearing more well-read and intelligent than all the other pretentious pencil necks competing for the "Least Likely To Get a Date Award." They're hilariously competitive and I'm sure they're all a blast at cocktail parties. If you don't enjoy the book, put it down and pick up a different one -- simple as that :)

Personally, I found it really interesting and gripping. Maybe I don't know much about religion and European art, but I was captivated by everything about this book. I think others might not like it because it is clichéd, or they don't agree with the historical/religious aspects.

I reading through these comments, we should all be thankful there are many different authors writing all different here's of books.

I really enjoyed the book. It is fiction and the idea of the novel is to keep us in suspense. It wasn't al that suspenseful. It was a good book, but a book that goes to the classic library? NO

It is terrific and scare. It is burn on body by iron something. oh my. It is against their Catholic and I believe that he is against religious something like that. He has no heart to give away. oh my.

I like the theme of it. But it's kind of poor writting (sometimes it's quite predictable for a crime mystery fiction and the ending is disapointing), so yes it's overrated. If not because of the theme I may not finish it.

I don't think people hate it, it's just not a must-read. If you like the religious theme then it's quite interesting. But I won't reread it.

I liked quite a bit. The pages just kept turning and turning. I think people get too caught up on all the crap Dan Brown says and don't enjoy the book for what it is: fiction.

The Da Vinci Code was my first Dan Brown book and I thoroughly enjoyed it but then the more Dan Brown books I read the more I realised that even though the story was different the plot was the same. If not Robert Langdon then someone else similar would be the hero or whatever and there would be a woman companion helping him out saving the situation.

That's not to say I didn't enjoy the read but its just that you get a sense of deja vu when part of the way through a book similarities to other stories pop up even the subject matter is totally different. I can't say I've senced it with other authors.

I read the book before I watched the film and although I thought that the film was good I loved the book. I know a few people that gave up on the book, they couldn't keep up with the storyline which I do understand as there was a lot of information and details that had to be remembered throughout the book but I love that about books like that! Got to admit I did really enjoy the book.

It's a great piece bien faite, I read it, I enjoyed it. That's about it.

It's well-written but not original. It's a page-turner but not a mind-opener.

It's well-researched, no doubt, unfortunately, it deals with areas I know pretty well, so, I didn't learn much that was new to me.

I have read a few Dan Brown books and found them entertaining. However, this one I can just not seem to finish. I've tried a few times with no luck.

I was a bit conflicted about this book. I like short chapters. I like conspiracies. But this was a bit over-the-top: when averything (literally EVERYTHING) turns out to be interconnected, it's not realistic. And the book is just too full of the words 'symbologist', 'cryptologist', 'feminine devine', etc. I found myself thinking "yeah, yeah, I get it" all the time. Plus, I thought that the true meaning of the Grail was a bit disappointing, but that might be because I'm not extremely familiar with Christian doctrine. However, I liked the final few chapters quite well and it still was a hell of a page-turner. An easy read.

Overrated - it did become a very populist piece of work and I am still trying to figure out why so many people enjoyed this. A lot of people that I know that did, never read, and have not really read much since, so it is a tragic thing they do not know what a good writing style truly is, as Dan Brown has no idea either.

With Dan Brown, you either love him or hate him. I, myself, love him. I like the pacing, and the conspiracy concepts in his books are entertaining and at least thought-provoking, even if they are not entirely accurate. I did start to notice a formula after reading a couple of them, but it didn't take away from the enjoyment of the book itself. I just find the plots to be gripping, the action to be intense, and the characters to be intriguing, and I enjoy all those things in any book I read. Some people have different tastes, so not everyone will like Brown. I just don't understand why so many people feel the need to bash others for liking it simply because it's not their style or don't like the flavor. I love a good thriller, but that doesn't mean I have to like every thriller written by every author of that genre.

About his writing style I liked his two books only Angles and Daemons & Da Vinci Code. The thing I don't like about Dan (even though he is my favourite author) is he tries to be more desciptive about placeswhen it doesn't matter the story, when it does it is obviously not a problem.

About people accusing him good or bad. I think he has touched the traditional mindset, people who are biased are not meant to change.

About the truth, no one really can know what happened in history, as they said "history is written by the victors". But it's a good perception of old thing, represented in a good, I will give Dan Brown that. :)

Badly written and lots of holes in the plot. If you're interested in the topic, there's a lot of other stuff that is much better.
An antithesis to this is Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum.

personatly i like it . Or at least i liket it . As i sade in a comment in romania the church made a huge deal on the topic and a lot of people where offended even without reading it . But as a novel i l ike it

I don't think about it, really. It was a passable book, though not a particularly good one. There's been much better, and much worse.

It's hardly worth a remark.

I thought the book was a great read. I also think the movie did it little justice and that's too bad because I love Tom Hanks. Still, I liked the writing style and I was able to follow the confusing plot and I even found myself getting interested in these paintings. Luckily I bought the illustrated version. Made it a lot easier.

The Da Vinci Code is the first Dan Brown book I've read and I really liked it. I enjoyed how facts reveal through every codes and symbols and how Da Vinci's works are used. It made me want to read some of his works because of that. I tried reading Deception Point and I stopped reading it, I didn't like it. I waited so long for the paperback copy of Inferno and so excited to read it, but now I'm stuck with it for almost two months. I'm trying so hard to finish it and yeah, it has the same plot for The Da Vinci but I find it more interesting than Inferno. Does this book get any more fun? Please let me know so I can decide on whether or not to continue reading Inferno, or should I just move on and grab a new book.

How books are perceived depends on your purpose for reading. If I want to bake a pie, I want the book to be accurate and concise. If I am reading for pleasure, I want it to be entertaining. Perhaps I am a simpleton but I enjoy reading fiction to relax in the evenings and it does not need to be great literature or pretentiously written.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It was evident that the author had researched his subject and he presented a well thought out premise and proceeded to keep me enthralled with his efforts. The characters were believable and I wanted to see what would happen to them in the context of the story.

The book was a gift from my daughter and I was also overjoyed that she'd inherited my passion for, not only books, but, for the thriller genre. She told me that as she read the book, one thought she had all throughout the book was that "Dad would like this one." She was not mistaken. Since then, she's lent me Dan Brown's Inferno, as well. Another Dan Brown book that I enjoyed.

There are so many better books about religious history and mysterious secret societies, with well developed characters, intelligent protagonists and fascinating villains... why would you bother to read this terrible B-movie script posing as a novel?

Please, do yourself a favor and skip this book. If you have to read it, please borrow a copy - don't spend your own coin.

I believe that Dan Brown did a lot of research on many things to be able to write this book and others (like Angels and Demons or Digital Fortress). I think that he had original and really cool ideas in his hands. Unfortunately, I don't think he could actually write good books with them. His narrative, the way he handles the characters, not to mention the development of the plot were so not to my liking, that the originality and coolness of the main idea could not save the day.

Like Feliks said... Popes leaping from the rungs of helicopters, even if that's from another book, yikes.

Dan Brown found his Gimmick, now he's a best seller.

I did not like it, full of clichés and mysterious organisations that are O so scary and religious references that if you have no faith are just nonsense on top of nonsense. I read half and felt I was wasting my life.

I seriously liked this book, although I read it a while back so I don't totally know the details.

I still need to read Angels and Demons.

All I know is that my Dad never in his life reads books, and he read The Davinci Code and liked it.

I really liked this book...the film is not nearly as good. Read it a few years ago when there wasn't really anything else like it. I liked the way it stirred people up a bit with its theories. Lol!

I liked it very much. I know it's inaccurate on many levels but it's easy and nice to read,quite fun and some characters are quite surprising, like Silas (I'm sorry but I kinda pity this character)and I like the style in which it was written.

I loved it. The book is a work of fiction, and regardless of compelling arguments for or against Brown's theories, it was riveting. It's not Dickens or Hemingway, and it will never be classed as great literature. Brown's technique is simplistic and it takes some getting used to.
This book has some factual aspects, but everything else is pure fiction, ie; The gospel of Mary Magdelene suggests that Jesus kissed her on the 'mouth'. That is not true, just conjecture.
The chalice idea that's connected to The Last Supper aspect is just a theory, a fictional one. (If there is proof, I will take that back)
The good things that have happened since the release of this book; people are now more willing to debate religious ideas (something that just wasn't done-I live in Ireland)Interest in Art History is increasing, people are visiting locations outlined in the book. There are far more positives than negatives.
Some people didn't like the book and that's fair enough, this is just my opinion.

I would not call his writing ''embarrassingly bad'', because I've seen much worse. I am not saying, that his style is the best, however, I think the book over all was an interesting read. The information in it was really captivating, and I did my own research on it. As to the story line, it was a little predictable, I wish they could encounter more troubles with trying to figure the ''codes'', and not have eve chapter end with ''I think I know where the Holy Grail is'' , or ''Sophie, I think I know what your grandfather mean when he said this''. Nonetheless, the book was really good in my opinion, I appreciated all the facts and historic figures that he has used as a reference. Definitely would recommend this book to the lovers of art and that time period, as well as people that would like to know a little more about the history of Catholic Church.

The book has been blown out of proportion through its huge success. I think a lot of people flocked to it expecting to be blown away, and found it to be lacking.

It is, at bottom line, only a nicely done effort at an amusing adventure storyline.
Offering an easy read (maybe too easy; 100 chapters in a 500 page book, really Brown, really?), and personally I felt reminded of the Broken Sword game series by it; love the game, therefore liked the book.

An ordinary, reasonably well-written suspense novel. The fiction is reasonably logical and realistically presented, the characters are okay and there are only a few serious lapses. Nothing in the book is seriously out of line but in the end, what you have is an over-long beach read.

I thought things were too predictable, the different puzzles or challenges were easy to figure out. It just made things boring to me.

The book is just a fiction that use some facts to make it real but as it is not.

It made me read up on the background. I found the plot quite intriguing.

Nevertheless, the style is very simplistic, most probably aimed at masses, rather than at readers with more refined tastes. :)

Loved it. So many people hated it (that I know). I loved it.

If you compare it to a classic novel, it's obviously a little ridiculous. As a page-turner, it's pretty decent. It's just that most mystery/suspense pulp doesn't dive into deep religious and philosophical matters. As far as affecting popular culture goes, it was probably good for the masses who are still brain-washed by religious dogmatism.

If anyone needs to write a stupid essay, it's an easy-er read. And intriguing. (I liked it...)

I will admit, the backwards writing on the cryptex was easier to figure out than he made it. I saw it even before I got up to that part in the book.

The religious elements of this book and the controversy they created elevated a not-so-great piece of fiction to best seller level.

The character's actions (especially that of the villain), do not align with their motivations, and it's clear the author designates the bad guy based solely on shock value. Personally, this killed the book for me.

I guess everyone has their own taste, but I personally loved the book. I finished it in 2 nights, which doesn't happen often for me. I found it to be very entertaining and action filled.

Others may not have liked it based on the historical/religious facts. Perhaps they were expecting something a little more realistic? Maybe they were expecting something more like "Pillars of the Earth"?

For me, reading fiction is like watching an action movie. It may be unrealistic, but it better be good!

In my opinion, Dan Brown is a master of pacing and nothing else. His characters are shallow sketches, he telegraphs every twist, and his descriptions are often boring and cliched. He writes toward the lowest common denominator, probably with a screenplay in mind--which is funny because the movies are worse than the books!

I really enjoyed the Da Vinci Code!

It is a novel. The last time I checked that meant fiction, not true, etc... I found the book very entertaining and have loved everyone of Dan Brown's religious novels. Actually have enjoyed all his novels. I don't understand how people can take a fictitious book and try and make it something Mr. Brown didn't intend for it to be. It was unrealistic and I loved it.

Da Vinci code was the huge thing here in Italy, because of all the Vatican implications so I was curious to see what was all about...
Page 5, or maybe 8, anyway, the very first part, I remeber thinking: if it turns out in the end that she's Jesus Christ's descendant. I'm gonna set fire to the book right away.
So it was...even if I didn't burn the book, I can't "harm" a book, nevermind how awful, I still think this is trash. The historic references were not so historic after all, but bent to meet plot needs which would be fine if not for the advertised "this is based on historic evidence" Mr.Brown stamped all over books and never failed to remind in interviews. I found the book unconvincing when not straight laughable in its improbability, the part about the sacred femenineis absolutely misconstructed and the writing boring.
Because you never know and a single book cannot say all about an author, I also read Angels and Demons...even worse experience. Mr. Brown is not for me.

Taken as pure fiction, the story as a whole has some interesting concepts on secret societies, religion, and treasure hunts. If a reader is expecting any historical accuracy, they're reading the wrong book.

As far as literature goes, it is poorly written. As far as entertainment goes, pretty shallow and not well developed. On the positive side, it certainly could be worse, it could be Twilight or 50 Shades of Grey.

I liked it, it was quite a fun journey. The Indiana Jones like formula worked well with me.

The passage about Jesus kissing Mary Magdalen is from the gospel of Philip, a fragment of which is translated in Karen King's study 'The Gospel of Mary of Magdala'. Professor King is a biblical scholar at Harvard. The papyrus manuscript was found in a town in Egypt Nag Hammadi, in 1945. This account, in my opinion is as authentic as anything else in the bible.