The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

...extraterrestrial plots to take over the world. However a new trend seems to be developing, many authors are looking to the past and older conspiracies involving historical secret societies with religious or occult traditions are becoming favoured backgrounds for many stories. Of course Dan Brown is not the first to do this and 'The Da Vinci Code' does not have the impact, the literary credentials or witty style of Umberto Eco's much better 'Foucault's ...
...In the dark galleries and corridors of the Louvre museum in the middle of the night a deadly confrontation takes place between Silas an Albino monk and the academic and curator of the Louvre Jacques Saunière. Saunière is the holder of an ancient secret that the extreme Catholic organisation Opus Dei desperately wants in order to obtain a great source of power. Saunière is left to die but in a desperate bid to alert other to his life's purpose before ...

Mauri 24.06.2004 · Read full review
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Review of The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

~ ~ For the past few months American author Dan Brown has been topping the paperback bestseller lists here in Ireland, with all four of his published novels in the first four positions, the “Da Vinci Code” seemingly a permanent fixture at No. 1. To be honest, it’s not hard to see why, as all four novels are taut, exciting, and extremely well crafted conspiracy thrillers, and there’s nothing the reading public likes more than a damned good conspiracy ...
...the most celebrated and most recent of his novels, “The Da Vinci Code” (2003), Brown returns once more to the theme he successfully exploited in another of his novels, “Angels And Demons”, namely the Roman Catholic Church and, according to Brown at any rate, its multifarious and devious machinations to exploit the public and the entire world for its own evil purposes. In Angels and Demons we had the Catholic Church under attack from an ancient secret ...

the_mad_cabbie 31.12.2004 · Read full review
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Review of The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

...from well-respected museum curator at the Louvre, Jacques Sauniere, to meet after his lecture, and as Sauniere is reputed to be something of an expert on female symbology, the topic of a manuscript that Langdon has recently been working on, he is keen to meet the curator. He is somewhat disappointed when Sauniere fails to show up for the meeting, and resigns himself to having to return to Harvard without having met him. Events take a shocking turn, ...
...of the night. Sauniere has been murdered. It seems, however, that he had a message that he wanted to tell the world before his death, and he has attempted to pass this on through some shocking symbology and an intriguing message. Unfortunately for Langdon, he appears to have been implicated somehow in the death, and Bezu Fache, Capitane of the French Police, is keen to speak with him. At the Louvre, Langdon meets Agent Sophie Neveu, a cryptologist ...

Pumpkin 31.03.2004 · Read full review
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Review of The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

...person, but neither am I the type to seek out a book such as The Da Vinci Code simply on the grounds of excited murmurings, that claim it ‘denounces Christianity’ and does other such naughty stuff. Reading it between lessons in school, it became clear to me that Dan Brown’s novel was perhaps being misunderstood somewhat – I don’t know what kind of coverage its been getting in the media but various people I know have asked me ‘how does it disprove ...
...bafflingly of all; ‘is that the book with the vampires and stuff.’ Honestly, it’s bad enough when your friends keep asking these kinds of questions, but when the teachers join in too… Sure, there are some remarkable claims made about the life of Christ and some interesting theories regarding the Holy Grail, but amidst all the furore, people appear to be forgetting that when all is said and done, The Da Vinci Code is still just a fiction novel at ...

tom1clare 08.02.2005 · Read full review
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Review of The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

Dan Brown's latest effort, The Da Vinci Code, isn't a great book. All things considered, very few literary works merit such a distinction. Nonetheless, The Da Vinci Code is a highly readable volume based on a myriad of ancient and often mysterious themes. Brown does a credible job of intertwining those themes into a thoroughly modern adventure novel cum murder mystery, and at the same time he focuses a fair measure of intelligent discussion on the ...
...possibilities. The Da Vinci Code is not apt to find a sympathetic hearing among Christian fundamentalists. This book is based squarely on a series of premises hardly designed to curry favor either in Vatican City or in the Bible Belt of the American South. These include such delectable heresies as the notion that Jesus was mortal, not divine; speculation that the Four Gospels of the New Testament were canonized because of their political usefulness ...

BawBaw 06.03.2004 (03.04.2004) · Read full review
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Review of The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

...organise my own thoughts on the book. However, read through if you can take any more and maybe you will find something interesting about the biggest publishing phenomenon since JK Rowling ruined the planet with Harry fucking Potter. Religious leaders yield far too much power in modern day society. Those who refrain from using the bible or other sacred scripts as a step-by-step guide to living their daily existence quietly respect the power of religion ...
...business. Or, on the other hand, you might be an atheist like me and be completely morally corrupt. Thats why I like the premise behind Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. For those of you who have been camping in the woods this past year or so, The Da Vinci Code embraces the religious conspiracy of The Bloodline of Christ. Conspirators across the world (and presumably Dan Brown) believe that Jesus might have had his dirty way with Mary Magdalene, spawning ...

DangerMouse2005 20.07.2005 · Read full review
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Review of The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

...avoided reading Dan Browns thriller The Da Vinci code for a long time, the thought of a populist writer weaving a novel out of a subject that I have been interested in for many years filled me with dread. The turning point for me came when a friend of mine, not known to be an avid reader rattled through not only this book but a number of other books by the same author in short space of time. The resulting conversations we had about the subject matter ...
...in my friend then maybe the books cant be all bad. The main character is Robert Langdon, who is first introduced to us in Browns previous novel, Angels and Demons. Langdon is a Harvard academic whose field of expertise is religious symbolism and he is in Paris to meet with the curator of the Louvre, Jacques Saunière. When the later is discovered dead in a ritualistic style killing, with Langdon's details in his appointments diary, the American professor ...

steerpyke 26.04.2005 · Read full review
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Review of The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

...has to be one of the hottest pop fiction books to come out in a long time - nearly everyone I know has either read it, wants to read it, and is raving about it. But why? By all accounts, the narrative is not that well written, the sequence of events a tad predictable, and for those who have read Brown's other bestseller, "Angels and Demons," a virtually identical structure. So what makes this book such an enjoyable and entertaining read? The answer ...
...ancient French mystical cult and the modern day Catholic organization Opus Dei. Incoporated into this are the study of symbols, the legend of the Holy Grail, and the paintings of Leonardo Da Vinci. Yes, there are a couple of grizzly murders thrown in to the mixture, but they are part of the plot (which, on it's own is not that fascinating.) Quick overview of the not-so-essential basic plot: A member of the Catholic organization Opus Dei is involved ...

mystikchick17 24.06.2004 · Read full review
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Review of The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

...factual detail. A lot of the novel centres around religion and art, but it is evident from the outset that one of Brown's passions is really cryptography - working out how to both create and solve codes. This code-breaking theme is not unique to "The Da Vinci Code", but also appears in some of his other works. So, onto the plot. Robert Langdon is a symbologist hailing from Harvard: an expert on the subject who frequently gives lectures and writes ...
...asked to meet him for the first time does not show up, Langdon is a little disappointed, as this man is a renowned expert on female symbology. What disturbs Langdon even more, however, is a late night phone call telling him that Saunière has been murdered inside the museum. A strange cryptic message has been found on and around the curator's body, which Langdon follows. Assisted by the very talented cryptologist Sophie Neveu, he embarks on a quest ...

emmorticia 05.02.2004 · Read full review
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Review of The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

...admit, I only really read The Da Vinci Code out of curiosity. After all, few books in the past century have created as much fuss as this one. Seen by some as a beacon of truth and others as a scandalous attack on Christendom (particularly the Catholic Church), it's obviously not a book that one can be indifferent to. Er… well actually, I think you can. Certainly I was. Despite the fact that most people seem to either passionately love or violently ...
...writers, though I do dislike the amount of profanity in his books.) The book opens with several pages of acclaim for the book / author, followed by a short message that all the secret societies mentioned in the book do in fact exist. I think it is this single statement that has caused much of the controversy - perhaps some people thought along the lines of, "if the secret societies are real, then why not the rest of the book?" Others may read it ...

CaptainDisaster 20.10.2005 (21.10.2005) · Read full review
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Review of The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

Curiosity killed the cat, or so the saying goes and supposedly satisfaction brought him back. Having been avoiding it for all these years, figuring something so hyped couldn’t be any good; my curiosity finally got the better of me when it came to “The Da Vinci Code”. My curiosity cat well and truly dead, I went looking for the satisfaction between the pages that would resurrect it. Depending on whose opinion I listened to, I was either definitely ...
...with a dead cat. The curator of the Louvre in Paris has just been fatally wounded by an albino monk. However, it soon appears that Jacques Saunier is the keeper of more than a museum, as he is entrusted with a two thousand year old secret that some people are very keen does not make it into the public domain. Saunier uses his last minutes alive to set a treasure hunt for his granddaughter Sophie Neveu, who also happens to be with the French police ...

Soho_Black 29.07.2007 · Read full review
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Review of The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

Written by the legendary Dan Brown 'The Da Vinci Code' has proven to be a number one bestseller promising plenty of mystery and intrigue throughout it's 593 pages. Many people have read it. Some claim it is just text copied from history books, others say it has weak characters and a weak plotline. After reading many reviews, both good and bad, I decided it was time I found out for myself just what it was about this book that has caused such a stir. ...
...the Louvre Museum in Paris is found brutally murdered, Robert Langdon, an Harvard professor in Paris on business, is called in to solve the mystery surrounding the murder. For alongside the body lay some strange codes that the French Police think Langdon may have the answer to. Along with French Cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, Langdon starts to solve a number of riddles that lead to pieces of work created by Leonardo Da Vinci. What they are then faced ...

AimeeLouise18 14.01.2005 · Read full review
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Review of The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

...read it. I had ignored the reviews and had little idea of the content. Some reviewers early on had said that author Dan Brown's research was "Fantastic" Brown's editor continues to stand by his man, saying that Brown made nothing up save the fictional, contemporary story wrapped around religious controversy. After I browsed through the story initially, I realized what I was in for, and why all the ensuing critical flack from art historians, religious ...
...who find inspiration from The Da Vinci Code, which relates the following: At night in the Louvre Museum in Paris, an albino monk dressed in a hooded cloak shoots a curator in the stomach. The monk, Silas, is a radical member of the ultra-conservative Opus Dei sect of the Catholic Church. He wears a cilice, a thong that cuts flesh, around his thigh, and he flagellates himself bloody as part of a self-purification cult, in accordance with Opus Dei ...

ralfschumacher 22.10.2007 · Read full review
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Review of The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

The Da Vinci Code gets straight into the story immediately, we enter the world of Jaques Sauniere just as its reaching its peak. With brief descriptions of the murderer, and no information as to why this man would want to murder, we are left to our own imagination. Of course, that doesnt last forever, as the story develops... As we are introduced to the main character Robert Langdon. His sense of character shows through straight away, or at least, ...
...dramatic irony here enables the reader to will Robert to know. However, the tables soon turn as the character is shown information about Saunieres body. Which has yet to be revealed to the reader, although, the build up to something spectacular was prominent from the beginning. The reader is being enticed further into the book, by the secrets hinted at in the beginning. These secrets continue throughout the book, keeping the reader guessing right ...

Punkychik 12.08.2006 (14.04.2007) · Read full review
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Review of The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

...for a novel set in the Vatican for my boyfriend’s mother. The search found Brown’s Angels and Demons and Unholy Trinity by Paul Adam. It was Unholy Trinity that she wanted so I thought no more of Brown until Amazon’s sale. Amazon has been selling the hardback version of The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown for just £4.39, which is a real bargain. I knew it was a thriller set in the Louvre and that was enough to persuade me to buy it after spending a lovely ...
...me think of Robert Langdon, the central character in The Da Vinci Code. He even wears a tweed jacket like him! The only place where they differ is Brown is married while Langdon remains a middle aged bachelor. Robert Langdon, Harvard professor of religious symbology, is in Paris to give a lecture on pagan symbolism. The night of his talk, the Louvre curator Jacques Saunière is murdered by an intruder seeking information about a mysterious secret ...

pixiedon 29.01.2004 · Read full review
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Review of The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown