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Book ReviewsThe Da Vinci Code |
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Book: The Da Vinci Code
Written by: Dan Brown |
Publisher: Doubleday
Average Customer Rating: 3.5 / 5
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puzzling ponderous thriller
Rating:
5 / 5
I haven't read such a good book in a long while. I love "detective" / puzzle / mystery type of novels (Sherlock Holmes, Christie, Elizabeth George, Forsyth, le Carre ...), and this book has all these plus more. Without placing much of a spoiler, I'll try to let non-readers know why ...
1) Brown's book is very tightly woven - he had a lot of "clues" upfront, there are no loose strings. Compared to George's thick tome with a lot of fluff and heart-rendering fillers, "Da Vinci Code" was fast paced.
2) One needn't understand "artsy" stuff to enjoy this book. Brown explained it succinctly, yet enough for general readers to follow the story.
3) A powerful message within, makes one wants to think about ... life, the universe etc
4) After one finished reading, one could go back re-reading immediately without feeling bored -- there's so much discovery along the way.
5) Although I had visited Louvre 10+ years ago, it makes me want to re-visit, to "prove" the "facts" of his fiction. There are commentaries that this work is fiction, though Brown had a disclaimer at the front to say all descriptions of art are accurate ... Needless to say, this book also brought about cultural appreciation.
Underwhelming.
Rating:
2 / 5
I don't understand the overwhelming popularity of the book. There are interesting theories presented within it, to be sure (and if not backed by actual research, then Brown has done a wonderful job at fabricating evidence to back them) but the theories are wrapped in a thin plot that does little more than move us from one location to another so the main character can lecture about other theories. Without going into too much detail, the story goes that Leonardo Da Vinci, among other great minds throughout history, belonged to a secret society that watched over the secrets of the Holy Grail. Da Vinci hid in his paintings many clues to the true meaning of the Grail. Interesting. And I probably would have enjoyed a non-fiction book about those theories. But to be fair, this is a work of fiction, never intended to be non-fiction. Even at that though, it only mildly succeeds. The characters are poorly developed, the writing does nothing more than advance the plot, the dialogue is bad, the constant use of italics to convey the thoughts of the characters is irritating as is the use of cheap and tired plot tricks to build suspense. As a cat-and-mouse crime caper, I've read better (James Patterson to name one author, if those are your kind of books). Overall, the book felt small to me. The timeframe, the storyline, the resolution-none of it lived up to the hype. Interesting premise, but the execution is probably suited more for a movie than a book.
great narration
Rating:
4 / 5
i dont know which narrator was reading the version i heard but whoever he was (i had the audio cassete version) he was a delight to listen to. he told the story with great accents and voices and it was a pretty cool tale. i definitely wouldn't read that book tho, it wasn't good enough to read, but the audio version was splendid
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