The Da Vinci Code #3

After finishing the Da Vinci Code, I must say that it is a thrilling and exciting book, and I would highly recommend this book. It is thrilling, complex, and entertaining. It had an easy to follow but hard to predict plot that led to a very exciting read.

                During our second meeting with Mr. Perlman, one of the questions he had wrote on the board was something along the lines of “How does the author develop a distinction between fiction and nonfiction. I will be addressing this question, as a realistic book, with as much realistic qualities made it tough to distinguish what was real and what wasn’t. Dan Brown attempted to make this book ass believable as possible, he incorporated historical ideas and figures, such as the Holy Grail, Jesus, and of course, Leonardo Da Vinci and his artwork, particularly The Last Supper. He also uses real places throughout France and London throughout the book. On page 297, when Brown writes, “Thirty seconds later Fache was packing up and preparing to leave Chateau Villette. He had just learned that Teabing kept a private jet nearby at Le Bourget Airplane.” In this one sentence, Brown references two real-world places in France, which are with 60 miles of each other. Brown does an excellent job of molding his story around real world places and events. Also when he has one of the characters explained the significance and the history of the Holy Grail, (will not quote because it would spoil a lot of the story) he references Leonardo Da Vinci’s famous piece “The Last Supper” he points out what are “hidden messages” Da Vinci was sending with the painting (most are not true, but are believable). This book could probably pass as non-fiction if the ideas and the concepts Brown created were not so radical.

                  Even though the book was fiction, I had still learned a lot about religion from it. It made it difficult to learn while reading because you had to distinguish what was fiction and nonfiction on your own. For example, the religious group Opus Dei, a prevalent and powerful fixture in this story, is actually a real group, however many of their religious techniques are exaggerated in the story. This story has often been criticized for its anti-Catholic views and its inaccurate portrayal of the group, however I think too many people are taking this book as if it is non-fiction, and Dan Brown (most likely) did not mean to insult the Catholic church, just to write a story.

I would say that this is a must read for anyone wanting to learn about history and religion while also being on the edge of their seat.

 

Interesting link on symbolism throughout the story:

http://www.chiff.com/a/da-vinci-code-symbols.htm

The Da Vinci Code #2

Through the first half of The Da Vinci code, I must say I’m thoroughly enjoying it. It is a very thrilling book that is filled with twists and turns. I would say that the first half was everything that I expected it to be from its immensely positive reputation.

The books started out with a murder (coincidentally, so did the first book I read). A man named Jacques Saunière, an extremely wealthy man in Paris, had scheduled a meeting with Robert Langdon, the protagonist and a professor of symbology at Harvard. However, the night before their conference, Jacques is murdered inside of Grand Gallery of the Louvre. On his body however, he leaves a code on his body, written in blood, and also leaves his body in a very strange position. Robert Langdon teams up with Jacques granddaughter to team up to solve, all while Robert Langdon is on the run from the police, framed by an affluent organization with close relations to the police. As you can see, it makes for a very interesting plot.

 The author of the book, Dan Brown, does a very good job of providing suspense to complement mystery. One of the main ways Brown utilizes suspense is how he ends almost every chapter with an exciting discovery by one of the characters, which is then further explained at the beginning of the next chapter. This draws the reader into the book so they “can’t put the book down.” There are several examples of this, such as at the end of chapter 9. Brown closes the chapter on page 53 with Langdon listening to a voicemail on his phone; “Mr. Langdon, do not react to this message. Just listen calmly. You are in danger right now. Follow my directions very closely.” This also happens in the chapter 11, when Langdon sees that there was a fourth line written on Jacques body that he had not seen before, and it applied directly to him  (For the sake of not spoiling the story, I will not quote it).

This is realistic fiction, so Vonnegut’s shapes of stories would be applicable. It looks like this story will turn out like the “man in hole,” which consists of starting out well off, and then falling into a terrible position, and then spending the story trying to dig yourself out of the hole. It looks like Langdon will be doing this throughout the story, as he started off as a successful professor at one of the best colleges in the country, to being chased by the police for murder, and then I predict that he will eventually right the case and prove that it was not him, digging himself out of the hole.

Overall, I would say that I have greatly enjoyed the first half of this book and can only hope that the second half of this book is as exciting.