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