The Da Vinci Code
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown has been top of the bestseller list in Australia for several months. I don’t need to review the book in much detail, because presumably most literate people in the world have already read it and formed their own opinions.
I don’t know why it took me so long to read it, but on Sunday in Albury I finally succumbed and bought a copy.
So what do I think? It’s a great story, flows at terrific pace, has wonderful elements of suspense, and is generally a great read.
Is it a literary masterpiece? Probably not, but it’s well written and covers some fascinating ground in the worlds of crime, religion, history and finance. They’re a potent mix and Brown is great storyteller.
The tale is that a secret society protects the legend of the Holy Grail. In Brown’s fictional reality the grail is more a metaphor for documents that support the supposedly true status of Mary Magdalene as the wife of Jesus.
From what I can tell, much of the research appears to be based on true but limited facts surrounding the Gnostic Gospels and subsequent legends regarding Mary Magdalene’s rumored flight to France.
In Brown’s fictional account, four senior members of the secret society are murdered simultaneously, with responsibility indirectly linked to the Catholic organisation Opus Dei and more remotely to the Vatican itself.
The mastermind is someone unexpected, a cunning manipulator, who seeks to use others in his obsessive pursuit of the grail.
If this sounds far fetched, it doesn’t feel that way while reading the novel. Brown has the uncanny gift of making the incredible sound highly likely.
Unlike some other crime thrillers, which rely on surprising coincidences to link unlikely events, Brown is a genuine master of scene and suspense.
I can see why his previous works have also shot up the besteller list. I’ll check them out myself in months ahead.
As a Catholic, I know the history of the early Church is clouded in the murky waters of personalities, expedience and politics.
I like the fact that Brown doesn’t denigrate Catholic teaching, but rather draws out the mystery of whether alternative thought survived the early forcible attempts at orthodoxy.
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Personally, I find Dan Brown highly enjoyable glorious rubbish! have you read Angels and Demons? It’s the prequel to Da Vinci and is exactly the same book. By page two there is a gruesome corpse, by page five Langdon has met the beautiful daughter of the victim. Catholic Church versus secret society.
You must read it and see if you can’t guess the ending.