While in Paris on business, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon receives an urgent late-night phone call: the elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum. Near the body, police have found a baffling cipher. While working to solve the enigmatic riddle, Langdon is stunned to discover it leads to a trail of clues hidden in the works of Da Vinci -- clues visible for all to see -- yet ingeniously disguised by the painter.
Langdon joins forces with a gifted French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, and learns the late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion -- an actual secret society whose members included Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, and Da Vinci, among others.
In a breathless race through Paris, London, and beyond, Langdon and Neveu match wits with a faceless powerbroker who seems to anticipate their every move. Unless Langdon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine puzzle in time, the Priory's ancient secret -- and an explosive historical truth -- will be lost forever.
THE DA VINCI CODE heralds the arrival of a new breed of lightning-paced, intelligent thriller…utterly unpredictable right up to its stunning conclusion.
2 out of 2 found this helpful:
The Da Vinci Buzz: Open for Interpretation
melancolia(Vienna, Manila)
I really don't understand the buzz surrounding "The Da Vinci Code."
A longtime fan of the occult knowledge and the wish to find out why this book has become a best-seller, I chose the "The Da Vinci Code" over "Memoirs of a Geisha" to bring with me to the lake.
I mean, why the hell some people burnt this book, for Pete's sake!
Most of the "revelations" Dan Brown told us are known to many already. For example, that the Roman Catholic Church is modified to be accepted by the pagans is a known fact. Just like the concept of a "dying god." Historians and Egyptologists have tackled this phenomenon among the many cultures.
And then there are the sources the author used to base his story on are all branded "pseudo-historical" in which a careful reader could discern.
So the Mary Magdalene and Jesus' progeny-Merongivian-Priory of Sion connection is an imaginative premise.
Refusing to listen to my friends' advice, I took this one from the shelf and began to ponder its popularity.
True. I give credit to "Da Vinci" for its "the world is such a small place" twists and turns and its main theme: the Roman Catholic Church, and other delectables.
What could be the most shocking theme to entice readers but to talk about the root and the bloody history of Christianity.
Also, its affinity to women empowerment is hard to resist. Mr. Brown is a feminist.
Set in France, UK and Scotland, what we have here are the main characters erudite Harvard professor Robert Langdon and smart yet naive French cryptologist Sophie Neveu. Save for Langdon's erudition and Neveu's "amazing" family tree we also encounter the albino monk and murderer Silas, the historian knight Teabing, the hard French police captain Bezu Fache, among the many characters that make the novel such a suspense.
While I devoured the pages I couldn't help chuckling Mr. Brown's interesting, sometimes outrageous, suggestions of the artworks and historical anecdotes he mentioned.
Just like beauty, art is open for interpretation.
Like this novel is.
2006-07-16 08:47 | comment
Write a review