The Da Vinci Code
Posted by: Willito on 04 May 2004
I first heard about the book last summer from a trio of American co-eds on their post-college European tour that I was fortunate enough to meet in a hotel bar in Barcelona. They raved about it, but made it sound like a mass market version of Foucault's Pendulum.
Subsequently, on each successive trip to the US that I made, I noticed the book occupying more and more shelf space in bookstores. On a few occasions, I glanced at the opening page, only to replace the book on the shelf.
Last week I finally succumbed to the combination of curiosity, and the fear of nothing to do on a flight to Lisbon. I picked up the novel in Heathrow, started it in the BA lounge, read the entire flight to Lisbon, continued reading in my hotel till three in the morning, read it in between meetings the next day, and finally finished it that evening on a flight to Paris. To say that I was obssessed would put it lightly.
But why?
IMHO, the writing (particularly the dialogue) was sketchy, the characterisation thin (with most of the Europeans resembling national caricatures out of National Lampoon's European Vacation), the story plotted like a made for TV movie, . . . and yet I was completely engrossed! I literally could not put it down. I just had to get to the heart of the conspiracy/mystery around which the book centers.
I have since come across a whole cadre of similarly-obsessed readers, some of whom have gone so far as it to secret it in work documents so as to continue reading it at the office on the sly.
Has anybody else read the book? If so, how did you find it? What makes it so engrossing? Is it just a need for a good old conspiracy tale so as to believe that hidden forces are always at work?
Subsequently, on each successive trip to the US that I made, I noticed the book occupying more and more shelf space in bookstores. On a few occasions, I glanced at the opening page, only to replace the book on the shelf.
Last week I finally succumbed to the combination of curiosity, and the fear of nothing to do on a flight to Lisbon. I picked up the novel in Heathrow, started it in the BA lounge, read the entire flight to Lisbon, continued reading in my hotel till three in the morning, read it in between meetings the next day, and finally finished it that evening on a flight to Paris. To say that I was obssessed would put it lightly.
But why?
IMHO, the writing (particularly the dialogue) was sketchy, the characterisation thin (with most of the Europeans resembling national caricatures out of National Lampoon's European Vacation), the story plotted like a made for TV movie, . . . and yet I was completely engrossed! I literally could not put it down. I just had to get to the heart of the conspiracy/mystery around which the book centers.
I have since come across a whole cadre of similarly-obsessed readers, some of whom have gone so far as it to secret it in work documents so as to continue reading it at the office on the sly.
Has anybody else read the book? If so, how did you find it? What makes it so engrossing? Is it just a need for a good old conspiracy tale so as to believe that hidden forces are always at work?
Hello
I read it too, with much the same result - it is truly "unputdownable", and Dan Brown has to be credited for that. Great literature it ain't, however, for all the reasons you mention. It reads as though it was written quickly (although clearly the very detailed research indicates that it was not). I was even tempted to go and look at x's tomb in x religious edifice (not to spoil anything). How sad is that? The riddles were, to me, faintly of the ilk of a TV programme I remember called "3-2-1". I worked out the first few, but then started not to bother...
I also should comment that another book of his "Digital Fortress" (I think) is equally page-turning, with a more futuristic plot line, and to my mind greater characterisation (mainly Americans). I think there is a third, but I shall wait to buy it until I have a whole day to spare.
Definitely superior holiday reading. Effortless, involving, absorbing and mildly thought provoking. Like you, however, I cannot quite fathom exactly why
. A sort of Dornford Yates / John Buchan for this century...
Cheers
Rod
I read it too, with much the same result - it is truly "unputdownable", and Dan Brown has to be credited for that. Great literature it ain't, however, for all the reasons you mention. It reads as though it was written quickly (although clearly the very detailed research indicates that it was not). I was even tempted to go and look at x's tomb in x religious edifice (not to spoil anything). How sad is that? The riddles were, to me, faintly of the ilk of a TV programme I remember called "3-2-1". I worked out the first few, but then started not to bother...
I also should comment that another book of his "Digital Fortress" (I think) is equally page-turning, with a more futuristic plot line, and to my mind greater characterisation (mainly Americans). I think there is a third, but I shall wait to buy it until I have a whole day to spare.
Definitely superior holiday reading. Effortless, involving, absorbing and mildly thought provoking. Like you, however, I cannot quite fathom exactly why
. A sort of Dornford Yates / John Buchan for this century...Cheers
Rod