Code Breakers: "The Da Vinci Code" and its discontents.

The Wall Street Journal ^ | April 23, 2004 | John Miller

[Cincinatus]

The best thrillers are unputdownable--a word that many readers surely attach to Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code." It's difficult to ride a subway or walk through an airport these days and not see somebody engrossed in its page-turning tale of murder and conspiracy. In 13 months since publication, the book has sold more than seven million copies.

[Cincinatus]

I actually disagree with Miller that "The Da Vinci Code" is a "rollicking good read" ... I found it rather disappointing. Better to read the original schlock classic Holy Blood, Holy Grail; at least there, you'll learn some interesting history. It's better written, too.

[rhema]

BUMP

[martin_fierro]

Yeah, I found it a clunky, blatant attempt at a screenplay for the inevitable movie.

[goldstategop]

Michael Baigent and Henry Lincoln's books are riveting reading. The existence of the Priory Of Sion is a documented fact.

[Oztrich Boy]

Anyone got an opinion on how The Da Vinci Code compares to Foucault's Pendulum?

[Cincinatus]

Foucault's Pendulum is a great book! Funny and irreverant. Clever and erudite. Vastly superior to The Da Vinci Code. IMHO.

[pepsi_junkie]

Well, In the 1990s Pierre Plantard admitted it was a fraud he made up the 1950s, and never spoke of it again. Or perhaps he just wants us to think it was a lie... :)

[goldstategop]

I love Umberto Eco's book on The Templars. All kinds of stuff and its as funny as it is serious.

[goldstategop]

To some, whole thing smacks of Barry Chamish's obssession with UFOs and the Trilateral guys who rule the world from their ultra-secret heaquarters in Washington, D.C.

[NHResident]

I tried to read it based on my brother's recommendation - I found it obvious, trite, juvenile and boring. I was amazed at the apparent number of readers who are hypnotized by the book - but then thought of the millions of copies of "Who moved my cheese?" - another extremely juvenile statement of the glaringly obvious that have been and continue to be purchased. Clearly 'common sense' is no longer very common.

[Stentor]

It's better written, too.

I'm very interested in the subject but Holy Blood Holy Grail made me believe I had become a narcoleptic.

[Snowy]

Am I the only one who enjoyed the book?

[Nakota]

I liked Holy Blood, Holy Grail too; so you are not alone.

[Cincinatus]

You'll notice that I used the comparative, not the superlative.

[Cincinatus]

I don't know -- are you?

Actually, for a good trashy novel to pass the time, try one of Brown's other novels, Deception Point, about NASA and the alleged finding of a meteorite with fossils in it. Silly plot and scientifically inaccurate, but the still great fun!

[InvisibleChurch]

the davinci code is over/rated ... this guy's books all contain the supersmart and superhandsome professor who runs into the even supersmarter and superbeautifuler woman, they have some hubba-hubba, while outsmarting international do-badders to boot... when his plots run thin, he tosses in a 'miracle' to get it back on track ... trust me, if you've read one of dan's books, well, you know the rest

[Alouette]

After reading the Da Vinci Code I watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail and I was surprised at all the same codes I found in it.

[Publius6961]

The existence of the Priory Of Sion is a documented fact.

Anyone who would make a statement like this on the basis of having read a single book and none of its references (assuming it even had any), has got to be awfully young and relatively uneducated.

I have here a very impressive tome published by the Flat Earth Society...

Or was it The Hollow Earth? I forget.

[Fifth Business]

Foucault's Pendulum is a great book! Funny and irreverant. Clever and erudite.

I couldn't read it. Labyrinthian sentences and abstruse vocabulary made it too much a chore.

[Cincinatus]

Labyrinthian sentences and abstruse vocabulary made it too much a chore.

LOL! I see you've decided to eschew obfuscation.