Code

[gdgrana]

So I finished The Da Vinci Code over two days (July 4th and yesterday), and it was pretty good.  Others may look at me sideways for saying this, however, but I think it's SLIGHTLY overrated.  As a pure thriller, it's pretty good - there are some scenes that just leave you speechless, and the author has a good way of grabbing you by the "cojones" whenver a secret is about to be revealed, keeping the pressure until he finally continues the story a chapter later.  However, as I mentioned above, it's not the greatest thing since sliced bread, and to be perfectly honest, I'm not quite sure how it was able to maintain such notoriety in such a short amount of time.

My quarrels with the book:

- The characters were "meh".  I didn't really feel for any of their situations, except for maybe one or two of them.  That may not be the point of thrillers - I don't read to many of them - but perilous situations didn't make me leap up and hope that the protagonists would make it out alright.

- The storytelling was quick, stochastic, and coddling.  Chapters were 3-4 pages average, never quite lingering on the situation at hand before suddenly jumping around to another plot point or character situation.  The jumps were very quick and unexpected, with no smooth transition to really seguey between them.  Further, the author tended to repeat things that had just happened a few chapters back, as if his readers had suddenly forgotten what happened.  A fake example:  "Angel stared at his captor nervously.  He had just managed to decipher the code, when his assailant attacked him and bound him to the chair."  In my opinion, things like this are not necessary, but others may beg to differ.

- Too many worthless flashbacks.  Often the author would flashback to events in the characters' lives, but not different flashbacks, no no...THE SAME ONE.  Only he would reveal a little more of the memory with each flashback, thus "teasing" the reader with more and more morsels of the person's thoughts.  This got really aggravating when it happened for the third time to the same character ><

- The ending wrapped up a little to neatly for my tastes.  I won't reveal it, but it was a bit of a let-down, as I saw it coming from a mile away.

Despite all this, however...do pick it up, fan of a thriller or not.  The author does a great job in sending you different directions, always guessing who the true allies and antagonists are, and surprising you at the end with a nice twist.  His ability to describe scenery is second to none, something that helps a lot considering the context of the story.  Again, if you like a good read, pick it up, and if nitpicks like the ones above don't bother you, you should thoroughly enjoy the book.

Comments

[kittenbitten.livejournal.com]

My dad just lent me this book. He just finished reading it while referencing all of the art in his giant Da Vinci book. He said that most of the details about the art were made up or "stretching" what you can see there. And the author got the apostles in the Last Supper mixed up. He the Da Vinci code wasn't bad, but not really good either. And most people probably aren't inspecting the artwork while reading the book, so they wouldn't know the difference.

[spazmonki.livejournal.com]

I thought it was a really good book. I liked the basic plot and story and all...I must agree with you on the flashbacks though...there were parts where I just wanted it to hurry up and get to the next big thing.

Dan Brown's other book Angels and Demons is good too...with the exception of the flashbacks. I think it was better than the Da Vinci Code.