The Da Vinci Code
Brown, Dan. 2006. The Da Vinci Code. 1st ed. Anchor.
Rating:
6
Summary:
An interesting read, but it should contain a postscript by the author with his goal clearly stated and references.
The book begins with Robert Langdon, a Professor of Religious Symbology at Harvard University, who has just finished a lecture on religious symbolism in France. The phone in his hotel rings in the middle of the night and his presence is requested by the head of France’s police, Captain Fache. Langdon is informed that his presence is requested due to the death of the Curator of the Louvre, Monsieur Saugniere, who is also a world reknowned art critic and expert on religious symbolism. Langdon isn’t sure why his presence is being requested, despite the fact that he was supposed to have an appointment with Saugniere just before the time he was killed. But there is an additional reason why Langdon is being requested: Saugniere, while dying from a bullet wound, used his blood and an invisible marker to draw some symbols and write a secretive note to his granddaughter. The note included the words: Find Robert Langdon.
Fache believes Langdon is the murderer and has brought him to the scene to get him to reveal what he has done. But before Fache can reel him in, Saugniere’s granddaughter, Sophie, arrives at the Louvre (the scene of the murder). She convinces Fache that she has deciphered part of the riddle left by Saugniere, but also distracts him while she informs Langdon of what Fache is doing. With Sophie’s help and encouragement, Langdon flees policy custody and begins to unravel the clues left by Saugniere to discover the mother of all discoveries: The Holy Grail.
Langdon and Sophie’s adventure takes them across France and England as they attempt to uncover the secrets of the Priory d’Sion, the secret group that supposedly founded the Knights Templar and knows the location of the Grail. Along the way, the Grail is revealed to be the corpse of Mary Magdalene, the wife of Christ and the mother of his children. The Grail also contains all of the necessary documentation required to prove that Christ was just a man and that he celebrated the divinity of the female as much as or more so than that of man.
Their adventure also brings them into contact with the real murderer of Saugneire, Silas, an albino monk and member of the secretive Catholic Group, Opus Dei. But Silas, and the person for whom he works, who is also the highest ranking bishop in Opus Dei, Father Aringarosa, are both being controlled by an unnamed individual who calls himself ‘The Teacher.’ The Teacher convinces Father Aringarosa and Silas that he can deliver to them the Holy Grail, which has long been sought by the Catholic Church because its contents would destroy the cornerstone of Catholicism – the divinity of Jesus. With the Holy Grail in their power, the Opus Dei could regain favor with the Catholic Church, which has begun to sanction them as a result of their backward, archaic practices, including self-flagellation.
The Teacher is ultimately revealed to be Leigh Teabing, a former member of the Royal British Historical Society and a member of the extended British Royal Family, who has devoted his life to the discovery of the Grail. But Saugniere, in his wisdom as the head of the Priory d’Sion, has given Sophie the necessary help and clues to defeat Teabing and eventually find the ultimate resting place of the Grail. Working together, Langdon and Sophie defeat Teabing and find what they believe to be the final resting place of the Grail, but more importantly for Sophie, they find her long-lost brother and grandmother, both of whom she thought were dead.
Review:
Admittedly, the book is a page turner, in large part because it is all one long chase scene. It begins with an intriguing murder and once Robert Langdon decides to run with Sophie, the chase is on. Fache, who is depicted as a slightly-less-than-honest, prideful Catholic, seems to have ulterior motives driving him to capture Langdon and Sophie, motives powerful enough to get him to continue the chase in England when Langdon and Sophie leave France. But even when he temporarily loses their trail in both England and France, he does not give up. With this ruthless bloodhound on their trail, Langdon and Sophie’s adventure to find the Grail is fast-paced and engaging. The pace of the text is one of the better aspects of the book.
The writing of the book is adequate, but not brilliant. There are a few witty lines, but not too many. Also, the book is story driven and not character driven. Langdon is sort of a mellow, pacifistic version of Indiana Jones. Sophie is a slightly more intelligent Marion, who occasionally reveals something to help them in their quest. Just because Silas is an albino priest who likes to hurt himself doesn’t make him any less of a lackey. Father Aringarosa’s befriending of Silas appeared to be stolen straight out of Les Miserables. And Teabing turns out to be just your standard villain. There really is very little creative about the characters in the book. For about 15 to 20 pages I thought Fache might be The Teacher, but when Teabing was introduced, I was fairly confident I knew who it was. (Hint: When the identity of the secret guy isn’t revealed within the first 1/3 of the book, it means it’s one of the characters whom you already know.)
The theme is definitely an interesting one. I haven’t read any of the recent books looking at the divinity of women (and their disenfranchisement within religion), so I can’t really comment much on how closely Brown follows this new school of thought. But as a secular individual who finds most religions are oppressively misogynistic and patriarchal, I can’t see how criticizing religions for their patriarchy is a bad thing. Additionally, Brown doesn’t overlook the social constructionist aspect of religion, claiming that the divinity of Christ is the result of a 4th century vote (which isn’t completely accurate, but does favor a secular perspective). Brown doesn’t imbue religions with any sort of divinity. This doesn’t mean he isn’t advocating a sort of spirituality and, in fact, he even seems to encourage religious belief in a few places, but I felt his exploration of the idea of the divinity of the feminine is one of the main reasons this book has done so well. I think women are making headway, even into religion, which remains a final bastion of male dominance. Even though I, personally, would just like to see religion disappear, I would probably be less critical of religion if it wasn’t so rooted in hierarchies that rank one group of people over another (e.g., men over women, members over non-members, etc.). Thus, what Dan Brown has done for the inclusion of women in religion and their empowerment is to be commended.
Finally, what was perhaps the most interesting part of the novel for me was the inclusion of elements of history and society. Thankfully, I was somewhat skeptical of some of Brown’s claims. There are a lot of errors in the history incorporated into the text. For instance, there is no evidence pre-Christian Jews had sex in Solomon’s Temple as a way to commune with God. Also, Brown depicts Constantine as a pagan who used and manipulated Christianity strictly for political ends (some of which is true), but he also attributes the divinity of Jesus and the structure of the modern Bible to Constantine. The first is partially accurate (Constantine called and sponsored the Council of Nicaea where much of this was decided), the second is wholly inaccurate (see references below). Thus, while I can’t say I disagree with some of Brown’s views on religion, his scholarship leaves much wanting. He seems to take as authoritative fallacious sources because they are the most outlandish. Many of his sources are modern mysticism texts with no authoritative or historical basis (tarot for instance). If you haven’t read the book yet, I would highly encourage you to think of it almost entirely as fiction. Just because there is reference to historical events doesn’t mean Brown has accurately depicted them.
Overall, while I found the book engaging, I don’t think it warrants the hype it has received. It isn’t superbly written but instead employs a simple literary device to push the story – a chase. Also, even though the predominant theme seems anti-religious (at least, anti-traditional, patriarchal religion) and presents an interesting pro-feminism agenda, the remarkable lack of accuracy in the facts and details is disturbing. Sure, a fiction novel should be about a good story, but when it is based on history, the history should be at least minimally accurate. With the millions of dollars Brown has made on this book, I certainly hope he spends a few dollars on hiring someone to check facts for his next novel. If I ever get around to reading another Dan Brown novel and it is also filled with this many conspiracy theories and this much mystical mumbo jumbo, I don’t think I’ll ever read another of his books. I’d much rather read accurate, dry history than misleading, inaccurate, engaging fiction; life is too short to be spend all of your time reading lies.