The Da Vinci Code Review

Bottom-Line: Anyone with an interest in religious history should enjoy this book, as well as those who enjoy a challenge for their brain

I am not a religious man; truth be told I am an atheist, a man of logic, reason, and a tad too many questions about the whole God thing for most religious folk to answer.  Organized religion is not for me, there has been and continues to be far to much suffering in the name of God, and far too much hypocrisy at the hands of those we should trust to live virtuous lives.  That I view religious institutions as those set up to control the masses.  But at the same time I am not ready to give up on the idea that there is a higher being responsible for all that we see, and all that we are under the stars. 

The being said, the search for the mythical Holy Grail, that cup of life Jesus Christ and his followers are said to have drunk from at the last supper, has intrigued me for a very long time from a purely historical standpoint. 

The Holy Grail has been the subject of legend since the crucifixion of Jesus Christ some 2005 years ago.  For the faithful it holds enormous meaning, but for those of us on the edge of belief, it is more of a curiosity then anything else.  Legend tells of course that the Holy Grail is a chalice, but in his controversial new book The Da Vinci Code, author Dan Brown explores another meaning; that the Holy Grail is actually a collection of writings (Gospels) that prove Jesus Christ was a mere mortal, a child of God like the rest of us as opposed to the Son of God's flesh as the world was always led to believe.  Not only that, but Mary Magdalene far from being a prostitute was the chosen companion (wife) of Jesus Christ and that the two had a child together.  He also asserts that Jesus' bloodline survives to this day, a living, breathing testament to Herald's mortality. 

Of course The Da Vinci Code is a novel, a work of fiction, but with a lot of facts woven into the tightly written text for effect.  Enough factual material is contained in the book to earn the ire of the Catholic Church and the Catholic organization, know as Opus Dei, both of which are portrayed as less than pious with the book.    

The Plot

The renowned curator of the famed Louvre Art Museum in Paris France, Jacques Sauniere is dead, slain by a single assassins bullet to the stomach.  But before he died, he left a number of intriguing clues to a closely guarded secret he and four other men (also slain the same night) were the guardians of.  The clues can only be deciphered by his Grand daughter, Sophie Neveu a cryptologist with the French Judicial Police, and a renowned professor of Religious Symbology Robert Langdon, who teaches at Harvard University and in Paris to give a lecture and slide show "about pagan symbolism hidden in the stones of Chartres Cathedral..."   

After Jacques Sauniere's is found dead a captain of the France's Direction Centrale Police Judiciaire, one Bezu Fache, is called in to investigate.  He sends his able right hand Lieutenant Jerome Collet over to the Ritz Hotel in the middle of the night to collect Langdon to help explain the clues Jacques Sauniere has left, or so he says. 

Sophie Neveu, understands some clues in the from of codes, puzzle boxes, and poems her Grand-pere (Grandfather) has left behind, and together with Langdon, who lends his knowledge to her own, she traverses Paris, London and finally Glasgow in a search for the Holy Grail's final resting place. 

My Viewpoint

Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of The Da Vinci Code is not the search for the Holy Grail, but the fascinating, and oft eye-opening journey into human history I was treated to along the way.  In writing the The Da Vinci Code Dan Brown did a fair amount of detailed research and it shows in the pages of his book.  The book is rich in historical and artistic detail; his descriptions of the churches and other places Langdon and Sophie visited left me wanting for more; so much so, that I was compelled to do my own research into people, places, and things mentioned in the book, in order to satisfy my own need to know.

In the end, The Da Vinci Code became an obsession, a book I couldn't put down because it intrigued me so.  It is a brain teaser, a book that engages the mind in a quest to figure out the codes before the characters do, and it fueled my hunger to know more about the often shrouded past of the Catholic Church, and ultimately the Holy Grail itself.  Is it just a mere chalice or is it more?  Anyone with an interest in religious history should enjoy this book, as well as those who enjoy a challenge for their brain. 

While the holy and otherwise devote may find the contents of The Da Vinci Code disturbing, one should bear in mind that it is a novel and should be read and digested in that light.  There are plans underway to make The Da Vinci Code into a movie; Ron Howard is directing and Tom Hanks has singed on as Langdon.  I happen to think Jennifer Connelly would make an excellent Sophie; she does after all speak French, but the part seems to have gone to French actress Audrey Tautou.