The DaVinci Code / Holy Grail

Siogfinsceal

Hi,

have any of you read the DaVinci Code and what did you think? I found it really interesting while the story was fictional, a lot o fthe underlying elements have been around for a long time. I got really into it and had it read in a few days. Whether you agree or disagree with the theories put forth in the book I think it was excellent in the sense that it got people to take a look at their own faith and to question their own beliefs and religion. I found that alot of the ideas tied in woth my own ideas of the catholic church and it even inspired me to buy some books on Amazon -
Holy Blood Holy Grail., The magdelene legacy beyond the davinci code and the woman with the alabaster jar (M. Starbird). Interestin gstuff

aidan_walsh

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/search.php?searchid=1356493

Siogfinsceal

really sorry I had scrolled back to august 05 to see was there already a thread but I didnt go back far enough. Mods feel free to delete my thread as its a repeat of the earlier one - sorry!

Demetrius

Its a hard book not to complete admitedly. But you could guess the secret of the grail from early on. The characters are one-dimesional and a bit unrealistic. There is so much symbolism crammed into everything that its a wonder that the main character gets anywhere at all. Finally, whats the deal with Christs descendents? Why are they being protected, with their identities kept secret even though the whole point of all symbolism in this book is to remind people of their importance

casanova_kid

The fecking twists are ridiculously simplistic and predictable, anybody with half a brain can see them a mile off. Pretty average airport book to be honest, only created a revelation because anything in this modern world will create a revelation if it's slight off the norm.

Valmont

Its more of a DART book than the airport but I agree with you. This thread shoudn't be in the literature section, it should be in the rubbish.

Dades

Aren't we all the bunch of Hemmingways.

I can never understand the vitriol projected at this book.
So what if it's an airport read. People do read in airports.

Shabadu

/me bangs head against keyboard.

Apart from the fact that the 'Priory of Scion' was a fiction thought up by a French surrealist, the actual quality of writing in the book is DEPLORABLE.

Thanks to purplefistmixer for the following link.

dalk

The Atheist wrote:

I can never understand the vitriol projected at this book.

Having read the book i can. Others have summed it up pretty well for me. Predictable, unconvincing characterisation, stereotypical cliched characters etc and most of all, too dumbed down. I had already read 'Foucaults Pendulum' and was familiar with the conspiracy theories the book is built upon. So what did that leave to enjoy? Not much. There wasn't even any surprising plot twists.

Maybe i'm too much of a snob. Maybe i was most annoyed by the fact that against my better judgement, i had succumbed to peer pressure and read this book that everyone was raving about... Ack why did i do it?:eek:

Dades

Shabadu wrote:

/me bangs head against keyboard.

Try writing a book with it instead. See how easy it really is.

Shabadu wrote:

Apart from the fact that the 'Priory of Scion' was a fiction thought up by a French surrealist

The nerve! Dan Brown put a fictional society in his work of fiction! The Blair Witch Project website claimed it to be real footage and everyone applauded a marketing masterstroke.

There is an element of snobbery all right. But you don't get to be #1 of all time without a half decent yarn to entertain the literary impoverished.

Shabadu

Oh- I see the error of my ways now- it MUST have some literary merit as it is hugely popular and a best seller! Excuse me- I must pop out to buy some Cathy Kelly and Marian Keyes novels; I've obviously been missing out on some works of staggering genius.

odhran

IMO, the Da Vinci code is a somewhat entertaining story, but not much else. The characters are dull and one-dimensional, the writing is awful and the whole "Legend of the Davinci Code" is a pile of **** (although very good marketing!)

casanova_kid

The Atheist wrote:

Try writing a book with it instead. See how easy it really is.

The nerve! Dan Brown put a fictional society in his work of fiction! The Blair Witch Project website claimed it to be real footage and everyone applauded a marketing masterstroke.

There is an element of snobbery all right. But you don't get to be #1 of all time without a half decent yarn to entertain the literary impoverished.

That's claptrap to be honest. Just because something sells loads doesn't make it above criticism. Westlife, Titanic, Marian Keyes, and Coldplay all sell loads, doesn't make them any good though.

Dades

Shabadu wrote:

Oh- I see the error of my ways now- it MUST have some literary merit as it is hugely popular and a best seller!

casanova_kid wrote:

That's claptrap to be honest. Just because something sells loads doesn't make it above criticism. Westlife, Titanic, Marian Keyes, and Coldplay all sell loads, doesn't make them any good though.

Au contraire, it seems just because TDaVC has sold by the truckload, that those who consider themselves above airport novels are lining up to declare how shocking it is.

If the book had only sold as well as a new Jack Higgins or a Stephen Coonts novel would people be so up in arms? Or would they read it and think "Meh - catchy but one-dimensional..." rather than the work of Satan?

And what's wrong with Titanic & Coldplay?:D

Jasus I love defending this book.

DEmeant0r

This book was the first book that I finished in a long,long,long while...

Yes I found the characters to be one dimensional,cliched etc. as well but so what? It brought me entertainment for what it was worth...

Siogfinsceal

im with the athiest on that. A lot of the book was thinga that were already written and put forward as theories eg mary magdalene, the holy grail , the holy lineage etc but without reading this book i would never have known about any of thi sstuff as I wasnt aware of books like holy blood, holy grail etc. its really sparked a new interest for me and a lot of other people. margaret Starbird read 'holy blood holy grail' and thought it was all made up rather than being part fiction and went about disproving it. But when she went deeper she found a lot more factual information and ended up writing her own factual book 'the woman with the alabaster jar'. so what if the author took some intersting facts and mixed them in with his own fiction? its done alot titanic for example, or that film 'stigmata'

dalk

Siogfinsceal wrote:

so what if the author took some interesting facts and mixed them in with his own fiction? its done a lot titanic for example, or that film 'stigmata'

That's not the problem i have with this book. Its the bad writing that bothers me...

The Atheist wrote:

Or would they read it and think "Meh - catchy but one-dimensional..." rather than the work of Satan?

Well the devil has the best tunes, so i think he would do a better job as an author than 'The DaVinci Code'.

meldrew

I enjoyed the book for what it was pure escapism , and maybe the good thing about it is all the people who had'nt read a book in years that were brought back to reading by this book .
Does anyone have any other books in a similar vein but maybe less predictable and with better writing ?
Nothing too obscure now !!

Toasty

Siogfinsceal wrote:

Hi,

have any of you read the DaVinci Code and what did you think? I found it really interesting while the story was fictional, a lot o fthe underlying elements have been around for a long time. I got really into it and had it read in a few days. Whether you agree or disagree with the theories put forth in the book I think it was excellent in the sense that it got people to take a look at their own faith and to question their own beliefs and religion. I found that alot of the ideas tied in woth my own ideas of the catholic church and it even inspired me to buy some books on Amazon -
Holy Blood Holy Grail., The magdelene legacy beyond the davinci code and the woman with the alabaster jar (M. Starbird). Interestin gstuff

yeah i read this book and it was one of my best reads and i do believe some of the facts put forth in it.
for example after reading the book i looked at the last supper picture and yeah its a woman it just shows that people dont really look at these simple little things!
another great read by Dan Brown is Angels and Demons!
READ IT! i though it was better than the Da Vinci Code i.e more exciting!
I read all of his books in 2 weeks!
cant wait for his new books!

dalk

meldrew wrote:

Does anyone have any other books in a similar vein but maybe less predictable and with better writing ?

"Foucaults Pendulum" by Umberto Eco. Another book inspired by "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail".

It can be a bit overly learned and dense, but i really enjoyed it. It does require your noggin to be turned on when reading it.

Has all the usual consipracy theories (templars/masons/rosicrucians/magic etc).

What i liked about it though is that the main characters treat the conspiracies as a literary joke, only for their theories to be taken deadly serious by a third party. Which i find more plausible tbh..

shroomfox

Hold Blood Holy Grail is a load of made-up twaddle.

Half the references are made up and, at the start of the book, they even say (obliquely) that it's all rubbish. What is it again?...They say something like:

"Yeah, well, we don't have many, er..."facts" or anything, so we invented this new method called "synthesis" where we take loads of material that everybody said was apocryphal and then we made a story out of it."

Also: Da Vinci Code = Rubbish. I thought so more because everybody was telling me it was great, and I was really, really disappointed. I'm not one to turn my nose up at an airport thriller but it has to be the lamest bestseller I've read in years.

I got a creepy feelin that I was reading the adult version of a Goosebumps compendium.

Remember? Those terrible kids horror books?

GOOSEBUMPS SAMPLE EXCERPT

"Let's hope that this summer holiday is the best yet!" grinned Sam.
"Yeah!" said Michael.
They walked up to the top of the bus.
The Bus Driver was a monster!

END OF CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

The bus driver took off his mask.
"Hi Kids, I hope this summer is the best summer ever!" grinned the Bus Driver.
"Yeah!" said Michael and Sam.

And so on.

Shabadu

Shroomfox for President!

Dades

shroomfox wrote:

GOOSEBUMPS SAMPLE EXCERPT

"Let's hope that this summer holiday is the best yet!" grinned Sam.
"Yeah!" said Michael.
They walked up to the top of the bus.
The Bus Driver was a monster!

END OF CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

The bus driver took off his mask.
"Hi Kids, I hope this summer is the best summer ever!" grinned the Bus Driver.
"Yeah!" said Michael and Sam.

And so on.

What do mean "And so on."

What happened that summer? FFS you can't leave us hanging. :v:

shroomfox

An endless succession of badly planned cliffhangers hauled my mind up a rocky hill of boredom and constant de-masking before wrapping the whole thing up with a tedious inevitability where...jesus, even talking about it has bored me so much that I can't complete the sentence.

Ardent

I've never read a book that annoyed me so much. I was annoyed at the author's simplistic style, the crap characters and the contrived "facts". There was obviously more time spent researching symbology than actually writing a half decent yarn.

Every couple of chapters near the end I kept promising myself I'd throw it in the bin and read something better (like Now magazine maybe) but, almost like witnessing impending doom where grim fascination keeps you from looking away, I had to see what lame conclusion the author was going to limp to and see what al lthe fuss was about.

Awful book. So glad I borrowed it rather than bought it. Probably the most criminal part is that some people will actually swallow Brown's factoids hook line and sinker.

Just goes to show, anyone can make a fortune, even if your talentless old hack. Controversy and marketing can get you places.

shroomfox

I wouldn't say he's talentless.

I think he's very talented at writing books with mass appeal, which is a talent, right?

I just...argh. He's rubbish.

elurhs

shroomfox wrote:

Also: Da Vinci Code = Rubbish. I thought so more because everybody was telling me it was great, and I was really, really disappointed. I'm not one to turn my nose up at an airport thriller but it has to be the lamest bestseller I've read in years.

Exactly. Would have no problem with a poor book selling well, but for the fact that it has been hyped to the last. I'm a solid "airport thriller" man myself, so the most disappointing thing about it was that it wasn't even exciting! There are loads of books out there that are way more exciting/gripping/suspenseful, but people who don't normally read have read the DVC and thought it was great. The thing is they don't know what they're missing.

Dades

shroomfox wrote:

I think he's very talented at writing books with mass appeal, which is a talent, right?

Exactomundo.

sephirosis

shroomfox wrote:

I think he's very talented at writing books with mass appeal, which is a talent, right?

Also he cashed in on alot of anti church sentiment among the masses. Crap writer, yes, but no fool to be sure. It's said that timing is eveything after all.

dalk wrote:

"Foucaults Pendulum" by Umberto Eco

Now thats a well written book. A magnificent voyage that kind of goes nowhere, but thats exactly what Eco intends, and pulls it off with marvelous wit and irony. It serves as a bit of a warning too for anyone out there who might take Mr Brown's words as absolute truth. If you have a bit of time, do read it. Trust me.

Dades

sephirosis wrote:

Also he cashed in on alot of anti church sentiment among the masses. Crap writer, yes, but no fool to be sure. It's said that timing is eveything after all.

Alway thought that curious when you think it's the opposite in movies. Anti-church sentiment has the potential to sink a film. They're even talking about substituting the "church" in the His Dark Materials adaptations.

Different demograph it seems.

jtsuited

casanova_kid wrote:

That's claptrap to be honest. Just because something sells loads doesn't make it above criticism. Westlife, Titanic, Marian Keyes, and Coldplay all sell loads, doesn't make them any good though.

OT but you cannot put coldplay into a category near those cretins. I'm pretty certain if they weren't the biggest band in the world at the moment you'd probably be a fan.
Just like the fact that you 'literary critics' would probably not be so vitriolic in your insecure posturings about the Da Vinci code if it wasn't the phenomenon that it is.
I've read Foucault's Pendulum and to be honest, half of it (and much of Eco's work in Semiotics) is nothing more than intellectual masturbation. Mind you it is deeply entertaining.
I really don't think you guys can see the wood from the trees- sometimes certain massively selling works of art are actually good.
Forget all those annoying people who think 'the Da Vinci Code is the best book since... i don't know, i don't read much'. And you'll see it's actually a highly entertaining book. Yes the writing is horrendous in places, and the characters are pretty 'one-dimensional', but it will undoubtedly engage you, once you can get over yourselves.
Jesus guys, see it for what it is. It does not pertain to be anything else.
Unlike much of Eco's work.
There i said it!;)