Publisher: Doubleday

Published: 2004

Pages: 489

The Da Vinci Code is the second book featuring Robert Langdon

The author:

Dan Brown (1965- ) was out examined from Amherst College and Phillip Exeter Academy, where he also worked as an English teacher. He has written books like: The digital fortress (1999), Angels and Demons (2000) and The da Vinci code (2004). Dan Brown has earned millions on books about mysterious symbols and unbreakable codes.

The book:

The book was published in 2004, by Doubleday. The letter size is quite small, about 10, and there are no illustrations in any of the 489 pages. It’s a bit heavy to read, with some words I had difficulty reading, and yet alone to understand, but most of the words are understandable in the contents’ they are in.

The Da Vinci Code is a book that got maximum popularity after its release. It shot up on the best-seller lists and stayed there for quite some time. Nevertheless, although most of the theories in the book are plausible, most historians agree that the contents is not legitimate. The question has also been raised as to how original the book really is, and some are accusing Dan Brown of plagiarizing. However, this has not stopped people reading it, if anything; the fuzz around the book has made even more people buy it. The book has very much to do with salving codes, mostly anagrams and other brain teasers.

The Da Vinci Code is a thriller novel which contains a number of conspiracy theories. The book is about the symbologist Robert Langdon, and his adventure to find the Holy Grail.

Robert Langdon:

Robert is one of the novel’s two protagonists. He is a professor at Harvard University, where he teaches religious symbology and iconology. He is also a dedicated lover of art. Although his field in teaching has very much to do with Christianity, he is not a religious man. This is shown when a scientist in the book asks him how he can believe in religion; his answer is “You don’t need to have cancer to recognize the symptoms.” He is also presented as a man of great knowledge, a man who knows both much about little, and little about much. An important characterization of Mr. Langdon is that, although his flesh is aged, he wants to be young at mind. As a reminder to keep youthful, he wears his first and only clock; it has a Disney-theme and features Mickey Mouse on the surface.  

Plot summary:

One night, Robert Langdon finds himself in a peculiar situation. He has been summoned to help the police with the murder investigation of one Jacques Sauniere, the curator of the Louvre. There he is requested to figure out an anagram, in conjunction with the late curator’s granddaughter, Sophie Neveu. When Neveu tell Mr. Langdon that he is the primary suspect for the murder, they join forces to find the murderer. They flee the building, but not before they pick up some final hints. With these clues, Langdon and Sauniere’s granddaughter find themselves in a scavenger hunt, at the end of which, they hope to find the truth about the curator’s murder. Later on, they find evidence that Sophie’s grandfather was in an ancient, secret society known as the Priory of Sion, whose goal is to guard the Holy Grail. Seeing as he was the only one who knew the story, he has set out clues, so that the truth will not be lost. The treasure hunt evolves to a race, when they find out that they are not the only ones who are seeking the Grail. A group of Christian fanatics are also looking for it, with an ambition as to erase all evidence that might compromise the church. This race leads them from Paris, the French countryside, where they seek council of the historian Leigh Teabing, and later to Great Brittan in the quest for the Holy Grail. In a flashback, we find out that the fanatics have a source that tells them what to do. Almost at the end of the book, we find that the source is Leigh Teabing, and that he wants to show the truth, for the entire world to see. In the end, it is reviled that Sophie is a descendant of Jesus Christ, and that the person that executed her grandfather is killed.       

My opinion:

Honestly, I didn’t find the book very exciting. Some of the reason for this is that I had read Angels & Demons first, and I think that they are relatively alike. In my view, Angels & Demons are actually better than the Da Vinci Code, because I found them both interesting, but only the first thrilling. When I started reading, I had high expectations for the book, and this made the downfall even greater. The Da Vinci Code falls in the shadow of Angles & Demons, while I think it was intended the other way around. But if you look away from the expectations, it is not a dreadful book. Overall, if I were to grade it, I would give it a 4, because even though it was not very breathtaking, it had its moments, it was very interesting, and I learned, among other things, about the Fibonacci numbers, and PHI. I would recommend it for boys and girls over the age of 15, for the reason that there are a lot of difficult words there, and although I figured out most of them by seeing the contents, there were some I just gave up on.