(no subject)
after two nights of staying up until dawn (or tonight, almost dawn) and working 8 hours a day, i have come to the conclusion that dan brown is a genius. da vinci code is the best book i have ever read in my life. if it hadn't been for my job, i would have read it in less than 24 hours.
however, even with its genius its got so many messed up points:
1. the new testament being altered by constantine
2. the assumtions made in da vinci's fresno - although, i have checked and many details seem to be extremely accurate
3. the holy grail is not what you think it is... its really documents, old books from the bible that where cut by constantine, and the remains of mary magdeline.
4. and finally, the most obsurd, Jesus having been married to mary magdeline and her being pregnent the night of the crucifixion.
those are just the larger ones.
but don't get me wrong here, i am praising brown's work. i'm sure the book took years of research and effort to be able to describe each location and painting in the book to a T. all of the information he gave on paganism, architecture, art, and mythology must have been amazingly researched. the details of the clues were astounding - i'm not sure how a human mind is capable of thinking up something so mind boggling. even if you have the smallest imagination out there, brown can put you into the world that his characters have been thrown into. throughout the book i had to keep reminding myself that none of it was true, and that this book is found on the fiction shelves at book stores - not on historical, biblical, or non-fiction. it all seemed so realistic to me, but i was somehow able to contain myself from questioning my own beliefs.
but in the end, this book can be viewed in two ways.
1. a highly entertaining peice of fiction thats just that - fiction
2. a book that is written to make you question your faith
either way, i do not recommend this book to people who are easily swayed by outside ideals. after all, it is merely a peice of fiction. but the book is well worth the read for the story itself. i love to read and do so almost all the time but haven't come across a book that i can't put down like this one since i read forrest gump 5 years ago.