A review by ailsaod
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

mysterious reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.0

I have been recommended this book A LOT in the past and I am genuinely shocked by this now I have read it. As the weirdly religious treasure-hunt subgenre of thrillers go this is a snooze-fest. The plot plods and most of the book consists of Langdon lecturing poor Sophie about symbology. It is clear that a fair portion of the symbology is rooted in reality but it just reeks of conspiracy theorist thought processes and seemed really arbitrary. Ah yes of course this little upward pointing chevron means masculinity because penises. Has it maybe occurred to anyone that some of the random stuff in art doesn't actually symbolise anything and just looks nice??

The entire book reeks of misogyny to an extent that is impressive. Ah yes a secret society (*cough* cult *cough*) about "the sacred feminine" (a.k.a. fetishising women) and yet none of the top members are women? Seems weird to me. There is a literal passage about how women are important because when men have sex with them and orgasm they (the men) have a religious experience. Oh OK, I guess women can only have worth in relation to the men around them?! The way the other characters treat Sophie was also really weird - she is a grown woman in her thirties and yet everyone constantly talks about her as if she were a child and mansplains to her. All of this would be enough to make this book bad but the author decided to include a paragraph about how when Sophie was a child she thought she was ugly because she was tall, ginger and had freckles. As someone who meets all these criteria this felt rather like an unexpected personal attack. (I am aware it definitely was not intended as such but like steady on Mr Brown, keep it classy!)

I mentioned earlier about this book being a weirdly religious treasure-hunt thriller - which it is but in a strange way. Dan Brown does not like the Catholic church but he goes after it with such vigour I actually felt sorry for them. At least go after the Catholic church for things it has actually done! - there is plenty to choose from after all! This book is all about religion but I don't have enough knowledge of Christianity to understand what exactly is being preached to me here.

And to top it all off the plot turned out to not even be particularly interesting in the end! I only finished the book in the end because I wanted to know what part Rosslyn Chapel played and let me tell you it was all unbelievably underwhelming!
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