The Da Vinci Code

I was a little apprehensive about posting this entry, given the fact that I am possibly the last person on the earth (at least among the visitors of this blog) to read this novel. For long, I was trying to get my hands on it and considering its popularity, I finally decided to spend some bucks on it. And the book was worth the money, or rather much more than that!
Angels & Demons (A&D) is another Dan Brown’s that I had read before (a good one) and I found The Da Vinci Code similar to it in terms of the plot, characters and even the sequence. But there was so much more to it that never made me feel that the repetition made it boring.
Actually, the anagrams, cryptography, the whole Jesus Christ, Mary Magdalene, Sangreal and Holy Grail affairs were far more interesting and deeper than the ambigrams and running around across the Vatican in A&D.
In fact, the only thing where it lagged A&D was the suspense. Here, it was far too obvious, considering the knowledge and power that ‘The Teacher’ wielded and the fact that not another character developed till last few chapters seemed suspicious (except Bezu Fache and the clouds of suspicion created over him in the middle were actually a beauty to see). The ending too was a little disappointing – I mean Holy Grail wasn’t expected to be found but the way speed and excitement were built in the middle was something Brown couldn’t continue till the end (personal opinion).
I would like to shift the focus on the peak part of the novel (the purpose for which I wrote this blog regardless of the apprehension). And that is – the Holy Grail. Personally, I didn’t know much anything about it or related stuff and I doubt if anyone other than Christians (I doubt many of them would know much about it) or Christianity historians and symbologists would know much about it, but in this sense, it was a great eye opener.
The few pages in middle where Langdon and Teabing disclose fundaes about Holy Grail and Mary Magdalene were awesome. The sequences and secrets were quite convoluted but yet well-woven with documents, cryptology and etymology – especially when all were directly or indirectly, but in a simple way, related to the ‘sacred feminine’.
On the issue of Jesus Christ, I, in fact never knew that Bible proclaimed Him as ‘Son of God’ and always considered Him to be a member of the rare group of people who had achieved apotheosis in their lifetime. I don’t deny the possibility of him coming as an Avataar. If the Church deliberately changed the reality, I doubt that there was a good reason to do so because whatsoever was the case, I doubt it changes the basis of following Him. In that sense – “The divinity of Jesus was decided by the Council of Nicaea” as the book mentions invites intrigue, pity and humor. I also loved Napoleon’s quote – “What is history but a fable agreed upon?” and we are literally observing this in the history class books of Rajasthan where a lot of condemnation of Christianity and their practices have been introduced after the BJP Government came into power.
Cryptography & Sacred Feminine, Opus Dei & Corporal Mortification, Priory of Sion & Issac Newton as grandfather, Knights Templar & Sangreal, Merovingian and Holy Grail, Jesus Christ & Mary Magdalene – just too much! I am not much of a reader but I find that the book is a thriller beyond match, especially because it creates the fiction around facts and that too something that hits directly in the head. Hail Brown!

PS: Anyone who knows about some good source for related reading may let me know.

PPS: There is an illustrated version of the book available for around 600 bucks. A little hefty for us poor but a really good one with more than 150 pictures placed at relevant positions. It’s worth buying for those who can manage. I’ll just borrow ;-)

PPPS: I had seen the movie trailers before reading the book and I just thought that the movie will be a great piece as the novel is so popular. Mayank told me at that time that it is not necessary but I didn’t get it. Now, even I doubt that it would be easy to fill up this much information in a 2-3 hr movie. But the cinematography looks great prima facie, after all the locations too are mostly real. I’m going to watch it anyway!