Grant Newman- The DaVinci Code

Grant Newman

The DaVinci Code

Dan Brown

Historical/Realistic Fiction/Mystery

Just Right

P. 445

1. Right now, the main characters, Robert and Sophie, are very close to finding out where the Holy Grail is. The plot has revolved around them being able to find it, the one thing that Sophie's grandfather wanted to make sure was able to be found after he was murdered. They are just South of Edinburgh, Scotland in the Rosslyn Chapel, where they think the Grail is located. They've been able to go from the Louvre in France to here through a series of poems and puzzles left behind by Jacques Sauniere, Sophie's grandfather. While talking to a young man who works at the chapel, Sophie discovers that her brother and grandmother are still alive, and that they work at the chapel. The boy says he has a box like the one they have (they're the same box) and that his whole family died in a car crash, like Sophie recounted earlier in the story. Langdon and Sophie have been accompanied by Leigh Teabing, an interesting character, originally from England, but living in France, his butler, Remy, and a monk named Silas. Their quest has been very mysterious, and they're very close to finding the Grail right now, one of the most revered and hard-to-find things in the world.

2. I like the book a lot so far. I'm almost done with it, and the plot has been very good so far, with lots of plot twists. Dan Brown is really good at unveiling parts of the mystery without giving the whole thing away. So, it really feels like you're along for the adventure too, because you don't know anything about what will happen. He's a great mystery author, and all of his books have a certain mysterious quality to them. He develops his characters very well so you get to know them better as the book goes along. As in his other books, this one flips perspectives throughout much of the novel, and he does a good job separating chapters so you aren't ever confused. Some books I've read that do this are hard to follow, but his books are not like that. He seems to do a good amount of research in writing these books, because there are a lot of obscure facts that not many people would know. The only thing I haven't liked about the book is that his style doesn't vary much. He'll explain something through dialogue, but then he'll do so the same way just a few pages later. His creativity in how he presents facts may be the only thing I don't like. But, overall, he's done his homework, and this book has been very enjoyable so far.

3. A theme I've noticed so far is defiance. Langdon and Sophie Neveu have had to run around Europe to escape the French police and Interpol because they're believed to have killed Sophie's grandfather, a curator at the Louvre, named Jacques Sauniere. This is outrageous, of course, because they didn't do it, but the police do, because in a short letter Sauniere wrote as he was dying, it said: P.S. Find Robert Langdon. The police interpreted this as him saying that Langdon was his killer, but Sophie knew better, and they have had to defy the police and do many things against the law. The police have used almost every clue they could get from Sophie and Langdon's departure, including using a tracer on an armored truck, finding out where Leigh Teabing, one of their friends' plane took off from, and many other things. They have continued to weasel their way out of harm and trouble, and it has been very interesting. So, you could say that Langdon and Sophie have been defying reasonable odds and escaping the police so far, even though they have such modern technology to capture them.

4. My favorite character is Leigh Teabing. He's a really interesting character to learn about, and he was only introduced about half-way through the book. Despite his lack of "face time" he is an important character now that they are looking for the Holy Grail. He's apparently an expert on the Grail, and he's provided lots of interpretation from what they've found out so far. He has an interesting personality, a little crazy at times, but he's very well-educated, and he works well with Langdon, considering they're friends, and they both have good knowledge about some of these obscure things. He's British, and very proud of his heritage, even though he lives in France. He's incredibly rich, living in what the book describes as a small castle, not a mansion. He has such a different personality from many of the police and academic types in this book, he gives the book originality, which is why I like Leigh Teabing a lot.

5. My least favorite character has been Silas, the monk who has worked for Opus Dei, a secret cult. He's tried to find Langdon throughout the book and capture him and take the keystone, which is the key to finding the Grail, from him. He's a classic evil character who doesn't do what he thinks is good, just what higher authorities tell him to. He's the henchman who carries out a higher-official, Bishop Aringarosa's, plot, to try to take the Grail for Opus Dei. He's a weird character. They describe him as albino, and he wears this thing that is supposedly really religious and is supposed to show your allegiance to God through self violence. It cuts your body, essentially. So, he's really the evil character with no morals and tries to steal Robert's treasure and the Grail. This is what makes Silas my least-favorite character.

6. Even though the novel is practically over, (9 pages left), my prediction is that they'll find out more about the Grail, and that it won't actually be where they are. They'll have to go somewhere else, and it may not even exist, it may be a metaphoric thing that they have come up with to fool them. There'll be some sort of moral lesson involved, and Sophie will find out more about her family.