Before you ask; the book, not the movie.
This one has had a fair bit of hype surrounding it, with a lot of people crying "wolf!" I'm going to ignore that to a large degree, and just look at the story.
For those who aren't familiar with the book; go read it. Just straight up, it's a good book. But, essentially, it's a fairly in-depth historical drama, slightly lengthy for some, and again with the romantic subplot. It mainly focusses around a cryptographer (who works with codes, if you don't know the word) and the idea that Mary (Magdalene) had a child with Jesus, and this was the real "Holy Grail" of sorts. Obviously, there's a fair bit of opposition to the idea, and so the "race against time" is thrown in there as well. Oh, and yeah, there's an extremist cult too.
It's certainly not a light read; it's fairly involved, and it has a lot going on with it. But for those who have some sort of interest in history, it's a pretty interesting read, and certainly one of the more classic books of slightly more recent days.
As an aside, many other Dan Brown offerings are also quite good, if you ever come across any of them. I haven't read all of them, but we've got a few, and those I've been pretty happy with.
Think I'll throw in my two cents :P
ReplyDeleteIt's a cool story. Easy to read. Engrossing, lengthy, detailed. A bit of "fun". I wouldn't call it amazing - it's no Dickens - but it's not run-of-the-mill trash. I think the religious thing did it good - nothing compares to calling something blasphemy in terms of publicity. I did accept the possibility of Jesus having a child after reading it. Did a bit of research, seemed possible. Now, how did that change my faith? Er…it didn't. I will never understand why the concept that Jesus could have a child is somehow damaging to people's faith.
Anyway, yes, it's a classic already. A "modern" classic.
Enjoyed this post, woot for Dan Brown! Though I'm going to say that Angels & Demons kept me far closer to the edge of my seat...but both are epic :D
ReplyDelete@Mozart: Couple of reasons, I'd guess; It's not the Bible, so it didn't happen (but the gospels aren't Jesus' biography...) or But then that makes him less God/unclean (er...God made sex...) or He couldn't, because God couldn't unite with a person like that. (He's God. He can do whatever He darn well likes.)
ReplyDeleteI dunno. Gets a bit weird if you start thinking...but then...does that mean some people are literally descended from Jesus? Does that make them part God? Oh boy...there are enough questions to attempt to deal with.
@Jessie: I liked Angels & Demons a lot too, it got me into trying to do ambigrams :D