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Ron Miller's DARK CORRIDORS VOL. 6, No. 5 |
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The Da Vinci Code Special Illustrated Edition
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Dan Brown's best seller
gets fabulous makeover
of TheColumnists.com
When a novel stays right around No. 1 on the hardcover best-seller list for more than a year, it has become pretty much a publishing phenomenon. Tens of millions of dollars have been raked in and that doesn't even count the paperback editions. That generally describes Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code," which also had a hefty movie rights sale and lots of other paths to even more riches.
One of them is a truly unique path: While the original edition was still #1 on the best seller list, Doubleday, Brown's publisher, last year came out with a large format illustrated edition of the same exact novel. The new edition, which costs $35, is also a raging bestseller.
Since "The Da Vinci Code" is, at heart, a mystery, I suppose it's about time I had something to say about it, even though I imagine at least half the people in the world already have read it. I guess I'd avoided it until recently bedause I'm always suspicious of mega-bestsellers that come with huge publicity trumpets blaring.
Anyway, my wife bought it for me for Christmas, so I sat down and read the darn thing.
My copy is Doubleday's Special Illustrated Edition, which may just have the handsomest packaging of any fairly new novel I've ever seen. Reproducing color photos is very expensive--and this edition has a slew of them, impressively displayed on fine stock. Every time I picked up my copy, I felt as if a symphony orchesta ought to start playing a fanfare.
Brown's premise is deceptively simple: Harvard "symbologist" Robert Langdon is in Paris on business, about to meet with the curator of The Louvre, when he learns the man has been murdered at the museum, leaving behind a cryptic message that contains Langdon's name. Soon Langdon discovers the dead man was the leader of a secret society devoted to preserving a great secret that, if known, would plunge the Christian religion into chaos.
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Well, he's Dan Brown, author of "The Da Vinci Code," one of the most successful novels of all time. |
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Teaming up with a beautiful young French cryptologist named Sophie Neveu, who has a special link to the murdered man, Langdon soon joins the race to uncover the secret, which dates back not only to the time of Leonardo Da Vinci, but also to Jesus Christ and his disciples. What transpires is an international thriller, but one replete with great controversy because it traffics in the history of the Christian religion and the roots of its faith.
Gears already are turning in preparation of the movie version of Brown's enormous bestseller, which will star two-time Academy Award winner Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon. The publishing phenomenon is about to become a giant entertainment bonanza, too.
First, let me say "The Da Vinci Code" is not anywhere near as great a book as the sales volume would suggest. But it's not a giant turkey, either. It is, in essence, a well-crafted commercial thriller that has been hyped and pumped up to "phenom" stature. I congratulate Dan Brown on its success and I will certainly concede that it's a page turner, but once I put it down, I must say I heard echoes of that grand old Peggy Lee tune, "Is That All There Is?"
The characters, with a few exceptions, are formulaic and the climax, which takes more than 400 pages to reach, is something of a letdown. Still, the novel is packed with revelations about some of the greatest works of art the world has ever known and Brown has done a masterful job of serving up copious details about them.
One example: The suspicion that the perplexing smile on the face of the Mona Lisa may be part of Da Vinci's greatest in-joke. Have you ever considered that the Mona Lisa is really a self-portrait of Da Vinci in drag? No, I hadn't either, but after reading this novel I'm willing to believe nearly anything about Da Vinci and his mysterious doings.
(Oddly enough, the only time I ever visited the Louvre and actually saw the real Mona Lisa, I was somewhat distracted because I found myself in line right behind the actor George Peppard. As I recall, both the Mona Lisa and Peppard seemed smaller than I expected them to be.)
Reading the new illustrated edition emphasizes both the assets and the shortcomings of Brown's novel. It's an awesomely handsome book, packed with beautiful images of great paintings and handsome buildings. It's a book-lover's delight because it is an exquisitely packaged example of the publishing arts.
Yet I couldn't help thinking that the book itself seemed to be almost too calculated a project, taking dozens of controversies, rumors and scandals about the work of Da Vinci and others, not to mention the inner workings of the Catholic church, and tossing them all into a giant stew pot from which the plot of "The Da Vinci Code" ultimately rose up.
What's especially intriguing is that Brown tells us the Priory of Sion, the secret society described in the book, really exists--as does the Catholic sect known as Opus Dei, which represents the villainous side of the race to unravel the mysteries at the heart of the story.
Once you learn some of the secrets the Priory of Sion has been trying to keep under wraps for centuries, you may understand why the book has been so controversial and why the movie, if it hews closely to Brown's story, may upset an awful lot of people. I don't want to give anything away, but let's just say it makes some strong assertions about Christ, his disciples and most especially Mary Magdalene.
If you remember how the defenders of the faith came out against Martin Scorsese's "Last Temptation of Christ" in 1988, then noted the enormous box office performance of Mel Gibson's "Passion of the Christ" last year, you may rightly wonder how big the screen version of "Da Vinci Code" might possibly go. Gibson's film also was severely criticized by some religious factions, but went on to become one of the most popular films ever made.
But the expensive illustrated edition of the book is a worthwhile addition to your library, even if you end up not liking the story. Langdon's odyssey takes him through several famous places in both France and England, but the views you'll get of them--in both words and pictures--are truly awesome.
It gives me a great idea: If I should ever write a novel, I'm going to set it in lots of famous places and, rather than put in a lot of boring descriptions, I'm just going to suggest the publisher run a picture of the location and save me the trouble of describing it. And, naturally, I would also hope it would stay on the best-seller list at least half as long as Brown's book has.
©2005 by Ron Miller.
The book illustrations are courtesy of Doubleday. The photo of
Dan Brown is from his website. This column first posted on Jan.
17, 2005.
Ron
Miller is a former nationally syndicated television columnist
and the author of "Mystery! A Celebration," the official
companion book to PBS' "Mystery!" series. He now writes
about TV mysteries for Mystery Scene magazine and teaches classes
in mystery for the Academy of Lifelong Learning at Western Washington
University in Bellingham, Washington.
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