Having very recently read the ‘Angels and Demons’ I was
reminded of the abysmally awful prose that sets out the saga of the
ever-astounded(‘stunned’, ‘dumbfounded’,’astonished’…ad nauseam) Robert Langdon
when I found this website full of snarky grammatical commentary on Dan Brown’s prose.
‘Angels and Demons’ truly lived up to ( or should I say,
aptly preceded) its blockbuster sequel ‘The Da Vinci Code’. Its only redeeming
feature was the introduction to the concept of ambigrams, along with some very
intricate pseudo-medieval calligraphy that looked fantastic.
‘Da Vinci Code’ left me cold- I have no theological quarrel
with the story, since I don’t hold strong religious beliefs that would be
offended by it. More than the so-called ingenuity of the plot, the language
grated on my nerves to the extent that I speeded up my reading of the book to reduce
the toxic exposure and possible contamination.
I’m now torn between wanting to see the movie, which may
turn out better than I expect, considering the low expectations that I have for
it- or will it be worse, since I now think that it will be better than my low
expectations? I’ll just wait for the DVD, I guess. At least there I will be
able to do the same thing as I do when I flip rapidly through a book, the
reading equivalent of fast forwarding the tape or DVD.
Also, if you hated ‘Da Vinci Code’ for stylistic reasons,
you might enjoy “The Rule of Four” by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason- much
better writing of a cryptographic treasure hunt.
Accidental Blogger 
10 responses to “Da Vinci Code Redux”
Criticisms of its literary merits apart, I found “Da Vinci Code” to be quite a page-turner. I mean, one opens a book of this kind( by which I mean an international bestseller doing well enough to be pirated on cheap recycled paper and sold at very magazine-wallah and traffic light stop) almost expecting to be unimpressed by the author’s felicity with words. I know that sounds terribly elitist, but if it has been profitably translated into umpteen languages, I’d imagine that its appeal would lie in something more universal than the original language. I read and enjoyed it for its conspiracy theories. It wasn’t too different from watching the occasional silly but innocuous film. All theatres currently screening it in Delhi are booked for the next two weeks and I’ll just have to wait to get a ticket, but I’m really looking forward to seeing the movie.
LikeLike
I think that clever marketing may have played quite a role in the popularity of the book. The Vatican must be ruing the publicity gained by the book when they denounced it, making a few million curious readers rush out to buy it. Even the lack of critical acclaim for the movie doesn’t seem to have hurt its prospects at the box office.
LikeLike
That and the claims of plagiarism lobbied against it, that were subsequently thrown out in court. As the saying goes, “There’s no such thing as bad publicity!” It’s no different than what happened with, “The Passion of The Christ,” which I must ruefully admitted to have watched in order to find out, first hand, what the hype was all about.
LikeLike
I was surfing the Google the other day.Jesus and the land of Kashmir in india.
They say that there is a grave in there which belongs to a prophet who came to this part of India due to persecution by the then rulling people of Israel.
In fact there was migration of people from those areas due to relegious persecutions.
Remember this was happening nearly a thousand years before Islam.Those before christ and afterwards were sun worshipers.
Are they the Present Kashmiri Pandits ? Perhaps a genetic testing on a large scale is required for this study.I am seriously trying to study and if possible validate this hypothesis.I shall welcome any organisation who can come forward to help execute this Project.
LikeLike
Crystal:
I will copy here a comment I wrote in my post, A Distant Land of Milk and Honey about Indian Jews.
Quite interesting is also another theory – that the entire Kashmiri population (Muslims and Hindus) may have been of Jewish extraction. This view has some currency among Kashmiris themselves. I once saw a website of an Israeli scholar where he listed all the Kashmiri Brahmin surnames along with their probable Hebrew roots.
The story about Jesus’s tomb in Srinagar’s Roza Bal district is a pretty widely held belief in certain parts of the world – in India, the Muslim middle east and among some Jews. That Jesus escaped (with the help of his followers) from the cross and found refuge in far away India, is a plausible earthly explanation for the miraculous resurrection and the empty tomb in Jerusalem. This fascinating legend still has a powerful hold on people’s imagination – especially non-Christians. See a story here:
http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20040912-014318-5373r.htm
Here is more on the same myth / history from the book of Ahmadiyya Muslims
LikeLike
Ruchira,
Thanks for the valuable information.
However I shall be very grateful if you can give (if possible) the web-site of the Israeli scholar who worked on the Kashmiri people…..
LikeLike
Crystal:
Sorry, I just cannot find the website. But you can probably find a wealth of information on this subject by doing a google search of various combinations like kashmiris lost tribe of israel, Kashmiri jewish ancestry etc.
May I ask you what your interest is in this matter? Are you involved in research or is it a personal matter?
LikeLike
Ruchira
Thanks foe the suggestions.
I am involved in research on this issue as personal interest only.
Dont you think that these people are still persecuted in their own land even after two thousand years.
Hundreds of thousands of Kashmiri pandits have left their home land and migrated in the last few years.
Write your opinion about this.
Crystal
LikeLike
Ruchira, I finally managed to get on the Internet again, here in India. Just thought you might find it interesting to know that the first headline in the Deccan Chronicle the day before was about renewed interest in finding ‘Jesus’ grave’ in Kashmir!
LikeLike
Hi Sujatha, glad you were able to check in. Hope you will be over the jet lag soon. Perhaps you will even find time to blog! Or at least comment. Blogging may be a little slow here unless Sachin decides to start.
LikeLike