Usually while reading an Anne Tyler book, I feel a sense of wonder. With this book, I felt anxiety and dread. Morgan is an unstable character, and I expected disaster at every turn. Everyone seemed to have such an unsatisfying life. When the characters thought they were finding happiness, I didn't agree.

The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown (2003)

Okay, I read it. Everyone else in the world has read it, and now I have too. And now perhaps someone could tell me what the big deal is.

This is an acceptable code-breaking/suspense book, with many dumb parts but not quite enough to make me stop reading. There are interesting points made, but none of them original to the author. Everything original to the author (i.e., the plot, the characters, the dialogue, the scene descriptions) is average or sub-par. If you're interested in the good parts (i.e., the sacred feminine, the secret societies, the Christian deception), there are far better sources. I found myself getting confused as I tried to separate the parts that are actual established theories/studies from the parts the author pulled out of his....head.

The book begins with the murder of the curator of the Louvre. As he realizes he is going to die, he also realizes two other things: that he is the last holder of a tremendously important secret, and that he will have to use his last minutes on earth to leave clues so that someone else (but not just anyone) can discover the trail leading to the secret. And thus the treasure hunt begins.

Two people team up: the curator's granddaughter Sophie, a cryptographer (code-breaker) who has flashes of insight but also forgets her education/experience and has to be reminded of famous codes by other characters; and Robert Langdon, the character manifestation of the author, we presume, since he dishes out so much credit for the genius of all the parts the author wrote, and makes so many lame comments the other characters laugh at. Really, these two make an amazing team. Here we are, dealing with thousands of years of impossible mysteries, and it takes them one mini-chapter to solve each one. A couple days later, and they've done what legions of scholars haven't been able to manage. As. If.

In fact, here's a point made by a fellow reader of this book: if the goal is to keep this secret SECRET, why is there a treasure hunt leading all the way to it? Wouldn't it be better to have NO clues? There's a passing reference made to how only those who are worthy can solve the clues, but come ON: mirror writing?