The Da Vinci Code

For the past two years, I have barely gone a full week without having Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code� in my hand. If it’s not in my hand, it is most likely within a ten foot radius of where I am standing. And the idea of not seeing it in front of me first thing every morning? Unacceptable. The thing is, I didn’t read it until a few months ago…I just work in a bookstore.

To put it simply, “The Da Vinci Code� has been THE book of the past two to three years. It jumped onto bestseller lists soon after its release. It has stayed on them almost every week since then. It has stayed in the top three or four spots during the majority of its time on the lists. And when it comes to personal favorite lists, let’s just say it is either at the very top or the very bottom.

“The Da Vinci Code� is an action/adventure story with a historical/religious twist. It is the story of a secret, the quest to uncover that secret, and a determination to keep it hidden. It pulls readers in with a fast-paced action-filled story of numerous escapes and revolutionary discoveries. And it hooks anyone who has ever been curious about faith, religion, or history.

With its pull and with its hook, “The Da Vinci Code� has been read by millions of people since it first came out in 2003. Many of the millions who have read it claim it as their favorite book. But just as many people have no shame in calling it trash.

As a novel, “The Da Vinci Code� is far from a literary masterpiece. Brown’s writing is “popular� writing, blow-by-blow, action-packed, ready to be pasted directly onto the big screen, and easily reproduced at the rate of one to two books a year. The story isn’t that complex. And his characters never become much more than skin deep personas. But even so, “The Da Vinci Code� has garnered more attention, more praise, and more condemnation than any of Clancy’s, Cussler’s, or Grisham’s similarly adventurous intrigues.

Although “The Da Vinci Code� is not a masterpiece, its story delves into faith, into religious institutions representing faith, and into both convictions and curiosities we all have about faith. The claims and conclusions made in the story have angered many, but they have also drawn many to them. Numerous scholars may have proven them to be unsubstantiated, but still the ideas presented pull readers in.

Many people may hate “The Da Vinci Code� for even suggesting an alternate reality to standard Christian history. But the fact is, the idea presented, even if it is not a reality, has drawn people to it. It has caused people who would never even think of discussing faith to talk about faith. And, it has caused people to think of the Christ Story as real.

More than any other book recently published, “The Da Vinci Code� has caused masses of people to consider who Jesus Christ was. It has brought him closer to the common man than almost any religious institution has ever been able to do on any sort of large scale. And although the details that “The Da Vinci Code� uses to point to Jesus’ humanity may not be true, the reality of his humanity is.

The idea of Jesus as God is nice, but if he is only God, he is difficult to connect to, sometimes hard to even see as real. Sometimes it is difficult to remember that Jesus was also human like us. Not just sort of human, but fully human, a human man who experienced life as we experience it and knew life and its struggles as we also know life and its struggles. Perhaps the most amazing thing about Jesus is that he became human so that he could actually meet us and help us right where we are. And even if its writing is average and ideas controversial, “The Da Vinci Code� reminds us of that fact.

Today “The Da Vinci Code� still sits on the bestseller list. It will be out in paperback very soon and out on the big screen soon after. It has connected with people all over the world and made its mark. Love it or hate it, all of us should at least stop and think about why the story has connected with us or those around us and what that has to say about what we seek.

A Million Little Pieces

Review by Elisabeth Leitch

James Frey's A Million Little Pieces


Paperback: 448 pages
Publisher: Anchor (September 22, 2005)
ISBN: 0307276902
Amazon link

Oprah’s staff cried when they read it. The Smoking Gun launched an investigation before her book club could finish it. Late night hosts and early morning anchors began flipping through it as soon as it made its “smoking� debut. And if they had not already, people all over the world ran to the shelves to buy it.

Meet the new addiction memoir of our time—James Frey’s “A Million Little Pieces.�

Grabbing you with both hands on its very first page, “A Million Little Pieces� is an emotional rollercoaster ride unlike any other recently published book. It is a portrait of people at their worst. It is a tale of friendship at its best. It is an uncensored look at humanity and a reminder of perhaps one of its most real states. And told in a voice that makes us feel like we are inside Frey’s own head, it becomes a reality check that cannot help but reach inside us all and make us take a closer look at our own lives.

While “A Million Little Pieces� is certainly no grammatical work of genius, its unique voice reinforces what is an already captivating story and makes the book worth every minute spent reading it. For the most part, the story never lets you go and rarely drags. Even without its sometimes teeth clenching events, it characters and the depth to which Frey allows readers to know them keep you reading just to know how they are doing.

But even with its strengths, even with its widespread praise, “A Million Little Pieces� was not able to avoid a question knocking at its door as soon as its sales began to rocket—Is it too good to be true? Or rather, is it too bad to be true? Some of the horrors a bit exaggerated, a few events described not quite as they occurred, a few characters slightly altered?

In all reality, the “smoking� claims are not that surprising. Frey’s plot points do work out a bit too well for a true story. Some of his trials do seem to defy a realistic ability to pull through. And some of his dramatic “escapes� are a bit unbelievable. But, still the story is the same.

James Frey’s “A Million Little Pieces� may not be the fully non-fictional tale of addiction and recovery it first presented itself to be. But nonetheless, the story and the powerful way it is told have not changed. It still speaks to us about facing our own failures and dealing with trials that seem too large to overcome. It still leaves us with beautiful pictures of true friendships and actual reasons to believe in hope. And even if “A Million Little Pieces� is not completely true, it is still a story told by a man who has overcome, a story that challenges us to not merely acknowledge our failures but to also know that they need not control us, that we can decide whether they will control us or not, and that we can choose to let something better carry us through this life instead.

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