This section of the book (chapters seventy-seven through ninety) had me on the edge of my seat the whole entire time! All of a sudden, Aringarosa, Fache, Remy, and Silas become one story, and Langdon and Sophia are... well I will leave that up to interpretation.
As the reader, by ninety-percent through the book, we should have an idea as to what kind of person Jacquies Sanuire was. Although I feel like I had a grasp on his character, I was not expecting a cryptex inside of a cryptex! Once the first one was cracked, my heart began beating faster and faster and I was suddenly excited because... The holy grail had been unraveled! After centuries, with only one man on Earth at a time knowing its true past and its true hiding... Instead, they unfold this clue that should lead them to the Holy Grail. After Sir Leigh Teabings lecture as to why the Holy Grail is actually Mary Magdalene. She was supposedly Jesus Christ's girlfriend. According to the book, she was one of Jesus's most celebrated disciples and he cleansed her of her deamons. This is evident in the painting by Leonardo DaVinci--the Last Supper. Her and Jesus seem to be connected at the hip, creating the symbol for "female." There is more on this matter in the previous posts.
One aspect of the book that I found amazing was a list of the Priory of Sion's elitist members--and the dates that they served. It begins in 1188, and wraps up in 1963. I am assuming that the list is missing Jacques Sanuire, which should be the name from 1963-200X. There are several high-profile and well-known names on the list, such as Jean de Saint-Clair, Nicholas Flamel, Leonardo DaVinci (yet another DaVinci Connection), Victor Hugo, and Jean Couteau.
I wonder how long Fache knew (relative to the time that we have been following Langdon and Sophie's adventure). On the phone with Sophie, he said that "Listen. I made a terrible mistake tonight. Robert Langdon is innocent. All charges against him have been dropped. Even so, both of you are in danger. You need to come in." (397) Then, Fache (who we thought to be the bad guy, which turns out to be the rat-like man, Remy) says that "You did not tell me that Jacques Sanuire was your grandfather. I fully intend to overlook your insuboordinance last night on account of the emotional stress you must be under. At the moment, however, you and Langdon need to go to the nearest London police headquarters for refuge." (397) Later when I was reading, I noticed something that made me think that Fache was really NOT on their side, and he might have been luering Sophie in to his trap: " Fache set it back in the box and gazed absently out the jet's window at the hangar, pondering his brief conversation with Sophie, as well as the information he'd received from PTS in Chateau Villette. The sound of his phone shook him from his daydream." (398) This paragraph makes me second-guess his actions.
Overall, I can't wait to finish this book! Is Fache a bad man, or does he truly have great intentions? What is going to happen to Collet--will he lose his job? Will his bank be exposed? I don't trust Remy (obviously)--and is Sir Leigh Teabing on Remy's side, and is he just posing for Langdon and Sophie's trust (because they have the ketstone and the key to Leigh's life goals)? So much to look out for on Post 8 of The DaVinci Code!
This book just keeps getting more and more exciting at every moment. I am always feeling nervous for the characters because I know what some of the other characters are about to do. Although I should have expected something other than the map inside of the cryptex, that is exactly what I thought they were about to see when they opened it. Of course I was wrong because Jacques Sauniére was a master of double entendres and he had to put a cryptex inside of a cryptex. I guess considering the length of the book from this point to the end they would have to have another challenge or else it would end sooner.
ReplyDeleteI was extremely surprised to find that Rémy was, like Silas, a servant of the so called Teacher. He didn’t seem like a character that would join the bad side especially because his master was Teabing who is a grail seeker. Rémy also seemed to be described as an older man which also threw me off. I don’t know who the teacher is but I have a suspicion, contrary to my statement about Teabing, that Teabing is the teacher. My evidence is when Silas was told the location of Sophie and Langdon when it seemed that no one could have known that besides Teabing or Rémy. I also think that Teabing has a good motivation because of how much he wants to find the Holy Grail.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garrett_TFE731
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_800
These are links to the plane and engines that Sir Leigh has in the book. I like that Dan Brown did enough research to find a plane that was developed in england to match the characters style.