Customer Reviews

The Asti Spumante Code: A Parody

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Terrific parody of the style, content, character, structure, and wording of the Da Vinci Code. To me, the Da Vinci Code was maddening in its contrived structure and ridiculous situations. I wish I'd been creative enough to think of, and write, this parody as it cleverly skewers everything that I hated about the DV Code.

...as it nails Brown's pompous, overflowing-with-irrelevant-detail style to near-perfection. And the plot (concerning a worldwide conspiracy whose evidence can be found in an illustration in a "Thomas the Tank Engine" book) likewise skewers the ludicrous pseudo-historical claims of its predecessor. If you hated "The DaVinci Code," you'll love this book. If you loved "The DaVinci Code" (and, worse yet, believe it to be "factual")...well, it's probably best you not read this. After all, intelligence and humor are likely beyond you.

"The Asti Spumante Code" kicks off in Brussels, with the murder of Gordon Sanitaire - curator of the city's Grande Bibliothèque. He proves to be the latest victim of the hirsute Stoat - so called because his hair (or, more accurately, `fur') changes colour with the season. (For this reason, he travels on two passports : one for the summer, the other for the winter). Stoat is a member of the Uxbridge Road Group, the militant wing of the English Book Guild. The Guild was founded with the aim of encouraging people to read and, although the URG's methods are extreme, they have also proved effective. Under the instructions of Brown Owl, Stoat is searching for the legendary Mūre-de-Paume, some sort of keystone.

The investigation into Sanitaire's death is headed up by Capitaine Taureau, who very quickly manages to point the finger at the book's hero : James Crack. Not only the Professor of Para-Literal Meta-Symbologist Studies at the University of Catt-Butt in Nebraska, Crack also proves to be an clueless, egotistical bore.

For those of us who hated "The Da Vinci Code", this is the easiest way of getting any pleasure from it. Brown's writing style is mocked perfectly : the chapters are ridiculously short, while every opportunity is taken to labour over the most minute and irrelevant point. Certain things are stated as fact, when they're clearly anything but true. Crack himself makes wild jumps of logic and stumbles across clues by means of blind luck rather than any form of skill. Recommended for those who read "The Da Vinci Code" and hated it.

This is hilarious - currently standing up to its third reading, I consider it an absolute masterpiece. If you've read the Drear-Vinci Codes, buy it or borrow it, but make sure you read it!

Soundly beats to death the plot and writing style of the Da Vinci Code, as well as having a go at the publishing industry in general.

Unfortunately I have read the original, and found it dreadful. This parody beautifully sums up all my gripes about the original, in a way that had me laughing out loud.

Its sharp, its witty, its totally without mercy.
And the best part is you DONT need to read the DVC to enjoy this - though seeing the movie might help.

After the first 10 pages or so, the joke got old.

OK, I get that it's a parody, but a parody can only go so far. Once you recognize that by Clements' exaggerating Dan Brown's hyperbolic writing just a little you realize what a bad writer - albeit great story-teller (not the same thing)- Brown truly is, "The Asti Spumante Code" gets very old very quickly.

I would only recommend the book with the caveat that it's silly.

To set the record straight, I didn't think that "The Da Vinci Code" was all that excellent. I'd say an even 4 out of 5 stars. Maybe it was because I read "Angels and Demons" first--I liked that book much more.
Anyway, I am always open to parodies, even if they poke fun at books I like. "Bored of the Rings" was a great parody on Tolkien's epic series.
As for the "Asti Spumante Code", I have to admit that I got a short laugh at the beginning of this book and one more later on that involved a toilet, but after that I don't ever recall laughing and it got agonizing reading and reading, hoping to come across something funny. In fact, the last part of the book could almost pass as serious.

Two laughs = two stars

To set the record straight: the advertising material for this book says "The first and only parody" of the Da Vinci Code. A book called "The Dick Cheney Code: A Parody" came out in September of 2004. I don't know why the publishers of this book couldn't be bothered to check that.

I agree with Plate of Pasta and Plate of Shrimp. I haven't read the book, either, of course, but it just looks ugly on the shelves in the shops. It is kind of squat, so I don't think it will fit in with the nice line of books that I have at home in my trailer. For that reason I give it only one star.

I agree with Plate of Shrimp - this is a big disappointment. I have not read it, obviously, but I can see that the publishers have chosen to put a brown dog on a beige back ground, which is kinda gross. Only one star from me.