The Da Vinci Code

[poliphilo]

They say the Da Vinci Code is badly written. That's enough to put me off. Life is too short.

But what really gets me is that people are reacting as if this stuff about The Priory of Sion and Mary Magdalen and Rennes Le Chateau were new and shocking. It isn't. It's all there in the 1982 non-fiction best-seller The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, which is still in print. Also it's all over the Net. What sheltered lives some people must lead!

Also, if Brown had researched properly- instead of just reading The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail- he'd have known that the Priory of Sion has long since been revealed as a hoax. I'll admit I didn't know that myself before last night (when Channel 4 revealed all) but if I'd been proposing to put the Priory at the centre of a novel I'd have made damn sure I found out all I could about it before I went ahead and committed myself.

Comments

[arielstarshadow.livejournal.com]

I, too, enjoyed DVC as a piece of light reading, and I also picked up Brown's latest, Angels and Demons, which was also entertaining.

I think it's important to remember that Brown's work is intended to be fiction - granted, with enough "realistic" facts thrown in to make some people wonder if it's really fiction, but in the end, that's exactly what it is and nothing more. I think if one keeps that in mind when reading it, it can be enjoyable.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Ailz has read Angels and Demons. I think she enjoyed it. She says the murders are pretty gruesome.

Maybe it's unrealistic to expect writers of popular fiction to do much research. After all, Conan Doyle placed Taunton at the heart of Dartmoor and all he had to do was glance at the map to discover it's not.

My resentment of Dan Brown stems from my feeling (maybe it's unjust) that he's just taken someone else's book, lightly fictionalized it and now he's making millions. I just don't reckon he's earned his success.

[karenkay.livejournal.com]

If it helps, I'm 98% sure he paid for the research.:)