*has just read through all of the posts so far*
I hope I'm not being a horrible admin by reviving this thread, but I finally read the Da Vinci Code over the holidays (the original hype kind of passed me by
). I enjoyed the book - fast read, interesting plot, did read a lot like a screenplay, but still enjoyable.
My problem with it (post-reading) was that even though it IS a work of fiction, Dan Brown has said in interviews that 99% of the information he gives is true. He begins the novel with his "FACT" page about the Priory of Sion and Opus Dei. While I was reading the book, I started wondering how much of what he gave as straightforward, no-doubt-about-it evidence was real. Therefore, after I finished the book, I did a little googling around.
On the "FACT" page, Dan Brown claims: "The Priory of Sion, a European secret society founded in 1099, is a real organization. In 1975, Paris's Bibliothèque Nationale discovered parchments known as "Les Dossiers Secrets", identifying numerous members of the Priory of Sion, including Sir Isaac Newton, Sandro Botticelli, Victor Hugo and Leonardo da Vinci." But if you do any research, you find that it was created in 1956 and was a total hoax (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priory_of_Sion - yes, I know wikipedia is not the most reliable, but they're nowhere near the only ones to comment about the real Priory of Sion). I also found this web site:
http://www.historyvsthedavincicode.com/ . It's definitely worth a look. As far as I can see, it's remarkably unbiased, and gives evidence that a large number of the "historical" claims in DVC are ill-researched.
I don't have any reason to believe or not believe Brown's theories, but I do feel a little cheated. If he hadn't put a huge "FACT" page at the front of his book and told interviewers that 99% of it was true, I wouldn't have been as disappointed. Yes, I still enjoyed the book, but...anyway...
