August 26th, 2006
as seen in PC Gamer’s review of The DaVinci Code
In the September issue, Kristen Salvatore writes about the adventure game adaptation of the film:
I confess that I’m something of a literature snob, so it isn’t easy for me to admit I enjoyed a mainstream book like The Da Vinci Code – I love that it’s rooted in factual historical mysteries unlocked with factual historical information.
Except that it isn’t. I guess it was wrong to assume that Brown’s detractors had actively slagged both the book and the film enough over the past three months to get people to start thinking clearly, pointing out that the basis for most of his novel was either entirely fiction or a pseudo-historical text that had been written simply to support some religious crackpot theory. But factual? Come on, a literature snob would have at least done a little casual research before making a statement like that.
August 27th, 2006 at 11:15 am
Ouch.
A lot of otherwise intelligent people think that this book has a truth to offer, in large part, I think, because they want to believe that the Catholic Church has been hiding the deep dark mystery that Jesus was one of us. It taps into a pseudo-intellectual/anti-religious streak.
So Brown, who isn’t even much of a writer for God’s sake, gets away with misinterpreting Gnosticism, inventing what happened at the Council of Nicaea and repeating the admitted frauds of a French con man.
If I could write fiction, I’d make millions.