Rarely has a book of fiction garnered as much critical attention and discussion as Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code. I read it, it was an interesting and engaging book but not one that I purchased to have a bookshelf copy. However, I’m apparently in the minority because not only has it been on the best seller list forever (it’s ranked #1 at Amazon.com, for example), there are now other books coming out talking about the credibility of the storyline. But there’s a problem with that, according to the publisher…
I’ve been following this story through Publisher’s Weekly: when publisher Thomas Nelson announced that Darrell Bock was wrapping up a book called Breaking the Da Vinci Code, the Random House legal team sprung into action and sent an apparently quite strongly worded cease-and-desist letter.
As with much in the business world, though, it’s all a dance, and Nelson promptly announced that they would put a sticker on the book cover that made it clear that it wasn’t The Da Vinci Code but a book about that book. The sticker reputedly will read “A Critique of The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown” and guess what? Random House has said that’s acceptable and withdrawn any threatened legal action.
For their part, Nelson is thrilled with the publicity, no doubt, and has announced that they’re moving up the publication date of Breaking the Da Vinci Code from mid-May to mid-March. So we could be reading this book, or at least seeing the stickers, in just a few weeks.
I also read and enjoyed The Da Vinci Code. I do have a copy to keep as it was a gift from my mother. However I could not see myself reading Breaking The Da Vinci Code. Because I do not take my fiction that seriously. A book or idea may not be completely plausible but if the author can make it work within the context of the story that is all I care about. I escape for a few hours and I move on. The best part about The Da Vinci Code being such a big hit is that if all the people who have copies actually read them it might inspire some of them to pick up another book and turn off the tv for awhile.
If you believe there to be any truth to Browns book then maybe you have spent too much time reading his and not enough time reading another.
I presume that you are obliquely referring to The Bible, Winn, but I don’t think they’re comparable, and even with that, there are many interesting seeds of truth in Dan Brown’s best-selling work, even if the overall storyline is a bit farfetched. What marks good historical fiction is that there is some truth to it anyway. Perhaps you ought to re-read The DaVinci Code yourself, with a bit more of an open mind?
I thought it was an entertaining piece of FICTION. I did some research while reading the book and Dan Brown did get a ton of things wrong (the fact he claims that Christ’s divinity didn’t become known until after Constantine declared it is pure garbage). An open mind does mean that OK, I read it, researched it and found it to be just what it is, FICTION. The same can be said of people who take “Fahrenheit 9/11” as a TRUE documentary, yeah right.
Actually, Dan Brown correctly noted that the early Christians had a running debate about whether Christ was a God (in which case how could he actually die?) or whether Christ was a man (in which case how could he be divine?) or some sort of hybrid. Constantine was instrumental in the rising popularity of Christianity in his era and it was during that same era that a group of Christian scholars met and concluded once and for all that Christ was both a man and divine, ending the debate.
In terms of Fahrenheit 9/11, well, as with any documentary, particularly a strident one, people take what they want from the viewing. I haven’t seen it, but I was highly impressed by the insight and research of “Bowling for Columbine”, also by Michael Moore.