Maybe I should've said who hasn't read it. :)

I thought it was very good piece of fiction although some seem to take it a little too seriously. Now the catholic church is going nuts and the film comes out next year. Look out for religious loonies picketing theatres. :nuts:

[SPOILERS BELOW]

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2005/03/16/1110913654115.html

Pope's pal blasts Da Vinci Code
March 16, 2005 - 4:13PM
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A top Catholic cardinal has blasted The Da Vinci Code as a "gross and absurd" distortion of history and said Catholic bookstores should take the bestseller off their shelves because it is full of "cheap lies".

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, in an interview with the Milan newspaper Il Giornale, became the highest ranking Italian churchman to speak out against the book, an international blockbuster that has sold millions of copies.

The novel is going to reach an even wider audience next year with the release of a film based on the book staring Tom Hanks.

"(It) aims to discredit the church and its history through gross and absurd manipulations," Bertone, the archbishop of the northern Italian city of Genoa and a close friend of Pope John Paul told the paper.

"This seems like a throwback to the old anti-clerical pamphlets of the 1800s," he said.

The central claim of the book, written by US author Dan Brown, is that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had children.
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The Bible says Jesus never married, was crucified and rose from the dead.

Bertone's comments were significant because until the pope named him archbishop of Genoa in 2003 he was for years the number two man at the Vatican's most powerful department - the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

"You can find that book everywhere and the risk is that many people who read it believe that those fairy tales are real," he said. "I think I have the responsibility to clear things up to unmask the cheap lies contained in books like that."

A central storyline of the book is that the Holy Grail is not the cup which Christ is said to have used at the Last Supper but really the bloodline descended from Jesus and Mary Magdalene.

Bertone calls this idea "a perversion".

Bertone is so incensed about the novel that he will be the key speaker at a roundtable in Genoa this week that will attempt to dismantle the book, which also accuses the church of covering up the female role in Christianity.

"I will try to clear things up and help form consciences," the cardinal said.

"I think that when faced with affirmations that are so shameful and unfounded, readers who have even a minimum of basic (Christian) formation should react," he said.

He said it was "sad" that even Catholic bookstores were selling The Da Vinci Code "for purely economic reasons".

One bookstore selling The Da Vinci Code is at the Gemelli Hospital, a Catholic institution where the pope spent a total of 28 days in two stints in February and March.

In the interview, Bertone firmly rejected the book's claim that the feminine role in Christianity had been suppressed.

"This is one of the most vulgar of inventions. The feminine element is present in all the Gospels," Bertone said.

Bertone also strongly defended Opus Dei, the conservative Church organisation which the book depicts as a ruthless, Machiavellian group which resorts even to murder in its attempt to keep the Church's secrets hidden.

- Reuters

i havent read it but i am sick to death of hearing about it, thats all i know!

Getaway tomorrow night is a Da Vinci code tour. Should be good - can't wait to see all the places that featured in the book.

I have, it's OK, but the hype around it is bigger and better than the actual book.

I wouldn't say the Catholic church have gone "nuts", I imagine ever since the book came out the media have been screaming for a nice headline quote from someone at the Vatican.

I have, it's OK, but the hype around it is bigger and better than the actual book.

I wouldn't say the Catholic church have gone "nuts", I imagine ever since the book came out the media have been screaming for a nice headline quote from someone at the Vatican.

Maybe not nuts but they have now selected a cardinal (whose name i forget) to front an effort to rebuff claims made in the book. Basically, the Vatican is a bit up in arms about the book. Having seen the book being sold in Catholic Bookstores its pushing a major effort to battle (what the Vatican considers to be) "lies" in the book (ie; jesus and mary magdalene having a child together).

so, nuts... maybe nut. up in arms.. i think so

I've read about half of it but I don't think I'll finish it...don't really like the writing style or the "revelations" the book reveals - what is fiction in the book, and what isn't? I just can't be bothered thinking about it, so i think I'll let it go. :dunno:

As a Christian I really wouldn't mind if Jesus had been a married man. I personally don't think that this diminishes his good work.

I've read it, and I thought it was a damn good book. I look forward to the film version comming out soon. I'm still trying to get around to reading the Angels and Demons book as well.

I am the only one of my family and friends who hasn't read this damn book. I'm resisting the hype so far.

I thought it was a great book. I actually wished that what it was about was true. It definately makes a lot of sense.

The book is great but the DVD 'Cracking the Da Vinci Code' is not so great. Feed the beast and buy the book but don't bother with this amateurish piece of crap.

Yeah I heard that "doco" is absolute shite. I have a lot of faith in the properly affiliated movie next year though.

I have read ¾ of it now and am really intrigued about the possibilities it presents. We all know about sexual rituals in pre christian times (in Europe and the middle East atleast. In the Pacific, the America's and Africa they continued till colonisation). We all know about feminine gods in pre christian times as well. We only have to see the Roman and Greek temples of the time to know that there was a sudden fundimental shift away from the female as a devine entity. We also know about the barbarity of the christian faith in its forming years ( the crusades where tens of thousands of moslims were slaughtered, the burning of witches and heretics and of course the Spanish inquisition among others). We know that the up rising of the christian faith saw much bloodshead in the first 1500 years. To believe that the christian church and bible are anything but a man made institution with man made ideology are obviously oblivious to its history.
The Da Vinci Code brings up a number of issues that are not new. These are issues that have been debated before but are formulated into a great novel. I for one will read it to the end.

Even if you didn't like it, wouldn't you still finish it? lol :)

I have a lot of faith in the properly affiliated movie next year though.

I hope you're right.

Unlike Sahara wtf? Any Cussler fans here? :)

Read it and loved it.
Very well paced!!
It may be a fictitious novel, but I've heard that some of it is based on what many think are facts.

Can't wait for the movie! :)

im in the process of reading it. (my english sucks :) )

Read it and loved it.
Very well paced!!
It may be are fictitious novel, but I've heard that some of it is based on what many think are facts.

Can't wait for the movie! :)

Look up Da Vinci's ''Last supper''. Just like stated in the book.
Also look up Opus Dei.

Read it and loved it.
Very well paced!!
It may be are fictitious novel, but I've heard that some of it is based on what many think are facts.

Can't wait for the movie! :)
If you want to read another really good fact filled fiction novel that will keep you on your toes and thinking new things, you should try State of Fear by Michael Chricton (Sp?). Great book.

I hope you're right.

Unlike Sahara wtf? Any Cussler fans here? :)
I'm a huge Cussler fan, and I must say I actually quite liked Sahara. You have to remember, you can't always make a movie exactly like the book was written.

haven't read Da Vinci code and probably never will. Sounds like it's all-hype. Conspiracy theory, anyone?

Yeah, that book is total rubbish. I have a friend who is an expert in ancient languages and religious texts and she effortlessly destroyed much of Brown's theories, not the least of which his assertion that "yahwei" (sp?) originates from the word "jehovah", when according to my friend that is ludicrous and you will find no serious languages expert who agrees with that. In fact, it is impossible, since vowels were only added to the written language centuries after the word "yahwei" was born. Etc etc, it goes on and on. And she scoffed at the author's "obsession" (I have to agree, he is totally obsessed) with the "sacred feminine", seeing symbols in absolutely everything, blah blah blah. Of course, Brown would probably just say she has been "brainwashed" by the evil Catholics, a very convenient catch-all defense against the gaping holes in his research and logic.

I read the book, though, and I have to say I don't know what all the hype is about, even as a pure work of fiction. I found it clumsy and unengaging, like a book written to an unbending formula. It was just too simplistic, with no nuance or momentum, and the predictable "cliffhanger" at the end of every single chapter became tiresome. Maybe as a book for teenagers it's ok, but it doesn't deserve the acclaim it seems to have been getting.

However, I guess anything that interests people in history and the past - and, more importantly, encourages people to actually READ BOOKS - is good at least in part.

hk

Oh yeah, and I did take a good look at da Vinci's "The Last Supper" after reading the book - a good high resolution reproduction in a book I found at the library, and I have to say, if that person next to Jesus is supposed to be a woman, that is one fucking ugly, masculine woman. It's far from obvious, as Brown would suggest, that it's a girl. Of course, if you've made up your mind before you even look, you can see girlish features in everyone but to me he could have claimed any one of them was a woman and it would be about the same, they all look about as girly as any other. It may not be Harrison Ford sitting next to him, sure, but it's sure as hell not Pamela Anderson either. Oh, and Orthodox Jewish law states that if a woman is married she has to wear a head covering. Where's hers, then?

hk

lol

I have, and for a moment I thought it was real....what an great great author.

I'm a huge Cussler fan, and I must say I actually quite liked Sahara. You have to remember, you can't always make a movie exactly like the book was written.

Apparently the film is quite good but I just can't think of McConaughey as Dirk Pitt. And Al Giordino? But I guess its hard to find short stocky actors. :)

Going to see HHGTTG to see how far from the books it deviates.

Well I haven't read those books, so the movie was pretty weird. I'd probably give it 3/5.

^ Thats a pretty good rating considering you haven't read the books and it is a bit weird.

I saw an ad for a program about this book, 7:30pm Wednesday, channel 10 I think. Might be worthwhile watching for those who like me will probably never get around to reading the book.

I read the book, I thought it was pretty good. Very interesting stuff. The first book is better though, Angels and Demons, its a lot more exciting. You should read Angels and Demons before Da Vinci Code.

This wasn't that great. The French woman's shocking secret is very lame, every chapter ends with a chase scene or a cliffhanger, and it's fairly obvious who the bad guy is because the book fails to offer any alternatives. And the main character is a Mary Sue.

I was handed a flyer as I entered the train station today from a local Anglican group - it was basically an attack on the Da Vinci Code story, and seemed to be rather defensive.

It asked - how could anyone believe the ridiculous revelations within the story. Well my answer would be that the ideas in the Da Vinci Code are just about as likely to be true as the idea that Jesus actually rose from the dead (as opposed to the notion of rising from the dead being a metaphor for something else). I don't know, it's all much of a muchness to me! :dunno:

what a croc. :hilarious

I read the book, I thought it was pretty good. Very interesting stuff. The first book is better though, Angels and Demons, its a lot more exciting. You should read Angels and Demons before Da Vinci Code.

I agree, Angels and Demons is better. I didn't mind the Da Vinci code also but I read that about a year ago now. I read Angels and Demons about 2 months ago. I didn't watch last nights thing on Ten about the Da Vinci Code, what was it like??

I saw an ad for a program about this book, 7:30pm Wednesday

I gave the program till the 3rd add break. Was about as interesting as the SBS test pattern.