All da (vinci) hype

I went to Leichhardt today to catch up with G for a coffee. One of the things we touched on was the Da Vinci Code (the book). And funnily enough I saw this sign up at the All Souls Church, on the corner of Marion and Norton St, on the way back to my car. I had to happy snap it.

I actually just read the Da Vinci Code last week. I figured it was about time I did, seeing as the movie had just been released (I dont really like seeing the movie of a novel unless I've read the novel first). Anyway, I found the book kind of underwhelming. The first 2/3 was great, and a total page turner, but Brown lost my attention towards the end - unlike Angels and Demons, which had my attention from beginning to end.

I also went to a talk this week, "Decoding the Da Vinci Code", hosted by the Sydney Institute. Basically the seminar was a critique of the contents of the novel by a historian who specialised in the study of religious history. Apparantly each page of the book contains some sort of factual inaccuracy which can be verified by basic research (eg the claim that there were oringially 80 gospels - there were only 22; Silas the Opus Dei monk - there are no monks in Opus Dei). It seems the major issue with the book, is the forward, which states certain legit "facts" which the book are based. Combine that with the fact that there are lots of people out there who have no substantive factual knowlegde about the religions concerned ... and you have a heap of people taking what they read to be fact.

I dont know why the book was so popular...I found it difficult to finish. And when I read it, I took the contents as I would take that of any other fiction novel...ie fictional.
Anyway, I dont think I'm going to see the movie...this billboard isn't the first bad review I've come across.