Well, keep 'em short. We can only use 250 characters in our signatures, you know.
Melodramatic ass. Priceless.
I knew when I read the review of DVC when it was published that I would not be reading the book: it wasn't literature and not worth my time.
That said, I would like to add that I am very interested in the myths adapted and adopted by the Catholic Church; in women's history; in how Mary Magdalene went from being a woman in Israel to one of France's most important saints and in symbolism (although I never heard of "symbology"!)
I did want to see the movie, however, largely because I am a fan of Audrey Tatou as well as Tom Hanks and Ian McKeller (or it McKellan) and watching a thriller isn't the same as reading one, a task I find impossible.
Well, after the terrible reviews, I decided to wait until the movie was in second run. However, when a friend asked me to go with her, I did.
The movie is seven hours long and the dialogue is ridiculous. there are no characters, only cyphers reciting exposition.
What puzzled me is that the sequence of events (let's not call it a plot) did not take the cyphers to Vezelay and the great Medieval Church dedicated to the Madeleine as Mary is known in France.
I did a little research.
Brown is a grad of Amherst College where he double majored in Spanish and English. He first tried to be a singer songwriter and failed. Then he taught at the St. Grottlesex type prep school (Phillips Exeter) where his father also taught (talk about nepotism) until he decided to devote himself to writing novels. He moved to CA and wrote some mediocre thrillers that did not make a splash in the publishing world, but, he did acquire an ally in the form of a woman 12 years his senior (he is good looking in a fey, preppie way) who just happened to be a publishing house pr person.
They moved to NH and married and wrote books together. Humor books and self-help books, which she promoted. No one knows for certain which one did the writing or how much they collaborated.
Now, Margaret Starchild or Starflower or whatever is flattered that Brown cited her works on Magdalene as sources but it was reading the Bloodline books (cited above) that started -- now I remember her name -- Ms. Starbird, who was raised Roman Catholic and spent some time as a Catholic Evangelical, down the path to Magdalene specialization.
The group that wrote the Bloodline book sued Brown for plagiarism.
Guess what? I think Mrs. Brown engineered the whole thing as a publicity stunt to aid in the sale of her boy toy's badly written book.
