From thisislondon.co.uk:
The DaVinci Victim [yeah, it's the book's fault]
A painter fascinated with best-selling conspiracy thriller The Da Vinci Code committed suicide after becoming convinced she was the subject of a real-life murder plot.
Caroline Eldridge, 38, moved to Italy to pursue her interest in Leonardo Da Vinci, but her mind became "muddled" by the mysteries surrounding his work, her father said. She suffered paranoid delusions that she and her family were in danger "because of the knowledge that she had" of
Leonardo after working on an exhibition about his paintings.
After repeatedly telling her family, "I'm not going to let them take me alive," she took an overdose of paracetamol. The Da Vinci Code, which has sold more than 60 million copies, centres on a sinister plot by Catholic organisation Opus Dei to kill the book's hero Robert Langdon before he discovers, via clues in Da Vinci's paintings, that Christ was married to Mary Magdalene and had a son.
The woman did not kill herself because of a book. She killed herself because she was crazy. Anyone have any other examples of books being blamed for something they didn't do?
Well, reading Metaphors We Live By makes me want to kill myself...
ReplyDeleteLet's not overlook the possibility that she really WAS in danger due to a vast centuries-old conspiracy. Happens all the time. Happened to Robert Langdon twice, actually; that's gotta mean something. Yes, perhaps that brave woman saved her family's lives. I salute you, crazy lady who killed herself because she was crazy and definitely not because of a book.
ReplyDeleteCrazy lady kills self because she's crazy= not news.
Crazy lady kills self because of best-selling novel/high-grossing movie= NEWS, baby!