Convoluted writing style makes the book really heavy going
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Having read the hugely varying reviews, I bought this book in anticipating of being wildly enthusiastic or mildly disappointed. Sadly, it was the latter. I have followed the Sauniere story for many years after seeing the original Chronicle broadcasts that pre-dated the Holy Blood publication, and have visited Rennes-le-Chateau and Girona several times over the years. Consequently I am reasonably well versed in the facts and myths surrounding the case. 'City of Secrets' does little to add to the story apart from proposing that Sauniere visited Girona on his excursions outside Rennes, though even this is disputed late in the book. For me though, the writing style made the book extrememly convoluted and at times almost incomprehensible. I have not read the previous autobiography which may have added some background information, but if the style is anything like the 'City of Secrets' I won't be tempted. I would only recommend this book if you have a keen interest in the Rennes-le-Chateau story, but even then treat with caution...!
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Very strange...why all the censoring of "relevant" material?
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Im amazed. What gives with the people who've supposedly had great chunks of important information cut out of this book prior to publishing. Presumably this is either a deceptive ploy to artificially increase it's "curiosity value", or, Ms Chaplin had her life threatnened if she included certain facts? Why else would she agree to have bits ripped out of her work? Can anyone see JK Rowling allowing her Publisher to enforce this sort of seemingly meaningless cannibalism of the critical elements of HER work? Nah, it wouldnt happen, she'd tell them to get lost. So why has this author allowed herself to be censored?? Im baffled. It's an interesting read, but, where are the legend facts, where are the proofs and conclusions that make it a useful book? It's just a romance. Yes, it seems a bit convenient that she has only now chosen to write her story. Smacks of Grail Hunting Bandwagon to me.. On that note, the only "Holy Grail" there could ever be would be - me. As a human being, *I* am the intended "vessel" for Holy Spirit. No gold. No material wealth. Spiritual growth and development and with that, progression as a human being into a supernatural being. That is my personal "quest", to evolve positively.
But still, can anyone find that comment about how to defy Gravity? I read it, now I can't find it again. Bother!! haha. Teach me to pay attention!
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Fake, Fake, Fake
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Three words describe this book - Fake, Fake, Fake. The correspondence attributed to Berenger Sauniere in this book are poor fakes. The plan of the Tour Magdala is a fake - poorly copied from the 1985 French book by Antoine Captier and Clair Corbu 'L'Heritage de l'Abbe Sauniere'. The whole premise for this nonsense is modelled on the fact that there was a "Torre Magdala" in Girona very similar to the Tour Magdala existing in the village in Rennes-le-Chateau. That's it folks, it's a con - a symptom of the thriving addiction in the bogus "mystery" of Rennes-le-Chateau.
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An excellent read nearly spoilt by bad publishers,
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Chaplin threads the flavour of 1950 Gerona and the myth surrounding Rennes Le Chateau and the Holy Grail with spell binding story telling. The book is eloquently written pulling you in mysteriously into the story snippet by snippet. I must admit by the end I was hoping for something a little more tangible as to what the Holy Grail and some of the Myths about Rennes are, and although she tries to give you that, I'm not totally sure she knows herself, other than it is a ritual of some kind. But Chaplin has suffered badly at the hands of her publishers as the editors have clipped the most important bits out and her photographs she put forward were also altered. So what you get in the end is an all too vague conclusion but let me state that this isn't her fault.
For me at least and my research Chaplin's latest book has pretty much confirmed what I had thought for a while. The Holy Grail is evidently linked to the Jewish Kabala, and it includes mysticism and such, it isn't a physical object it is the culmination of Mystic rituals. Rituals the Templar's brought back from the Holy Land and passed onto freemasons. For anyone who has knowledge about the Grail rituals I recommend you read Sylvia Franke's book about Rennes and Andrew Collins "21 century Grail quest". They confirm pretty all of Chaplin's findings it was extremely interesting to hear she lived though a Society who are familiar with one of the Grail rituals. A really good read, just shame the text has been altered.
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An utterly intriguing autobiographical account
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The Cypriot reviewer has his facts wrong. This is no Da Vinci Code bandwagon-jumper. Patrice Chaplin first wrote about Saunière going from Rennes-le-Château to Girona, and the Grail and Kabbalistic mysteries of Girona, and the evidence of old letters and photographs, in an earlier autobiographical book, Happy Hour, published in 1998 and about events in her life in the mid to late-1980s - twenty years ago, and long before Dan Brown had ever heard of the Priory of Sion. Also, Jean Cocteau is hardly featured "so prominently"; he is mentioned right at the beginning when the author is asked by him to play in a scene he was filming in Girona in 1955: this is fact. And if you read anything by Patrice Chaplin you will soon realise that her love affaire with José was anything but "lukewarm"; it has inspired much of what she has written for several decades.
As for the mysteries of Saunière-in-Girona, and the society protecting and practising the Kabbalistic secrets, it is natural to have questions and doubts, and the author is the first to accept that. Having interviewed her at length for Fortean Times I am convinced of her own sincerity. Yes, it is possible that she was deliberately deceived, fed false information over many years by a number of different people including her lover and other close friends - possible, but if so, that would raise more questions than it answers, including Who, and Why? If the mystery that she relates is false, that simply creates an even bigger mystery: who would fake hundreds of century-old letters and photographs, and why on earth would they do it? Not to mention persuading her lover and friends to lie to her. The mind boggles. Occam's Razor says to go for the most straightforward explanation: the story is true, until proven false.
Like the other reviewers I found City of Secrets a fascinating read, and quite un-put-downable. What made it particularly compelling for me is that Patrice Chaplin's lover José really did discover, single-handedly, the buried buildings of the original 13th-century Kabbalists Nahmanides, Moses de Leon, who wrote the Sepher ha Zohar (Book of Splendour), and Isaac the Blind. Girona is the birthplace of Kabbalah, and this book, amongst other things, is the factually true story of its rediscovery there. And that, in itself, is a wonder and a marvel.
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