The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

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It's a hit!

So, I was listening to NPR one night last year when they read Maureen Corrigan's Fresh Air review: “A super-smart amalgam of the corporate corrupti... (show more)

So, I was listening to NPR one night last year when they read Maureen Corrigan's Fresh Air review: “A super-smart amalgam of the corporate corruption tale, legal thriller and dysfunctional-family psychological suspense story. It’s witty and unflinching . . . Larsson’s multi-pieced plot snaps together as neatly as an Ikea bookcase, but even more satisfying is the anti-social character of Salander.”

She had me at "snaps together as neatly as an Ikea bookcase."

I was intrigued. The book is good, quite good, and I did really enjoy reading it. The translation from the Swedish was well done and the plot detail was great. Only once did I feel there was a weak logic leap in the primary plot...of course I am forgetting it now. I will look for the other two Millenium books when they come out.

I expect the main character is based on Stieg Larsson himself in a lot of ways--- a journalist who writes in a field with a lot of hot tempers and easily-made enemies. Where slander claims probably do come up from time to time.

Sensitive readers should be aware that the book contains a significant amount of violence, including victimizing main characters, including of a sexual nature.

I guessed the ending(s) pretty far in advance, I diagnosed Salandar on my own (having some experience with this type of behavior) and I am not quite sure why it's considered one of the best books of the year. Don't get me wrong, it was a solid book, but I kept thinking of some of Charlaine Harris's better mysteries and thinking that the writing and plotting felt very similar, and yet one is considered pop mystery/suspense and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has been passed around the high-brow literary circles.

This book was published post-humously. Larsson died just after delivering the three-book series, so there won't be anything else coming from this talented author after the next two novels. (show less)

 

 

by Facebook User

No, it's a flop!

L'accroche était particulièrement séduisante : titre sybillin, exotisme suédois ... et l'entame du bouquin met l'eau à la bouche. Les personnages p... (show more)

L'accroche était particulièrement séduisante : titre sybillin, exotisme suédois ... et l'entame du bouquin met l'eau à la bouche. Les personnages principaux sont soignés, le problème posé (enquête sur un meurtre commis en huis-clos plus de 30 ans plus tôt) est prometteur et le contexte complexe (querelles et rivalités au sein d'une grande famille industrielle suédoise). Tous les élements sont donc réunis pour un cocktail des plus savoureux.

Pourtant, on reste légèrement sur sa faim au fur et à mesure qu'on avance dans le récit. De ce terreau fertile n'émerge qu'un polar, certes plutôt réussi, pimenté à la sauce scandinave, mais qui ne se démarque pas vraiment de la production courante. On aurait aimer voir creuser davantage la chronique familiale du groupe Vanger, rentrer plus en détail dans les mécanismes liés à la quête du pouvoir et de l'argent. Les personnages s'enferment vite dans leur propre caricature et quant à l'écriture, elle est souvent maladroite et parfois agaçante (je suis persuadé qu'Apple n'a besoin de romans policiers suédois pour assurer tout seul sa publicité ...).

En bref, un livre agréable qui se lit sans déplaisir, mais qui ne révolutionnera pas l'histoire du roman policier. (show less)

 

 

by Benoit Frouvelle

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  First of all, I find the cover blurb really misleading. This book is about rape and violence against women (the Swedish title, "Män som hatar kvinnor," translates to "Men Who Hate Women"). The book is very graphic in places, and the villains are over-the-top sadistic. Readers with triggers about sexual violence should probably give this book a pass.

  I can see why "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" is a best-seller: it's compelling reading, with a strong myst... (show more)

  First of all, I find the cover blurb really misleading. This book is about rape and violence against women (the Swedish title, "Män som hatar kvinnor," translates to "Men Who Hate Women"). The book is very graphic in places, and the villains are over-the-top sadistic. Readers with triggers about sexual violence should probably give this book a pass.

  I can see why "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" is a best-seller: it's compelling reading, with a strong mystery and some interesting characters. Mikael Blomkvist, the crusading journalist, is the kind of crusading journalist who takes a strong moral stand regardless of cost to himself and risks his own life to solve terrible crimes who I think exists only in books like this, and enough women throw themselves at him that I suspect he's a bit of an author stand-in. But he's not terribly annoying, and I like the archives-based approach to solving a decades-old mystery. Stieg Larsson takes the reader through the research process in a way that makes it gripping and exciting, so the reader shares the revelations of the characters. Lisbeth Salander, a brilliant young punk with a terrible past who is (somewhat inexplicably) a ward of the state, is mostly a compelling character, right until she goes over the line into ridiculously improbable.

  What bothered me the most about the book was how Larsson handled the sexual violence. It's clear that violence against women was something Larsson cared strongly about, and may well have been why he chose to write these books. And there are things he gets right, like the the way sexual harassment is often dismissed as something the woman should be grateful for if she isn't conventionally attractive. But he seems to have believed that violent vigilante justice is something that can happen and that would have a good effect; that raping the rapist is just and effective. And he seems to have believed that if a woman is just strong enough that the power imbalance between men and women that leads to rape can be negated. Also, the graphic detail with which sexual violence is described borders on prurient at times--I don't think it was necessary to the book, and perhaps harmed the point.

  So--I recommend the book, but with great reservations. As a thriller it's pretty good, although there's the usual author wish-fulfillment in the hero. As commentary on violence against women, it's deeply flawed. I can see how it would appeal to men who engage in righteous anger and revenge fantasies, the ones who always tell women they should punch men who grope them. As a woman who will suffer consequences if I punch someone who gropes me, I think Larsson didn't quite get it. (show less)

   

   

  by Facebook User on Sep 10, 2009 at 05:15PM

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  The rules for literary fiction are that the story must unveil a universal truth about the human condition through the use of all of the tools of narrative: plot, characterization, voice, point of view, and the use of language as a tool to approach the expression of the ineffable.

  Or you could just chuck all that and make your heroine a tattooed, computer-hacker biker chick with a father complex, and go from there. Stieg Larsson took the latter approach. Can we blame him? After all, when yo... (show more)

  The rules for literary fiction are that the story must unveil a universal truth about the human condition through the use of all of the tools of narrative: plot, characterization, voice, point of view, and the use of language as a tool to approach the expression of the ineffable.

  Or you could just chuck all that and make your heroine a tattooed, computer-hacker biker chick with a father complex, and go from there. Stieg Larsson took the latter approach. Can we blame him? After all, when your protagonist is La Femme Nikita with a dragon tattoo and an Ibook, and she pairs up with a drifting, commitment-phobic middle-aged writer for a glossy Stockholm magazine for an unlikely adventure fighting lingering rural Nazism and Swedish farmhouse sado-masochism, your story is going to find an audience. What? You don't want to read about this stuff? Be honest: Of course you do.

  Yes, there are problems with this novel. Sometimes the style is too expository. Lisbeth Salandar, the aforementioned future vehicle for Anne Hathaway (or whoever ends up playing her) is, inexplicably, a fiercely independent and self-reliant 25 year-old ward of the state. Even Larsson's devotion of an entire chapter opening to an explanation of her impossible character doesn't make sense of it. The crime at the heart of the story is explained by the sudden introduction of an entirely new character, a no-no in this genre. But these problems somehow end up seeming small and, miraculously, don't detract from the fun of this book. There are enough other fun things going on to make the ride worthwhile. Proving that you can get away with a lot of you only have a good story.

  You should read some Swedish crime fiction in your life. This seems like a great choice. I recommend it. (show less)

   

  by Sean Carman on Aug 11, 2009 at 12:59AM

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