Review: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
by Stieg Larsson
Book One of the Millennium Trilogy
Mikael Blomkvist's career takes a serious nosedive when the financial investigative reporter is sued for libel by a subject of one of his articles. Although Blomkvist knows that man is a liar and a crook, he cannot prove it. He resigns from his magazine, Millennium, and prepares himself for a life in disgrace. But a retired Swedish industrialist contacts Blomkvist with an unwanted proposal: he wishes for Blomkvist to investigate a murder that has haunted the old man and his family for nearly forty years. In return, he is prepared to pay Blomkvist handsomely and, at the end of one year, present the journalist with the information he needs to take down the man who ended Blomkvist's career. With the help of a young woman named Lisbeth Salander, a troubled but brilliant researcher with her own set of problems, Blomkvist tries to solve the disappearance of Harriet Vanger. It soon becomes clear that a serial killer is on the loose, and if he or she is not uncovered, the killer will strike again.
This is one of those books that seemed to be all over the place a year or two back. Two movies were made - one Swedish, one American - and the entire trilogy seems to have sold like gangbusters. I was intrigued enough to pick up a copy, even though mystery-thrillers aren't usually a favorite genre. After reading the book, though, I have to confess that I don't see what all the hubbub is about.
First of all, Larsson is an exposition king. He never misses an opportunity to describe or explain something - especially technology. At times, I wondered if the man was getting royalties from a computer manufacturer, because he talked the hell out of characters' iBooks and their software programs. I get that one of the characters is a hacker, but it is still never riveting to hear about processing speeds and RAM capacities and whatnot. Also, every time I read the book I got a serious craving for sandwiches and coffee, because I swear that every couple pages somebody is devouring one or the other. In fact, I'm pretty sure that sandwiches are the Swedish national meal.
There's a lot of sex in the novel, which I realize is pretty par for the course in thrillers these days, but it's pretty graphic. There are some very explicit rape scenes, and while I understand that part of Larsson's intent was to draw attention to the plight of sexually abused women, it still felt very exploitative and fueled by fantasies of bondage and domination. As if sexual power trips and assault weren't enough, Larsson throws evil business corporations, anti-Semitism and the Nazis, and corrupt government officials into the mix. The plot's a complex, roiling stew of objectionable things. Some of it works, but a lot of it feels like overkill.
The mystery itself is fairly predictable. The various suspects, all kooky members of the Vanger family, are so strange and unpleasant that when one guy shows up who seems halfway decent and normal, you instantly know that he will, in the end, turn out to be the madman who locks innocent girls in his basement.
I haven't really talked about Mikael Blomkvist, mainly because I don't think he ever showed much personality or character. Certainly, Stieg Larsson tells readers a lot about Blomkvist - he's an amazing journalist, and women are constantly falling for him - but in his actions and deeds he never struck me as particularly attractive or interesting. Near as I could tell, he's just a bloke with a penchant for overexplaining things, rather a cipher for the author himself. Hmm. I wish I hadn't had that thought. That makes the various sex scenes - Blomkvist with his business partner, a predatory older woman, and eventually Salander, too - rather disturbing...
I have heard that the literal translation of the Swedish title of this book, Män som hatar kvinnor, is “Men Who Hate Women”. I can't help but wonder just how we got from that title to The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - did a marketing team decide that the English-reading audience just wouldn't go for the original title or did the dragon tattoo just sound a whole lot cooler? It just doesn't seem a particularly appropriate title for the book, given the dragon tattoo is just one of many and the girl who has it isn't even the main character.
I just don't get it. I don't have any idea why this book skyrocketed in popularity, especially since the English translation seems especially stiff and stilted. That, in my opinion, is the real mystery here.
2 out of 5 stars
To read more about The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, buy it or add it to your wishlist click here.
Peeking into the archives...today in:
2012: Avatar, the Last Airbender: The Promise, Part One by Gene Yang and others
2011: Taking a break...
2010: News: Picture Books No Longer A Staple For Children
2009: Sorrow Wood by Raymond Atkins
2008: Discussion Question: What's New With School?
by Stieg Larsson
Book One of the Millennium Trilogy
Mikael Blomkvist's career takes a serious nosedive when the financial investigative reporter is sued for libel by a subject of one of his articles. Although Blomkvist knows that man is a liar and a crook, he cannot prove it. He resigns from his magazine, Millennium, and prepares himself for a life in disgrace. But a retired Swedish industrialist contacts Blomkvist with an unwanted proposal: he wishes for Blomkvist to investigate a murder that has haunted the old man and his family for nearly forty years. In return, he is prepared to pay Blomkvist handsomely and, at the end of one year, present the journalist with the information he needs to take down the man who ended Blomkvist's career. With the help of a young woman named Lisbeth Salander, a troubled but brilliant researcher with her own set of problems, Blomkvist tries to solve the disappearance of Harriet Vanger. It soon becomes clear that a serial killer is on the loose, and if he or she is not uncovered, the killer will strike again.
This is one of those books that seemed to be all over the place a year or two back. Two movies were made - one Swedish, one American - and the entire trilogy seems to have sold like gangbusters. I was intrigued enough to pick up a copy, even though mystery-thrillers aren't usually a favorite genre. After reading the book, though, I have to confess that I don't see what all the hubbub is about.
First of all, Larsson is an exposition king. He never misses an opportunity to describe or explain something - especially technology. At times, I wondered if the man was getting royalties from a computer manufacturer, because he talked the hell out of characters' iBooks and their software programs. I get that one of the characters is a hacker, but it is still never riveting to hear about processing speeds and RAM capacities and whatnot. Also, every time I read the book I got a serious craving for sandwiches and coffee, because I swear that every couple pages somebody is devouring one or the other. In fact, I'm pretty sure that sandwiches are the Swedish national meal.
There's a lot of sex in the novel, which I realize is pretty par for the course in thrillers these days, but it's pretty graphic. There are some very explicit rape scenes, and while I understand that part of Larsson's intent was to draw attention to the plight of sexually abused women, it still felt very exploitative and fueled by fantasies of bondage and domination. As if sexual power trips and assault weren't enough, Larsson throws evil business corporations, anti-Semitism and the Nazis, and corrupt government officials into the mix. The plot's a complex, roiling stew of objectionable things. Some of it works, but a lot of it feels like overkill.
The mystery itself is fairly predictable. The various suspects, all kooky members of the Vanger family, are so strange and unpleasant that when one guy shows up who seems halfway decent and normal, you instantly know that he will, in the end, turn out to be the madman who locks innocent girls in his basement.
I haven't really talked about Mikael Blomkvist, mainly because I don't think he ever showed much personality or character. Certainly, Stieg Larsson tells readers a lot about Blomkvist - he's an amazing journalist, and women are constantly falling for him - but in his actions and deeds he never struck me as particularly attractive or interesting. Near as I could tell, he's just a bloke with a penchant for overexplaining things, rather a cipher for the author himself. Hmm. I wish I hadn't had that thought. That makes the various sex scenes - Blomkvist with his business partner, a predatory older woman, and eventually Salander, too - rather disturbing...
I have heard that the literal translation of the Swedish title of this book, Män som hatar kvinnor, is “Men Who Hate Women”. I can't help but wonder just how we got from that title to The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - did a marketing team decide that the English-reading audience just wouldn't go for the original title or did the dragon tattoo just sound a whole lot cooler? It just doesn't seem a particularly appropriate title for the book, given the dragon tattoo is just one of many and the girl who has it isn't even the main character.
I just don't get it. I don't have any idea why this book skyrocketed in popularity, especially since the English translation seems especially stiff and stilted. That, in my opinion, is the real mystery here.
2 out of 5 stars
To read more about The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, buy it or add it to your wishlist click here.
Peeking into the archives...today in:
2012: Avatar, the Last Airbender: The Promise, Part One by Gene Yang and others
2011: Taking a break...
2010: News: Picture Books No Longer A Staple For Children
2009: Sorrow Wood by Raymond Atkins
2008: Discussion Question: What's New With School?