If you were not dead, I would write you this letter.
Dear Stieg Larsson,
I know Dan Brown and Michael Crichton made something like a bazillion dollars doing it, but I'm here to tell you:
Forcing massive amounts of exposition into dialogue is not only clunky, it's annoying, and makes me want to throw books across rooms in violent fits of histrionics. There is a reason I don't read Dan Brown or Michael Crichton. Also, don't know if you noticed, but you're dead. So that bazillion dollars isn't doing you much good, is it?
Also we need to talk about your characters. They're Swedish, which to my ignorant American self makes them exotic. And my love of Lasse Hallstrom (sorry for the ignorant lack of umlaut) makes me want to love things Swedish. Abba, for example, is an example of something Swedish I adore.
Except I find Mikael Blomkvist boring and annoying. And I need more Lisbeth Salander. Seriously. You created one interesting character and I've hardly seen her in 196 pps. mass market.
Also, your characters might be more interesting if I didn't know so much about them off the bat.
Also, I think I might like the movie version of this better. It wasn't directed by Lasse Hallstrom, but that's okay. I hear a bunch of stuff got cut. Maybe the boring stuff? And also the exposition-as-dialogue? That would be nice. Sorry if I seem obsessed, but having just watched An Unfinished Life (a quiet gem of a movie that no one appreciated, most likely because Jennifer Lopez was in it) earlier today, I know there are Swedes out there who can do it better. You have to realize I have 22 days of free reading available to me and I've wasted 1 of them on this book.
So pardon my rudeness, but I will be checking out the movie instead of this plodder, and feel grateful I only paid mass market prices for it.
Regrets,
D.
I know Dan Brown and Michael Crichton made something like a bazillion dollars doing it, but I'm here to tell you:
Forcing massive amounts of exposition into dialogue is not only clunky, it's annoying, and makes me want to throw books across rooms in violent fits of histrionics. There is a reason I don't read Dan Brown or Michael Crichton. Also, don't know if you noticed, but you're dead. So that bazillion dollars isn't doing you much good, is it?
Also we need to talk about your characters. They're Swedish, which to my ignorant American self makes them exotic. And my love of Lasse Hallstrom (sorry for the ignorant lack of umlaut) makes me want to love things Swedish. Abba, for example, is an example of something Swedish I adore.
Except I find Mikael Blomkvist boring and annoying. And I need more Lisbeth Salander. Seriously. You created one interesting character and I've hardly seen her in 196 pps. mass market.
Also, your characters might be more interesting if I didn't know so much about them off the bat.
Also, I think I might like the movie version of this better. It wasn't directed by Lasse Hallstrom, but that's okay. I hear a bunch of stuff got cut. Maybe the boring stuff? And also the exposition-as-dialogue? That would be nice. Sorry if I seem obsessed, but having just watched An Unfinished Life (a quiet gem of a movie that no one appreciated, most likely because Jennifer Lopez was in it) earlier today, I know there are Swedes out there who can do it better. You have to realize I have 22 days of free reading available to me and I've wasted 1 of them on this book.
So pardon my rudeness, but I will be checking out the movie instead of this plodder, and feel grateful I only paid mass market prices for it.
Regrets,
D.