The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Since the day I realized that seeing everyone reading the same book on the train doesn't mean the book is good, no longer did I hover over people's shoulder's to see what they were reading.
After the disappointment I felt towards many best-selling series I have avoided hype like the plague. That being said, it was impossible not to notice, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It was everywhere. Despite that I wasn't interested. It had all the signs: everyone was reading it, NYT Bestseller, movie being made and writer was dead so that meant extra praise. I just couldn't trust it. I didn't even wikipedia it to at least spoil myself. Crime novels were simply not my thing unless there was a witch or some supernatural element involved.
Enter the elder sister. My older sister has similar tastes to me and as she was working, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo audiobook would play. It was due to her praise of the book that I decided to finally buy it. I figured if anything, it would be an experience within the genre of Crime Thrillers without a paranormal twist.
-After Reading-
This book is one of the best books I've ever read. Period. It has solidified itself into my brain, like it's Swedish friend Let the Right One In. I am honored to be able to review it and hopefully encourage those of you on the edge to believe the hype and get this book.
Synopsis is the following: Harriet Vanger, scion of one of Sweden's wealthiest families disappeared over forty years ago. All these years later, he aged uncle continues to seek the truth. He hires Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently trapped by a libel conviction, to investigate. He is aided by the pierced and tattooed punk prodigy Lisbeth Salander. Together they tap into a vein of unfathomable iniquity and astonishing corruption.
One thing that is important to mention is that the original title of this book in Swedish is: Män som hatar kvinnor - "Men Who Hate Women."
I will state that this book is not for everyone. I don't mean that because I think it lacks anything, but because of the subject matter. It is a book that tackles issues of rape, incest, murder, corruption, journalistic integrity and even mental illness to a degree. The main characters are not cookie-cutter leads. They are complex, human individuals who don't always do the right thing.
Mikael Blomkvist is one of our two leads and he is almost painfully human. Blomkvist is a cheater, somewhat of a player, neglectful father, snarky and naive. While his story is not as interesting as Salander's, he is the closest to being a normal human and therefore is the character we relate to.Blomkvist is obviously an author stand-in, however he works because he is human. Blomkvist handles everything the way a normal man with actual brain-waves would.
However, the star in this book is undoubtedly Lisbeth Salander. She is a rape survivor, a misandrist, violent, brave, smart and disturbed. Alot of the exposition in the book dives into her history. After hearing her story a reader cannot help but understand every action she takes even if you don't agree with the methods. I would love to see the angst-ridden heroines of young adult novels to read this book and experience what real problems are.
An interesting note that I found in an article written by Laurie Penny:
"Larsson, who died of a heart attack just before the trilogy was published, was disgusted by sexual violence, having witnessed the gang rape of a young girl when he was 15. According to a friend of his, the author never forgave himself for failing to help the girl, whose name was Lisbeth -- just like the young heroine of the trilogy, who is also a rape survivor."
That statement really explains why the disturbing content in the book exists. It isn't just made to shock the audience, it is meant to inform. Each new part of the book has a small statistic about abused women on the bottom. It is clear that this book was written with a deeper purpose than most books of its kind.
Continuous praise of this book would be easy, but there are problems in this book as with any other. It has alot of exposition and backstory in awkward places. While all the information was fantastic and allowed me to understand the character's personalities, Lisbeth's story took me out of the "main story" of finding Harriet. There were times I had to re-read sections to remember what was going on with Blomkvist.
As for the mystery itself of Harriet, I'm sure there are plenty of people who figured out certain things early on, but I don't think that it should or will deter yourself from enjoying the story.
I already mentioned the disturbing content. So if you can't handle it or have a weak tolerance towards it, please this is not for you.
All and all, this book has certainly lived up the hype and has introduced me to a new genre. Now my mother and I have one more thing to bond over.
Final Grade: A+
I love this book deeply and I am so glad I got The Girl Who Played with Fire already so I can dive into it. I have spoke about most of its good qualities above, however, I would like to add something else in my "final thoughts" section.
As it was mentioned before the writer wrote the book to talk about women's abuse in Sweden. He had three important female characters who have been abused and they all deal with it differently. I am glad he put it in there, because the fact is that not all women are like Lisbeth. The two other women help to show the other sides of a victim's mentality. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a smart, creative and compelling book that reminds me why writers write. Not to make money, to tell a story and sometimes educate their readers.
So this is one hyped book that got it right, I hope Hunger Games will do the same. *fingers crossed*
Since the day I realized that seeing everyone reading the same book on the train doesn't mean the book is good, no longer did I hover over people's shoulder's to see what they were reading.
After the disappointment I felt towards many best-selling series I have avoided hype like the plague. That being said, it was impossible not to notice, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It was everywhere. Despite that I wasn't interested. It had all the signs: everyone was reading it, NYT Bestseller, movie being made and writer was dead so that meant extra praise. I just couldn't trust it. I didn't even wikipedia it to at least spoil myself. Crime novels were simply not my thing unless there was a witch or some supernatural element involved.
Enter the elder sister. My older sister has similar tastes to me and as she was working, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo audiobook would play. It was due to her praise of the book that I decided to finally buy it. I figured if anything, it would be an experience within the genre of Crime Thrillers without a paranormal twist.
-After Reading-
This book is one of the best books I've ever read. Period. It has solidified itself into my brain, like it's Swedish friend Let the Right One In. I am honored to be able to review it and hopefully encourage those of you on the edge to believe the hype and get this book.
Synopsis is the following: Harriet Vanger, scion of one of Sweden's wealthiest families disappeared over forty years ago. All these years later, he aged uncle continues to seek the truth. He hires Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently trapped by a libel conviction, to investigate. He is aided by the pierced and tattooed punk prodigy Lisbeth Salander. Together they tap into a vein of unfathomable iniquity and astonishing corruption.
One thing that is important to mention is that the original title of this book in Swedish is: Män som hatar kvinnor - "Men Who Hate Women."
I will state that this book is not for everyone. I don't mean that because I think it lacks anything, but because of the subject matter. It is a book that tackles issues of rape, incest, murder, corruption, journalistic integrity and even mental illness to a degree. The main characters are not cookie-cutter leads. They are complex, human individuals who don't always do the right thing.
Mikael Blomkvist is one of our two leads and he is almost painfully human. Blomkvist is a cheater, somewhat of a player, neglectful father, snarky and naive. While his story is not as interesting as Salander's, he is the closest to being a normal human and therefore is the character we relate to.Blomkvist is obviously an author stand-in, however he works because he is human. Blomkvist handles everything the way a normal man with actual brain-waves would.
However, the star in this book is undoubtedly Lisbeth Salander. She is a rape survivor, a misandrist, violent, brave, smart and disturbed. Alot of the exposition in the book dives into her history. After hearing her story a reader cannot help but understand every action she takes even if you don't agree with the methods. I would love to see the angst-ridden heroines of young adult novels to read this book and experience what real problems are.
An interesting note that I found in an article written by Laurie Penny:
"Larsson, who died of a heart attack just before the trilogy was published, was disgusted by sexual violence, having witnessed the gang rape of a young girl when he was 15. According to a friend of his, the author never forgave himself for failing to help the girl, whose name was Lisbeth -- just like the young heroine of the trilogy, who is also a rape survivor."
That statement really explains why the disturbing content in the book exists. It isn't just made to shock the audience, it is meant to inform. Each new part of the book has a small statistic about abused women on the bottom. It is clear that this book was written with a deeper purpose than most books of its kind.
Continuous praise of this book would be easy, but there are problems in this book as with any other. It has alot of exposition and backstory in awkward places. While all the information was fantastic and allowed me to understand the character's personalities, Lisbeth's story took me out of the "main story" of finding Harriet. There were times I had to re-read sections to remember what was going on with Blomkvist.
As for the mystery itself of Harriet, I'm sure there are plenty of people who figured out certain things early on, but I don't think that it should or will deter yourself from enjoying the story.
I already mentioned the disturbing content. So if you can't handle it or have a weak tolerance towards it, please this is not for you.
All and all, this book has certainly lived up the hype and has introduced me to a new genre. Now my mother and I have one more thing to bond over.
Final Grade: A+
I love this book deeply and I am so glad I got The Girl Who Played with Fire already so I can dive into it. I have spoke about most of its good qualities above, however, I would like to add something else in my "final thoughts" section.
As it was mentioned before the writer wrote the book to talk about women's abuse in Sweden. He had three important female characters who have been abused and they all deal with it differently. I am glad he put it in there, because the fact is that not all women are like Lisbeth. The two other women help to show the other sides of a victim's mentality. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a smart, creative and compelling book that reminds me why writers write. Not to make money, to tell a story and sometimes educate their readers.
So this is one hyped book that got it right, I hope Hunger Games will do the same. *fingers crossed*