The Girl Who Played with Fire
by Stieg Larsson
|
List Price: Our Price: $12.45 You Save: $14.50 (54%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $3.74 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of The Girl Who Played with Fire
Book Review: The Revenge of Pippi Longstocking
Summary: 5 Stars
OK, if you read Stieg Larsson's "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" jolt-fest, there is no way to skip this year's blistering "The Girl Who Played with Fire." But then you've got to wade through about 140 pages of "Dragon Tattoo" recap and kinky sex history of the cast - yeah, Stieg, we get it - Sweden is sexually liberated - before hunkering down to the really good stuff. But trust me, this is a small price to pay as the prelude to the remaining 340 pages of over-the-top thrills and suspense, a rockin' and rolling mystery that would make the Vikings proud, a smorgasbord a violence and head games wrapped around the most interesting protagonist to hit the pages since, well, "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo."
That would be Lisbet Salander, the damaged genius created by the late Stieg Larsson for stopped too soon at a trilogy - the pierced and tattooed misfit with an extreme distaste for misogynists, a healthy disrespect for authority honed by years of institutional abuse, and a deliciously bad attitude. In this installment, the author metes out in frustratingly small doses the brutal baggage that created the flawed brilliance of Salander, a cleverly - if improbably rendered- female combination of Kevin Mitnick, Bruce Lee, and Ozzie Osbourne. Following the Blomkvist-Salander team that broke the decades-old Vanger mystery of "Tattoo" and Salander's subsequent heist of corrupt industrialist Hans-Erik Wennerstrom which has left her financially independent, Blomkvist and his "Millennium" magazine take on a freelance journalist and his expose of a Eastern Europe-to-Sweden prostitution ring that catches a lot of pols and cops in high places with their pants around their ankles. But when the researchers end up with bullets in their heads, fired from a gun with Salander's prints all over it, a frenzied media and biased prosecution team have all of Sweden looking for a slandered Salanader as the obvious perp. But an eventually skeptical cop and the faithful Blomkvist stand by their maverick, setting up an over-the-top, sometimes poignant, mostly unbelievable, but always entertaining shock-lit romp through Europe's frozen playground of the north, never pausing long enough to note the irony in the tyranny of Sweden's social utopia theory against an all too real backdrop of heavy-handed state control which put poor Salander in her predicament in the first place. Larsson zigs and zags through a number of unexpected twists and turns, through lots of stops in 7-11 (is Swedish cuisine so bad that 7-11 is really a preferred dining spot?) leading to the most white-knuckled climax since Josh Bazell's Dr. Peter Brown pulls a fibula in the frenzied "Beat the Reaper".
Paradoxically, Larsson does not read like stoic fatalism of Scandinavian kin Irdridason, Fosset, or Nesbo, but rather more like the raucous, unapologetic, and graphically violent prose of Charlie Huston, Duane Swierczynski, or Adrian McKinty - high praise from this reviewer. Yet Larsson has some axes to grind - violence against women, corruption, social injustice - but does so tastefully without beating the reader into submission with misguided indignities. He wraps his thriller around a clever mathematical theme, adding to the depth and intelligence of a well-crafted novel that entertains on the surface with raw adrenaline, while satisfying less visceral emotions at a deeper level. It is a shame that Stieg Larsson is no longer around to continue this refreshing and creative series, but I'll anxiously await the English release of the final chapter in "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest."
Book Review: "Someone is going to pay for this."
Summary: 4 Stars
Those who have read Stieg Larsson's "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" will want to pick up the second installment in this popular series without delay. In part two, "The Girl Who Played with Fire," Lisbeth Salander, a petite twenty-six year old who can pass for a teenager, is financially secure and lives in an upscale apartment. However, she is deeply troubled and mistrustful, thanks to a horribly dysfunctional childhood and adolescence. Lisbeth has been through hell and she has the emotional scars to prove it.
The male protagonist, Mikael Blomkvist, has not seen Lisbeth for a while (although he thinks about her frequently and even tries to contact her). As the publisher of "Millenium" magazine, he is greatly preoccupied with an explosive story that he and Erika Berger, the editor-in-chief, are planning to run about the sex-trafficking trade between Eastern Europe and Sweden. If and when facts exposing the exploitation of helpless girls are made public, a number of prominent individuals will be ruined. When a tragic event involving two of Blomkvist's associates makes headlines, Lisbeth is implicated and becomes a fugitive. The police, Mikael, and even Lisbeth's former boss are anxious to locate her before she is captured either by the authorities or a bunch of sadistic thugs who are on her trail.
This is a fairly conventional thriller, complete with one-dimensional villains, numerous car and foot chases, a great deal of exposition, and the obligatory twists and turns. We finally learn about Salander's parents from hell; the horrors that she has endured help explain why she despises authority figures and refuse to kowtow to anyone. She is a free spirit who dresses unconventionally, hacks into any database that interests her, and does her best to protect herself from her many enemies. Although she looks as if a strong wind could blow her away, Lisbeth has some formidable weapons at her command: a brilliant and calculating mind, an almost foolhardy fearlessness, and a bottomless well of aggression. Blomkvist appears throughout the book, but his character serves more as background noise than a strong and meaningful presence.
It is easy to find fault with "The Girl Who Played with Fire." First, the author uses this work of fiction as a soapbox in order to advocate on behalf of society's powerless, especially women and the mentally ill. He scathingly condemns gangsters and financial cheats who prey on the weak and vulnerable, as well as those hypocrites in law enforcement, the medical profession, and politics who preach morality while they commit depraved acts in private. Unfortunately, Larsson sometimes crosses the line between storytelling and preaching. Since Salander and Blomkvist do not collaborate as closely as they did in "Tattoo," the novel lacks the electricity that their relationship generated. In addition, the story breaks little new ground and is a bit too convoluted and drawn out.
In spite of these criticisms, "The Girl Who Played with Fire" gets four stars because of its most important selling point--the indelible presence of one of the most original and engaging characters in contemporary fiction. Lisbeth can be obnoxious, cold, and unyielding, but most readers will fall in love with her. She proves that no matter how much an individual suffers at the hands of merciless brutes, it is possible not only to survive, but also to triumph over one's adversaries.
Book Review: On Getting Burned
Summary: 4 Stars
"The Girl Who Played with Fire" is a must-read. It is the second installment in the "Millennium" trilogy by late Swedish publicist and novelist Stieg Larsson. Reportedly, Larsson meant to write as many as ten books in the series, but only managed to complete the first three. He died of AMI at the age of 50.
Millennium is a lot about raising social awareness of problems plaguing the modern Swedish society (and yours, too). Larsson focuses on chronic abuse of women, endemic white-collar crime, and repeat violations of the constitution by corrupt agents of government.
The first Millennium book, originally titled "Men Who Hate Women" and published in English as "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", was a spellbinding mystery novel. After reading it, many women might think twice about ever going to Sweden. Book #2, "The Girl Who Played with Fire" evolves the plot into a suspense flick. And the final installment, "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest", morphs into a plain conspiracy thriller that reaches all the way to the top of Sweden's political power structure.
Millennium is a small magazine with a reputation for exposing the corrupt dealings of Sweden's financial, industrial and political elite. One of the two main protagonists in Larsson's trilogy is Mikael Blomkvist - the star journalist of the magazine. Apparently an author surrogate, Blomkvist is a socially conscious alpha-male. A somewhat promiscuous character, who gets sexually involved with virtually each major female character throughout the trilogy, Blomkvist embodies the model of the post-modern man with liberal views of the world - political and otherwise.
Lisbeth Salander - "The Girl" in question - is the second main character of Millennium. She is a troubled sociopath deemed incapable of looking after herself and placed under the oversight of a social guardian. She comes from a broken family and is the victim of repeat institutionalized abuse. In the first installment of the trilogy, she becomes the unlikely ally of Blomkvist. She helps him to both solve a decade-old family clan mystery and scrape his ruined professional reputation. The odd couple triumphs against a money-laundering crook and an unknown villain whom we shall not name.
In "The Girl Who Played with Fire" the focus shifts from Blomkvist to Salander. She is suspected of the double-murder of one of Blomkvist's colleagues and his young spouse. The two are shot dead in their apartment, just as they are about to make public their research on a major sex trafficking ring in Sweden. Salander is also accused of for the murder of her appointed guardian - a corrupt and sadistic sexual pervert whom we first encounter in book one. Blomkvist is convinced that Salander was not involved in the murders and sets out to prove her innocence. Meanwhile, Salander - ever incapable of trusting anyone but herself - goes into hiding as she tries to exert her own vengeance on the criminal ring that tried to destroy her. A few unexpected turns await the reader in the twisting plot of this captivating piece of page-turning suspense. Who will get burned in the end? Enjoy reading this masterpiece as you find out.
P.S. Movies have been created based on all three books in the Millennium trilogy. If you are thinking of watching them first in order to get a feel of the books - DON'T. These movies definitely do not match the heights of Larsson's writing!
Book Review: Disappointing and disjointed
Summary: 2 Stars
I was really eager to start this book, and even more eager to finish it. I had high hopes for this book, having read the first novel in the Millennium Series (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) by Stieg Larsson, and enjoying it so much.
That said, this book was a huge disappointment. I'm going to review it based on the premise that most readers will have read the first book like I did before taking up this sequel. What worked so well for the first were the two fascinating characters of Mikael Blomquist and Lisbeth Salander. They were unusual on their own but as they worked together to solve a mystery they became intriguing. They solved a complicated problem using common sense, detective skills, some computer hacking, and hard work. While there was a large cast of assorted lesser characters, it was a great read.
The problem with the sequel is that Mikael is virtually non-existent. He shows up here and there with a role verging on incidental. Rather the focus is on Lisbeth, and while that might have been interesting to see how she's grown and what she's overcome, it never gets to that. It discusses her newfound wealth (shopping spree at IKEA, new boobs) and what she does for a few days. But it never gets into what makes up her personality and why she behaves as she does. Sure, there's the big mystery of "All the Evil", but it's foreshadowed so much in the first ¾ of the book that once you found out you really aren't interested anymore. Further revelations about her were also unsurprising.
Besides Lisbeth, there's an enormous amount of new characters as well as repeats from the previous book. It seems most of the characters are either very, very good or very, very bad. Not much of a middle ground and none of them become fleshed out enough to seem real. Some were dumbed down caricatures (i.e. the sexist cop, the introspective and troubled captain, the good hearted and selfless female detective, the bumbling and fame hungry prosecutor). And the mystery that unfolds has so many subplots that it seems like an especially complex Venn diagram that becomes ridiculous and unbelievable after awhile. The new characters are intertwined in such a complicated way that normally I would have kept notes on who was who. But at that point, I really didn't care anymore.
Another letdown was that none of the puzzles were solved by deduction and clever questions or even thinking outside of the box. Instead, Lisbeth basically hacks everyone else's computer to view their research. And there is not a single scene where Mikael and Lisbeth interact, so the partnership that was so enthralling before doesn't exist anymore.
In the first book, everything seemed clever. But in this, simple mistakes are made that seem jarring: Lisbeth's leaving the keys with Mikael, the police not interviewing Palmgren, etc. Essentially every twist could be predicted (when Lisbeth moves out of her apartment and Mimmi moves in? Anyone could see that coming). And while this may seem trivial, this book had no sense of place like the first. Sweden was as much a character as Mikael in the former, and descriptions of the land and people added depth and meat to the story. And this has far more gore and explicitness in it than the first.
All said, I'd wish I'd stopped after the first book.
Book Review: I am an enormous fan of Larsson. This book just doesn't quite make the grade.
Summary: 4 Stars
As an author, Stieg Larsson is someone of whom you just cannot say enough good things about. Not only was his story telling unique in style, but in substance as well. His characters are fleshed out above and beyond a mere mystery. The plots of his stories are so complex and deep, that you get lost in them and once you are finished you look back in awe over the creation.
I don't know enough about the life and early death of Stieg Larsson. All I know is that the first two of the three books he left to be published comprise what can only be considered to be one of the all time classic mystery/thriller genre book series.
Once again we are given the admirable character of Mikael Blomkvist as a protagonist. The story starts off with him and his familiar cast of Milennium Magazine getting ready to publish an expose on the sex trade of Sweden. We are also re-acquainted with Salander, a quite introvert genius (negative note #1, Larsson is falling into an old trap where the author falls in love with his characters. Salander is morphed here in this second installment from a simpler character into one with almost super-hero qualities which instead of setting her apart, instead makes her feel almost like a character based on a Marvel comic book.)
Ok, so you know that I love Larsson, love the characters, and I even really enjoyed the story. Why would I give this book only 4 stars then??? Well, this is based on purely personal reasons for the most part. I am a reader who hates jumping from character to character, and the more characters who find themselves in the roll of first person, the more I hate the story. However, "The Girl Who Played With Fire" relies upon this trick more heavily than just about any other novel I have ever read. Larrson writes in nice short chapters, and they are always seen through someone different eyes. I bet I could go back and dig up 30 different first person studies. Larsson, great writer that he is, still manages to avoid the most common flaws here and pulls it off better than most. It was just a lot more bumpier of a read than it needed to be.
Perhaps most egregious, Larsson plays with the plot, suspense and arc of the story by mashing all of the story lines into one convergence. I am not giving anything away here because this information can be found on the books dust jacket. We are following Salander along quite nicely. Once she is accused of the triple murders, she flees and the story forgets her. Alot of what thus ensues could have been answered quickly if we had only stayed in her head and not started to jump all around from character to character.
Or perhaps I could put it this way... Larsson falls back on a lazy mans writing trick by jumping from one persons mind to the next. He fills in gaps and keeps the story moving along this way. However, the most important bits surrounding Salander, Larsson goes the opposite route and keeps these moments hidden from the reader. Thus giving a very false sense of urgency and suspense. I can't forgive him for trashing the novel so heavily with this ploy. The rest of the writing structure and style would definitly merrit 5 stars, but...