The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium Trilogy)
by Stieg Larsson
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Book Reviews of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium Trilogy)
Book Review: Men Who Hate Women (and the women who hate them back)
Summary: 1 Stars
Yep, that is in fact the original title of this book which was a huge bestseller in Sweden - from there the strange fever spread to the rest of Scandinavia as well as other countries and has now reached the US. I was stunned to see that all three books are in the Top 10 on Amazon.
The US publisher knew well that the original title "Men Who Hate Women" would not do here in America and so changed the title. Ah, those clever, clever marketing people.
I wonder why this book and its two sequels have become bestsellers and I have a theory: there are a lot of angry women of all ages out there: women who have been sexually abused, physically abused, emotionally abused, cheated on, lied to - you name it. They're angry at their fathers, brothers, uncles, boyfriends and husbands, ex-boyfriends, ex-husbands, their bosses, former bosses as well as politicians, priests, celebrities, etc. (There may even be some angry men who have bought the books - perhaps they were abused as children or they hate their father?)
The male Swedish author Stieg Larsson (who - what a big bummer for him financially - passed away at age 50 of a heart attack before the books were even published) seemingly tapped into this anger. His own anger was of a different kind and was directed primarily against right wing extremists in Sweden. There has even been speculation in Sweden that he was bumped off by one of his many political enemies. (not entirely implausible after all since Prime minister Oluf Palme, a Social Democrat, was assassinated in 1986 - his murder marked the end of political innocence in Sweden).
My brother in Scandinavia spoke highly of the books and on my most recent visit in December he gave me all three books. The first chapter of the first book starts out very promising, but the novel takes a complete nose dive from then on: it becomes confusing, tedious, with a million characters, plot turns, and details that left me utterly bored - and I'm not easily bored.
I then watched the Swedish/Danish film co-production/adaptation (directed by Danish director Niels Arden Oplev) on DVD. The film makers thankfully and wisely chose to do away with most of the details and characters, but the film is still a failure and includes two brutal rape scenes as well as other violent scenes. The film is now playing in US theaters and the two sequels (which I have not seen) will most likely open here as well. There is also an American adaptation in the works (I shudder to think of what Hollywood will do with it - probably take a bad film and make it worse).
The main character could have been interesting: she is a petite, goth/punk, bi-sexual, 20-something woman, a computer hacker who trusts no one and takes gruesome revenge on her male legal guardian. She ends up teaming up with the 40-something journalist hero who is hired by a wealthy man on an island off the Swedish coast to find out what happened to the old man's daughter decades ago. Not such a bad premise, but both the book and the film fail to deliver and instead pile on the cliches. A real shame because the film could have been a decent one. (It is also very disappointing and frustrating to see yet another young woman/middle aged man pairing.)
As a woman who has dealt with her share of princes-turned-toads, I can to a large degree understand the anger that many women feel towards the opposite gender and sadly women continue to be treated as 2nd class citizens in this world by many men. However, this book and its film adaptation will not solve any problems.
Below are the mind blowing stats that explain why Larsson's Swedish common law widow has been fighting tooth and nail to get her piece of the big money pie.
[Larsson] "was the second best-selling author in the world in 2008, behind Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini. By March 2010 his Millennium trilogy had sold 27 million copies in over 40 countries."
That's a whole lotta money pie, my friends.
(source: Wikipedia, 2010)
NOTE: If you're looking for a literary thriller/mystery set in Scandinavia, I highly recommend the superb and much praised international Danish bestseller "Smilla's Sense of Snow" from 1993 by Peter Hoeg which takes place in Copenhagen, Denmark and en route to/in Greenland. It was made into a film by Danish director Bille August in 1995. I loved the novel, but did not like the film so much at first. Then I watched it a few years ago on DVD and it is now a favorite of mine in great part due to the picth perfect performances by Julia Ormond (Smilla) Gabriel Byrne (the Mechanic) as well as the little boy who befriends Smilla.
Smilla's Sense of Snow
Smilla's Sense of Snow
Book Review: Grisly, Modern, Off-Beat Quasi-Detective Romp Through Sweden
Summary: 4 Stars
Because one of the two loosely interlinked stories in "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" is far more compelling than the other, the end of the book proves disappointing, since it was necessary for the more interesting story to be concluded first - a good 100 pages from the end of the book. Thus, keeping reader interest to the last page proves impossible for Steig Larsson, though he did his best by continuing to involve most of the key players in narrating the end to the less interesting second story. That is the main problem in this book: the thin almost non-existent connection between the two primary story lines, and the necessity of ending the book with the less interesting one.
What link the two stories together are the main players, Blomkvist and Salander and some of their side-kicks and compatriots. Their actual link-up did not occur, however, for at least the first 300 pages as their separate life stories were developed without overlap. Thus, it was a very long lead-up to their collaboration. Too long? Yes. Way too long.
Thus, we have the other great flaw in this novel: it is too long (590 pages). While the stories are often very good and engrossing (except for the incomprehensible Swedish geography detail), the book itself is, in my estimation, at least 100+ pages too long. The extra length was sheer fluff, existing on virtually every page and often several pages long - a clear case of "too much information" (TMI).
At times there is a very good, exciting pace to the tale, especially, as an example, when the evil one decides to try to murder Blomkvist with a rifle.
Quite a bit of the central story is grisly, almost hard core and brutal pornography - gruesomely difficult to read at times. But after all, the central message of the book revolves around abuse and murder of innocent women. Even the telling about past abuse done to others is awful, let alone the experiencing of it by Salander and -- one time only -- by Blomkvist. Incest, murder and torture become major themes in the book.
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" is quite well written and for the most part interesting (except for the secondary story - a world-wide economic gangster scam -- which is, frankly rather dull). The translation, performed by 65 year-old Reg Keeland (who lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico), is admirable, though the pages are often peppered with long unused American slang phrases from the 1950s and 1960s, a function of his generation, no doubt and how he perhaps mistakenly believes Swedes talk casually to each other or write. All-in-all, though, it's a zippy translation and quite contemporary. He does an especially good job translating 24 year-old Salander's voice.
Salander is by far the most interesting character in the book, completely and fully consistent from one end of the book to the other. She is maddening and funny, sexy and unappealing, smart and dumb all at the same time, but always (almost always anyway) fully on top of everything that occurs in her young life. She is a women's advocate, a champion for abused women everywhere, and with good reason. Her own life is filled with unhappiness, abuse, wrongful societal categorization, and alienation. She blossoms into a more complete woman in the company of Blomkvist, but in the end .... well ... in the end, there is an end, ordinary and sad as it is. The book is really all about Salander, her skill, the ultimate tragedy of her life and her disdain for all authority and societal norms. While she doesn't hate all men (particularly not Blomkvist), she does believe most males are idiots and a good percentage of us abusive and misogynist.
Blomkvist is portrayed as the opposite of the male chauvinist pig. He does have his "piggish" qualities, but they are not founded in a dislike of women. On the contrary, he seems able to charm and seduce almost any woman he finds interesting, regardless of age, social status or background. In a sense, he is really a neutral kind of guy, smart and apparently attractive, and he rarely makes waves. He's a dogged investigative journalist, who accepts his fate -- time and time again. The problem with the Salander-Blomkvist relationship is that both are incapable of and uninterested in discussing their relationship. They are together because of mutual sleuthing skills and sex. As such, it can't end well, one might think.
Blomkvist's other love interest, Erika Berger, is a flashy successful business woman, Blomkvist's full equal and business partner. She actually is not a very interesting character. The old man, Henrik Vanger, is well portrayed and ably characterized as the elder statesman of his huge and dysfunctional family.
I liked the book and I would recommend it to most of my friends and acquaintances. I honestly don't know how to rate it. Is it a 3 or a 5? I'll settle for a 4.0.
Book Review: Review for THE MILLENNIUM TRILOGY (Part 1 of 3)
Summary: 5 Stars
Note: I'm trying to write this as a review of the entire Millennium trilogy, broken into three parts. For those who are wondering how the trilogy should be read, my opinion is to read them in order and back-to-back. Although Larsson does a fine job of re-introducing recurring characters, it helps to know their back story; and back-to-back because Larsson's cast of character is HUGE. I've written up a list of characters for the trilogy, which you are free to use and distribute as you wish ([...]). I also made a more condensed version ([...]) that removes all the minor or non-recurring characters. If you do read this trilogy and you're unfamiliar with Sweden (as I am), you might want a map of Sweden on hand or have Google Maps handy. It's not necessary, but it did help me picture things better in my head. This is especially true of the latter two books, which explores Sweden a lot more. Google Maps is especially great for this because you can use Street View for many of the locations.
THE MILLENNIUM TRILOGY (Part 1 of 3)
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
I heard of this book years ago from my mom. She had read it in Chinese, and I believe it had came out in Chinese before English. Since my mom has recommended me some dubious books in the past, I was wary of reading it. Then I saw "Stieg Larsson" and "Dragon Tattoo" popping up all over the place, and decided to go for it. I'm somewhat glad that I didn't pick this book up till now because that's allowed me to read the trilogy back-to-back. While that isn't necessary, it certainly makes it easier to keep track of things.
DRAGON TATTOO reads like a "whodunit" mystery, and reminded me of the movie "Gosford Park." The protagonist is Mikael Blomvist, the gutsy financial reporter from Millennium magazine, who, in the beginning of the novel, has just lost a libel case against Wennerström, a businessman he had been investigating. As he ponders his fate for the near future, he gets a visit from a lawyer representing Henrik Vanger, a former mogul, who wants him to write a biography of his family. This writing job, however, is really just a pretext to allow Blomvist to do some investigation into a dark history of the family.
Then there's Lisbeth Salander, the girl with the dragon tattoo, who is a freelance researcher for a security firm. She is portrayed as a mysterious, introvert, and strong-willed woman who has her unconventional means of getting information. Salander's and Blomvist's worlds will soon converge and become the key focus of the book.
Here are a few things of note about Larsson's writing:
He keeps the action going without putting in tedious descriptions of unnecessary details. He does enough to give life to the scene, but focuses on the important elements.
He writes with a point of view, which is to say that, this isn't just your regular mystery novel. Larsson, himself a journalist, seems to know the inner workings of many Swedish institutions. Each of his book seems to broaden the focus of these institutions. For example, DRAGON TATTOO focuses mostly on independent journalism and the corporate world; PLAYED WITH FIRE focuses on the media, academia, and law enforcement; and "Hornet's Nest" focuses on secret government agencies (at least as far as I know; I'm still reading it). Larsson also has strong opinions about things going on in Sweden, in it comes through in his writing (most obviously in Blomvist's voice). It's a refreshing take on a traditional genre that I find really powerful.
The cast of characters and the institutions can get overwhelming, especially if you really want to understand the connections between everything. Larsson also has the tendency of referring to his characters by their last name, the first name, and their nick names, so it helps to have it all fresh in your head. I would suggest being patient, because the payoff is well worth it. I was a bit stumped in the beginning of this novel, mostly because I had thought it was "light reading," the type of book that you can read in small bits before you go to bed, or when you're on the subway. It turned out that, for me, it was easier to read it in large chunks, because it helps keep the information intact.
Despite of the cast, the characters were all well-written, including the minor ones. Lesser authors would have reduced them to caricatures, but Larsson doesn't pull that here.
The twists in this book were AWESOME. Several times I would say out-loud "Oooooh" and have to get up and take a breather (and I only do that when I'm excited by a book).
Evidently, coffee is big in Sweden. :)
So far, this is my favorite of the trilogy. It seems more like a standalone novel, and might even be seen as a prologue to the latter two books.
Book Review: A great ride for a long while . . . and then the fizzle
Summary: 4 Stars
If I had stopped to review this book three-quarters of the way through I would have given it a full five stars. It was that entertaining, compelling, and well done. The story kept me flipping pages, the characters were engaging and well drawn, and -- let's face it -- there are few literary devices as effective as an expertly turned Dysfunctional Family With Secrets. I think Larsson is a wonderful talent and I plan to jump happily into his next two (and, sadly, final) books. That said, he bites off a bit more than he can chew here. Like many first novels, this one is too ambitious. There are really two stories here . . . and they are not linked as well as you'll hope. First, there is the disgraced journalist who has been burned by a vengeful corporate titan and is looking for redemption. Then there is the tale of young Harriet, who disappeared one afternoon back in 1966. Her uncle -- who cared for her and has been tormented by her disappearance (and more to the point, by the mystery of her fate) -- convinces the journalist to take up his cause and spend a year sequestered at the family compound in a remote part of Sweden, looking into the crime (if, indeed, there even was one).
The mystery is (for a long time) well done . . . lots of twists, intrigue (if ever a family compound needed a resident shrink, this is the one), and mystery. Some of the detective work is novel, clever, and well done, too (without giving anything away, there is some fascinating work with photographs here). There are, of course, the all-too-convenient Eureka moments, and by the end, we've wandered into rather unconvincing Silence of the Lambs/Red Dragon territory (for a better take on that, read Silence of the Lambs and Red Dragon). But, somewhat disappointing climax aside, it's a great ride while it lasts.
But that leads us to my main problem with this book: There's too much of it. Perhaps it's because I'm a journalist myself, but I found the entire second plot line -- the attempt to investigate and bring down the aforementioned corporate titan, and all the inside baseball magazine intrigue -- a bore. And fairly laughable in parts, too (for one thing, we journalists are far too chatty and dysfunctional to carry out any kind of secret, coordinated operation to smoke out a mole). Worst of all, it's largely unnecessary. Larsson was a journalist and magazine editor himself, and I can see that it must have been tempting to bring in a little of his own world, but that old adage of write what you know is largely bunk. Indeed, what's exciting to you (because you live it) isn't always exciting to others. This plot thread is a case in point. I think it would have been sufficient to give enough backstory to set up the Disgraced Journalist Looking or Redemption and then move on -- and stick with -- the main story, the mystery of the girl. This secondary plot also makes our hero look a bit too holier-than-though for comfort (he's always railing about failed financial journalism - annoying enough -- yet many of his arguments and conclusions seem oddly naive and misinformed. It just detracts, and has readers (at least this one) take him a bit less seriously). The book would have worked better if this whole sideline was expunged and the mystery built out a bit more.
A couple of lesser gripes: While I can appreciate that Larsson was clearly an Apple fan boy (no problem with that here), his computer talk is at turns superficial and weird. He lists the entire spec sheet of a 2002-era PowerBook laptop one character has her pocketbook set on . . . I have no idea why. And when he talks about encryption and hacking it is clear that he doesn't know that much about either (and no, knowing what PGP is does not qualify you as an expert). On the other hand, I think the only reason this bothered me was that so much else in the book was so well crafted and presented. On a related note, I also thought that the character profile of the private investigator who helps out on the case -- and is the real heroine of the story -- was by turns fascinating and rubbish. At one moment she's borderline autistic; the next she is assuming identities and interacting with bankers on million-dollar transactions. The romance -- all of it -- is a bit too convenient and unconvincing, too. Finally, it was a minor bummer that some of the most fascinating characters in the book -- the head of the security concern, the uncle himself, to name a couple -- get sidelined along the way, only to make cursory appearances thereafter.
I may have had to drag myself through the last fifth of the book, but no regrets. This was clearly one of the better thrillers to come along of late, and I plan to get cracking on Book 2 promptly.
Book Review: This trilogy is a work of art, the most gripping ever
Summary: 5 Stars
As a novelist, I never read detective stories, though I have watched Morse, Frost and Wexford with pleasure, always because of the character. I am reading this again for the third time in six months because it is different. This is a work of art because it reveals parts of our world which are hidden from most of us: the world of financial journalism which exposes the inevitable crookedness of business; of computer crime and the possibilities and means of hacking and how otherwise little people can affect the great and the good and even governments; of the defects in the Swedish justice system wherein those empowered to help the disfunctional prey upon them; and the activities of rogue groups within the secret service which commit wrongdoing to protect themselves.
These are part of the substance of what it is about. The style is not literary which is a bonus: there is no studied attempt to produce exotic prose-- all most literary publishers are interested in: snobbery rules. If only it fits the genre in seeming to be a clever use of words. Rubbish! The best writing is not about this at all. Larsson breaks the rules because he must. He explains the worlds of interest to him and this works as narrative, continuously gripping narrative, because none of the usual 'rules of writing' are obeyed except this: these people and their doings interest me and I am here to tell you about them.
No publisher (except this one) would have allowed all these very long explanations. They would have been edited out as harmful to the story! Yet they are fundamental. And the lesson was not learned by the Swedish film makers! They have been excised root and branch from the film which makes very little sense in consequence. The world, the publishing world is, alas, full of idiots who will take any great work like this and say: I will publish this providing you let me rewrite it. And God be praised I will be able to publish it more cheaply because I know how to get rid of half of it. The assumption is that the word 'publishable' has an objective meaning and they in their godlike grandeur, know what it is. The death of the book has more to do with publishers than is commonly realised.
Lisbeth Salander is, I think, an accidental creation who grew and grew as he wrote. As a mathematician, I was delighted by the passage where she solves Fermat's Last Theorem. [Andrew Wiles proved this after years of work, OK. But Salander is made to see what Fermat himself saw: the insight which took seconds and no one has ever shared (assuming Fermat was not a liar, almost inconceivable in a scholar of that supreme calibre: all the best minds despise falsehood)]. And then she cannot profit from the insight for a reason which is brilliant and fundamental. Here then is yet another world explored by Larsson in the book: the dysfunctional,apparently uneducated person who, before our very eyes,becomes an autodidact of genius. Of course I wanted to read the textook that Salander had used: a book published at Harvard. And there is no such book. What fun!
The lesson of this trilogy is that the author is King (or Queen). Let him tell his story and describe, to the limit that he thinks necessary, all these aspects of the world he lays before us.
Before the mind of the publisher, is an invariant: the average reader whose presumed inability to concentrate and learn anyhing {God forbid that he should be put in the schoolroom again!} is the object of the enterprise. Heavens! Without pandering to him how can we make any money?
Publishers have a long history of thinking in this way and, mostly they get it quite wrong. Books are successful in spite of them. [Doubtless, many marvels are lost because of them]. A vast tonnage of garbage is published every day. Of course it hardly needs saying that if they had any ability themselves they would be writers. Instead they have chosen to make money, (and have the improved status of 'controlling writers') which real writers are interested in only peripherally: they need a little to be able to write, all that really matters to them. What publisher would ever allow a passage like that on mathematics in case it put off the average reader?
Larsson's trilogy is brilliant, fascinating, worth talking about every day. I will read it many times because there is nothing to touch it; will recommend it to my dying day.
William Wallace Cunningham Scott, 30.12.2010.