The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: A Lisbeth Salander Novel

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 TattooI 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.

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.

This isn't GoodReads so I won't leave an extended book review of this here. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it. If you're thinking of buying this book because you've seen the movie, I think you'd enjoy it. I particularly enjoy Salander's characterization way more in the book over the movie. I bought this book used via the seller Atlantic Book Rescue for about $10 CAD with tax: it was in excellent condition when it arrived and (to my surprise) it was a hardcover! (I was expecting a paperback for that price). Long story short, buy your books used folks (when you can)!

I didn’t expect to receive an old book. So disappointed.

El producto me fue entregado en perfectas condiciones. En relación al contenido, considero que es excelente.

A must read book . The story line is amazing. It kept me turning pages . Book might be boring in the starting for some readers but believe me it's the best book . As you go deep into the story ,it just gets interesting . Main character is badass and super cool . Once you start ! There's no going back .

Ambientazione meravigliosa per questo giallo nordico. Un mistero che vi prende sin dalla prima pagina del libro e vi conduce fino alla fine, scritto benissimo. Consigliato se appassionati del genere, e dei paesi nordici.