Book Review

 

I finished this novel last evening while dinner was cooking.  And wow.  What a book.  A few people wanted to know how it was, so I decided to just do a book review on here. Here are the specifics:

• Genre:  fiction (part mystery, science fiction, thriller)
• Setting:  Sweden in 2002
• Author:  Stieg Larsson, who did live in Sweden and did work for a magazine and was an expert on antidemocratic right-wing extremist and Nazi organizations.  He died in 2004, after delivering the manuscripts for this Millennium trilogy.  (The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest.
• It has been translated from the Swedish by Reg Keeland

Basic Plot: (in my own words and impressions/opinions)  a young girl, Harriet Vanger, a member of one of Sweden's wealthiest families, disappeared over 40 years ago at the age of 16.  Many years later, her uncle wants to find out the truth of her disappearance.  He hires the journalist Mikael Blomkvist, to investigate.  Meanwhile, the journalist is on trial for a libel conviction related to an expose he wrote for the magazine he edits (Millennium).  After he is hired, he is aided by a punk prodigy who has various piercings and tatoos.  Her name is Lisbeth Salander, age 24. They begin to uncover a web of iniquity, corruption, and crime unlike anything you have ever heard of.  There are actually 3 plots to this somewhat complicated story.  I found that in the beginning there was too much talk of economics, politics of the country of Sweden. The book did not capture my interest until the Salander character was introduced at about page 40.  Her story is somewhat gripping yet graphic.  She is quite a character and you will either love her or hate her.  I'm not sure yet how I really feel about her other than the author, in my opinion, really makes her seem a bit "far-fetched" along with her genius abilities.  But....sometimes that makes for good fiction, right?

I loved the character Blomkvist and his partner Erika Berger.  I did not like the fact that there are many, many characters and it is hard to keep them straight.  It is great, though, that the author includes a "family tree" of the Vanger clan as I found myself referring to it often, especially as the mystery of the Harriet character comes into play. There are some strange Biblical references from Leviticus that come into the plot....some religious cult type stuff....it kept me interested but it also kind of "spooked" me...it was a bit creepy and weird.  It makes you realize that yes...there are religious nuts out there.....usually psychopathic in nature! It brings out the conflict between nature vs nurture a bit....meaning:  are we products of our early childhood experiences and do we  blame bad parenting or dysfunctional parenting on later dysfunctional behaviors, or are people really in charge of their own actions??  Do we really have choices or do we allow strongholds to grab hold of our very psyches??

It is a gripping novel, meaning you really do need to keep reading to find out what happens!  One of my sisters read this book and hated it.  My husband read it and said it was ok.  I actually liked it....and plan on reading the other 2.  I want to find out WHY Lisbeth is the way she is (I suspect some kind of abuse in her early childhood).

Here are some of the reviews from the back of the book:

"Mesmerizing...." USA Today

"A super-smart amalgam of the corporate corruption tale, legal thriller and dysfunctional family psychological suspense story."  Fresh Air (NPR)

"unique and fascinating....it's like a blast of cold, fresh air to read...." Chicago Tribune

WARNING!  This is quite a "dark" novel. (in my opinion) There are some disturbing and graphic scenes about sexual assault, kidnapping and murder.  As a Christian, I was a bit "turned off" by some of this...it just was a bit too graphic for me...and I don't usually get turned off by secular fiction.  The language is not bad...there really wasn't much swearing in the book.  It was the graphic violence that was a bit disturbing, therefore I am not allowing my 17 year old to read it.  If she chooses to read it when she is older, that will be her choice, and I am guessing she will like the story.  I can't imagine how they portray some of the violence towards women in the movie....not sure I am going to rent the movie...however, it IS a bit realistic because, sadly, this kind of violence towards girls and women really does exist....and we know some of the financial/business corruption takes place in the real world.

Keep in mind that it is fiction.  But it is very graphic fiction and really is quite gripping and "dark".  Overall, it intrigued me enough to want to continue the series and find out about Lisbeth's background and how she and Blomkvist will work together in the next 2 books.

If you decide to read it, please let me know your thoughts!