Well . . . I don't know what to say about this book, mostly because I haven't made up my mind if I liked it. I read it because several people, whose opinion I trust, recommended it. I got a gift certificate for Christmas, so I picked up the book.
One of the things that troubles me is that Larsson includes statistics throughout the book about the numbers of rapes and incidences of violence again women in Sweden, yet he includes several horrifyingly graphic scenes of rape and torture - against a woman. If he was trying to raise awareness of the problem in Swedish society, why then include such vivid descriptions?
At the same time, I couldn't stop reading the book. Lisbeth Salander's character interested me much more than that of Mikael Blomkvist, yet her character plays second fiddle to Blomkvist. I understand why Larsson had to do it in terms of plot, but that doesn't mean I like it.
I also thought the book should have ended after the big mystery was resolved. The whole retribution part of the plot seemed tacked on as an afterthought. I lost interest in the book at about that point.
There's a second book out, called The Girl Who Played with Fire, and I'd like to read it, but not enough to warrant paying full price for the hard cover. I'm going to have to wait for a good sale or for it to come out in paperback.
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2 comments:
I just read this one this weekend and am preparing to write my post. I liked it more than you did - it kept me up half the night to get to the end. I didn't mind all the revenge plot at the end because I like all the storylines tied up neatly at the end! But - like you, I'll be waiting for the paperback - very little tempts me in hardback these days! It was fun to read your review while the book was still so fresh on my mind!
I will probably read this book eventually, but I'm not in any rush to read graphic scenes of rape and torture.
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