This is the first time in a long time where I have read an actual series where you did not need to hop in at a random part. It is different in a good way if you think relationally to what you are reading. The pace might be a little slower because you are given more opportunities to get to know the characters better. You fall in with the style of writing coming from the author.
I am sure everyone has heard of this series by Stieg Larsson. There have been movies; at least one of them is on Hulu and I keep thinking in my head that I should watch it now that I am on the last of Larsson’s portion of the series. I do not have it in mind to read the following three following.
This first in the series introduces us to Mikael Blomkvist, a journalist specializing in finance; he likes to write articles with the intent to bring truth to criminal acting persons. Unfortunately, we come in to find that he has lost round one against one of the wealthiest businessmen at the time. Meanwhile, we are subtilely introduced to Lisbeth Salander, who likes to worth with computers in a borderline criminal way… eh, nevermind; it is. Mikael makes a deal in his best interest to begin work on a side project that is said to be impossible: find the missing niece of Henrik Vanger, another business tycoon. It has been obsessed over for years, yet nothing new is realized; basically, it is a lesson to always have a fresh pair of eyes look at your work.
I am not gonna lie, Girl with a Dragon Tattoo talks about some hard shit. There will be triggers of sexual violence. I find it very… I think of the words “on time” with the awareness to be brought about that topic. It was released in Sweden in 2005; the US in 2011; I know that it came out in 1999, but Law and Order: SVU I think was picking up steam about that time as well, so the bricks of Me Too were being laid.
I thought Larsson’s writing was different; when I think about it now, it seemed very deliberate, like “I am only going to give just enough information to make you as the reader think, but enough to not make you give up”. Admittedly, it is rather slow at the beginning, which I would expect in a series, to where I can see a lot of people complain about it. Do not give up though, it was worth the crawl. At some point, it will take off and you have to hold on, which, again, I think was Larsson being incredibly intentional, the whole playing with emotions and all.
A thing that struck me when getting to know Salander is that: a) you know that Larsson will expand on her character in the next book; b) you want to know what really is her deal with her mental state. I caught on pretty quick that she seems to be on the high-functioning part of the autistic spectrum somewhere, if not Asperger’s. I am not the most informed on this topic; I do not have a lot of people in my life who are in this category, it just is what I have put together from conversations with people who have someone in their life who is. Either way, I think that too is amazing and even possibly ground-breaking considering, again, the year that this was published and the time of social and self-awareness that we are going through now where books are having characters of every facet be a main character.
I would read this again, fer sure. I would think this has stirred up great discussion, especially surrounding Larsson’s death. It says on Wiki that it was a heart attack, but because of what he was involved in, everything that I have seen has been a little vague. Either way, you can find Girl with a Dragon Tattoo here.
Happy New Year, everyone!
10/10
Chofa Times on the Chofa 