You'd have to be living in a hole under a rock with Winnie the Pooh not to have heard of Stieg Larsson's Millenium Trilogy. Not only have the books taken the world by storm (I hear The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo has sold more copies in France than Harry Potter... and more copies in Denmark than the Bible), the films have also been received very well, not just in Europe, but in North America as well.
The other day, I decided it was about time I read into this monstrosity, because at the rate it's growing, I figured I would be better off. I mean seriously, who talks to that kid who never read Harry Potter, or at least watched a movie? It's like their opinions on everything are invalid because they never pined for a Hogwarts letter on their 11th birthday (PS, I'm still hoping my owl got lost or something). So anyway, I picked up Dragon Tattoo and read it start to finish in a few days, and I completely understand the fascination people have with it.
What Larsson seems to do is take all those elements of American commercialization and steeps it in a very European style. I feel as though The Da Vinci Code could take some notes here. Certainly, he's no Tolstoy, but he does an excellent job making you fall in love with the characters he creates, characters that you feel are so diverse that they must be real. The two leads, Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander are excellent, which is not always the case with main characters. Salander in particular is fascinating, and despite the ethical issues of her hacking job, she is one of the few characters one comes across in life that is completely in control of herself. In this I mean she appears very sure of her opinions of how things should be, and she holds to those notions while others all around her crumble under bribes and physical violence.
I loved the fact that Larsson handed out little hints along the way that gives you opportunities to figure out the mystery yourself; it allows the reader to become actively involved with the story and feel like as they read about Blomkvist and Salander's research they are assisting them in some way. So way to get the audience involved!
The English title of the book was invented, I assume, for marketing purposes (continuity of The Girl.......), but the original Swedish title, Män som hatar kvinnor, is much more appropriate to the story itself, translating directly to Men Who Hate Women. This concept is blatent throughout the novel, not just in the murder mystery part, but also in the characters' everyday lives. We see the ignorance of male characters towards Salander constantly (with a few exceptions), including her brutal rape by her sadistic guardian, the hatred of Harald Vanger for his daughter Cecilia, and many other smaller instances aside. That said, the book features a host of women in power roles, most notably our tattooed vigilante.
Salander seemingly dedicates her time to punishing misogynists, and when I say she punishes them, I don't mean just a simple knife in the belly... she'll twist it until the guy screams for his mother, and then look for an even softer spot to repeat the task. Salander has significant disdain for the police, feeling that they are not just incompetent, but also unsympathetic. So she takes all matters into her own hands, regardless of whether that puts her into extreme danger as a result.
Another theme that I found interesting was that of responsibility. We see the responsibility of a reporter to not reveal his source, the responsibility of parents/guardians to care for their children, the responsibility to tell the truth or take action when something is happening that you know is wrong. Larsson makes sure that his characters do not always follow these in the way they should. In some cases, characters blatantly disregard their responsibilities, in others, they follow them even if it is detrimental to themselves. But the ones I find most intriguing are those that fall into a gray area where you do not know for sure what the right thing to do is. There are two situations in particular that stand out in this respect:
1) Is it right to lie if telling the truth will bring more pain and suffering to a victim?
2) To what extent do we hold a criminal responsible for his or her actions? (ie; the nature versus nurture question)
They are two fascinating concepts, and I will no doubt be looking at them more in depth at a later date, but tell me, what do you think? Should we tell the truth always, without fail, simply because we want to be honest? Or are there some situations in which telling a lie is completely justified, for example, because we are protecting someone? Is it right to classify a person as a criminal if their behaviours are the result of an abusive childhood, or if crime was all they were ever taught? Is it right to classify someone as a criminal if the reason they act the way they do is the result of a mental condition, thus giving them very little choice in the matter?
All in all, I really enjoyed Larsson's criminal thriller. I'm not going to tell you how it ends or reveal any major secrets, because I really think you should find out for yourself (this is also my clever way of escaping a lengthy summary... the chain of events stretches over 40 years..), but in a nutshell, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is a story that, while revealing the thinly veiled hatred for women that continues to live in society, also preaches the age old feminist concept of women sticking together. So you hear that girls? Always pee in twos. And don't forget your whistle.
Peace, love, and floating,
Gill Ford
The other day, I decided it was about time I read into this monstrosity, because at the rate it's growing, I figured I would be better off. I mean seriously, who talks to that kid who never read Harry Potter, or at least watched a movie? It's like their opinions on everything are invalid because they never pined for a Hogwarts letter on their 11th birthday (PS, I'm still hoping my owl got lost or something). So anyway, I picked up Dragon Tattoo and read it start to finish in a few days, and I completely understand the fascination people have with it.
What Larsson seems to do is take all those elements of American commercialization and steeps it in a very European style. I feel as though The Da Vinci Code could take some notes here. Certainly, he's no Tolstoy, but he does an excellent job making you fall in love with the characters he creates, characters that you feel are so diverse that they must be real. The two leads, Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander are excellent, which is not always the case with main characters. Salander in particular is fascinating, and despite the ethical issues of her hacking job, she is one of the few characters one comes across in life that is completely in control of herself. In this I mean she appears very sure of her opinions of how things should be, and she holds to those notions while others all around her crumble under bribes and physical violence.
I loved the fact that Larsson handed out little hints along the way that gives you opportunities to figure out the mystery yourself; it allows the reader to become actively involved with the story and feel like as they read about Blomkvist and Salander's research they are assisting them in some way. So way to get the audience involved!
The English title of the book was invented, I assume, for marketing purposes (continuity of The Girl.......), but the original Swedish title, Män som hatar kvinnor, is much more appropriate to the story itself, translating directly to Men Who Hate Women. This concept is blatent throughout the novel, not just in the murder mystery part, but also in the characters' everyday lives. We see the ignorance of male characters towards Salander constantly (with a few exceptions), including her brutal rape by her sadistic guardian, the hatred of Harald Vanger for his daughter Cecilia, and many other smaller instances aside. That said, the book features a host of women in power roles, most notably our tattooed vigilante.
Salander seemingly dedicates her time to punishing misogynists, and when I say she punishes them, I don't mean just a simple knife in the belly... she'll twist it until the guy screams for his mother, and then look for an even softer spot to repeat the task. Salander has significant disdain for the police, feeling that they are not just incompetent, but also unsympathetic. So she takes all matters into her own hands, regardless of whether that puts her into extreme danger as a result.
Another theme that I found interesting was that of responsibility. We see the responsibility of a reporter to not reveal his source, the responsibility of parents/guardians to care for their children, the responsibility to tell the truth or take action when something is happening that you know is wrong. Larsson makes sure that his characters do not always follow these in the way they should. In some cases, characters blatantly disregard their responsibilities, in others, they follow them even if it is detrimental to themselves. But the ones I find most intriguing are those that fall into a gray area where you do not know for sure what the right thing to do is. There are two situations in particular that stand out in this respect:
1) Is it right to lie if telling the truth will bring more pain and suffering to a victim?
2) To what extent do we hold a criminal responsible for his or her actions? (ie; the nature versus nurture question)
They are two fascinating concepts, and I will no doubt be looking at them more in depth at a later date, but tell me, what do you think? Should we tell the truth always, without fail, simply because we want to be honest? Or are there some situations in which telling a lie is completely justified, for example, because we are protecting someone? Is it right to classify a person as a criminal if their behaviours are the result of an abusive childhood, or if crime was all they were ever taught? Is it right to classify someone as a criminal if the reason they act the way they do is the result of a mental condition, thus giving them very little choice in the matter?
All in all, I really enjoyed Larsson's criminal thriller. I'm not going to tell you how it ends or reveal any major secrets, because I really think you should find out for yourself (this is also my clever way of escaping a lengthy summary... the chain of events stretches over 40 years..), but in a nutshell, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is a story that, while revealing the thinly veiled hatred for women that continues to live in society, also preaches the age old feminist concept of women sticking together. So you hear that girls? Always pee in twos. And don't forget your whistle.
Peace, love, and floating,
Gill Ford
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