The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

I had only ever heard of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo movie, but had no interest in watching it and one day, months ago (maybe a year ago), my friend at work mentioned this book to me so I added it to my reading list. About a month ago the book and movie were brought up again at work in conversation so I decided I must read it immediately and see for myself what all the fuss was about. Luckily, I already owned it because I bought it months ago at a thrift store after having added it to my reading list (a common practice of mine) and oh is it good! I couldn't put it down and I even found myself thinking about it at work and anxiously awaiting the moment when I could be reunited with it to continue reading it. You know a book is good when your thoughts about it are competing with your thoughts about going to Zumba after work–something I love, but more about that another time.

I had been advised about the violence this book contained so I was prepared for it and, surprisingly, I handled it rather well. I mean I was creeped out and repulsed by it, but no nightmares. Thankfully the entire book is not like this, but it does have several episodes of violence, more specifically, violence towards women. In fact, this book's original Swedish title (the author was Swedish) was Men Who Hate Women.....so there you go.

In a nutshell, this book is the first of the Millennium Trilogy written by Stieg Larsson. It is a fictitious crime/mystery/thriller novel that takes place in Sweden where journalist Mikael Blomkvist is hired by a wealthy man to solve the mystery of the disappearance of his teenage niece from forty plus years ago. Mikael is later assisted by badass computer hacker Lisbeth Salander. 

I like the characters. They have depth and you become intrigued by them, especially with Lisbeth.

This book brings to light that even Sweden has it's problems, past and present. Besides the statistics about violence against women, I found it interesting that there was a Nazi movement in Sweden in the first part of the 20th century. Coincidently, I found an article about recent violence in connection to Neo-Nazis in Sweden. Now I don't know about you, but when I think of Sweden I think of that nation that is often referred to as the nation which has one of the highest standards of living in the world and where people are happiest, not one of violence and Nazis, but I guess no country in the world is perfect and immune to evil. Also, according to this book Swedes eat a lot of sandwiches and buy a lot of Ikea furniture, go figure!

I am already reading the second book in the series, The Girl Who Played With Fire, and I'm looking forward to figuring out who Lisbeth is. I moved the The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo movie to the top of my Netflix queue and it has now been sitting at the top of my DVD player for the last two weeks. I am trying to build up the courage to watch it. The book I could handle, the movie I am not so sure. I don't even like watching shows like CSI or Law and Order because of their violent themes.....Anyway this post is way longer than I intended it to be. If you're still reading, first, I wanna say thank you, second, I wanna say I really liked this book (I think I established that at the beginning). I think that any time you are both, entertained by a book and able to take something away from it is a double bonus!

Until next time!

-Liz