"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"

[drbill]

I picked up this book by Stieg Larsson and was amazed at how interesting I found it and how quickly I finished it. Started on the second book ("The Girl Who Played with Fire") day before yesterday and am almost finished with it. I even thumbed a dive to read the book.

What I can't figure out is why I find these books so appealing. The writing is not anything I can pinpoint, but it reads very easily. I can pick up on hints and predict some of the events in the stories. However, I just can't seem to put these books down! I've even skipped work on my video editing to focus on them.

Fortunately there are only three in the series since Larsson died, and I should be done with all three by the end of next week. I would really appreciate the thoughts of other readers on why these books are so appealing!

 

[ONESPEED]

I've read all three books in the trilogy and each is better than the last.

 

[Jeff Toorish]

I'm right there with you Bill --finished "...Dragon Tattoo" last week and I'm well into the second book. I'm reading it slowly to make it last.

It's a shame the Author died (as I understand it, prior to the books becoming so popular) because the series will end with the third book.

There is a hollywood movie in the works, as I understand it.

What I find fascinating and entertaining is the complexity of so many characters. That is unusual in modern literature. Normally the lead character has some depth, but the other characters are merely quirky, or more likely stereotypes.

That is not the case here.

Jeff

 

[jet126]

Thanks for the review! I bought the book to read on vacation in a couple weeks - it just looked like a good title. Sounds like I picked a winner.

 

[deco_martini]

I would really appreciate the thoughts of other readers on why these books are so appealing!

They are appealing because they weren't written for mass consumption. He is brutal at times. He doesn't mind a slow build up. He does things someone writing to sell millions of copies in an airport might not do. He isn't writing worried about what the editors at the publisher are going to think. It is very raw.

 

[BabyDuck]

i loved these books, too. i think it's the real-seeming characters that aren't always stereotypically 'likable'.

 

[drbill]

I couldn't wait to finish the second book yesterday. Raced home after diving to read it, even took it to the boat terminal when we picked up my dive buddy's son. Finished it after I dropped them off.

I should have taken out the third book while it was in the library. Someone is going to be disappointed if they started the series with the third book as I'm sure there are many references to the previous ones in it.

A DM candidate here on the island saw the movie version of the first book when she was in Arizona. I have the DVD on reserve from the LA County Library when it is finally acquired.

So glad there are only three... I might actually get some work in this summer after I read the last one.

 

[JanK]

I do believe that the one thing that makes these books so appealing is the "flavour" of Swedishness in them. I cannot pinpoint exactly what it is, but I was very much reminded of my month spent in Sweden, the feeling of the country and of the people there, unlike anywhere I've encountered. And it made me want to go back...

It is not something you usually encounter in thriller usually written by US or UK natives.

And, coincidentally, I read them (gulped them..) during a diving vacation, so for a few days it was wake up, dive, read, dive, read, dive, read until falling asleep, somehow managing to fit a few meals in between.

 

[adurso]

Larson actually had notes for several others in the series, the notes are in possession of his girlfriend. There are issues with rights, he and the girlfriend never married so his father and brother control the estate. It seems he planned ten novels in the series.

The Millennium trilogy were made into movies in Sweden, and in France, (I think) there was a mini series made of them.

 

[Scott L]

Dr. Bill, thanks for the tip. Will order today...