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I wasn't surprised that I would finish this book pretty quickly, due to the fact that I had started reading this on the 21 of December, well before I got the idea to start the reading list as a portion of my blog.
In total it took me two weeks to read Larsson's novel that has been filled with intrigue and twists and turns. These past few nights reading the book I've stayed up until around 4 in the morning reading, simply because I couldn't put the book down. I also wanted to finish this book quickly because I have been itching to watch the movie for a while now, but I have been waiting until I had read the book.
But more of that later, here is my review of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson.
This book follows Mikael Blomkvist, an investigative reporter who has recently been convicted of libel after he reported on a scandal that had to do with the CEO of one of Sweden's largest businesses. After this nasty debacle Blomkvist is approached by the wealthy captain of industry, Henrik Vanger, who asks Blomkvist to poke around his family and solve a 40-year-old mystery that still haunts him, the disappearance of his niece, Harriet Vanger. After some persuasion and a crazy amount of cash Blomkvist agrees and moves to the middle of nowhere to work on this mystery that seems impossible to solve.
The other protagonist is Lisbeth Salander, who is a genius computer hacker working for a security company in Stockholm. She is originally hired to do the background check on Blomkvist, and eventually, much later in the book, is asked by Blomkvist to become his research assistant. The two characters work together and eventually solve the mystery surrounding the disappearance of Harriet Vanger. Uncovering the truth does come at an insane cost, and the plot twist and revelation of who was behind the disappearance of Harriet is one of the most exciting parts of the book.
One of the main themes behind the book is violence against women, and how that is handle in Swedish society. And this book is not wanting of rape scenes, women being murdered and deplorable cases of women being quieted against their attackers. Larsson does a good job of highlighting rape culture in Sweden and how it plays such an important role in the book. Larsson even highlights some of the statistics surrounding violence toward women in Sweden.
Overall, the book was enjoyable to read, however, I felt that it took too much time in getting into the mystery and the discovery of the clues that would lead Blomkvist and Salander to the discovery of the villain. The beginning is a little slow, and I felt like I had to push to get through to the part when Blomkvist actually starts working on the mystery. Once he starts discovering the clues, the book becomes much more exciting, which of course led to multiple nights of staying up til 2 or 3 reading quickly so I could discover what the next step in the mystery was.
The book is not lacking for content, however. There are many twists and turns that the reader doesn't see coming and take the reader by surprise. When the villain is finally revealed and Blomkvist and Salander have their confrontation with the villain is the part of the book when the pages start to fly past because you're reading at hyper speed, totally engrossed in the story. Once the mystery is solved and the conflict is resolved, however, the book slows down a bit, as is to be expected. With a heart warming finale, the book comes to an end exactly how the reader would want it to end.
While there is no lack for content in the book, I felt the writing style was a bit behind. Throughout the book, I felt as if I were actually reading a news article, with the way that Larsson approached the characters. This is understandable because Larsson had been a journalist, however, the style of prose gets jumbled and simplistic in many places throughout the novel. There were many times where I would have to go back and reread a paragraph because it had been written in a confusing way and I hadn't understood what was actually being said. Also, the novel is riddled with financial and technical jargon that I, being unversed in the world of finance and only somewhat versed in the tech world, had a difficulty following.
All in all, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was an exciting and entertaining read that will keep you up to the early hours of the morning.
4 out of 5 stars.
Now that that's out of the way, be on the lookout for my next reading challenge post, The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling!
