I like to read.
I read a lot.
I read all sorts of books.
I like to recommend those I like - for example, although it is disturbing, I enjoyed Room, by Emma Donoghue. On a lighter note, I also recently read I Still Dream about You by Fannie Flagg. It's comfort reading - like a nice stew on a cold night. Extremely different book styles, but both well written with great character development.
On Saturday, I picked up my hold queue books at the library.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was in the group, as were several critical essay volumes addressing Robert Browning - Chris has to write a research paper.
If you loved this book, you need to stop reading immediately.
I did NOT love this book.
The Washington Post claims it was "wildly suspenseful". REALLY? Wildly?
I was barely intrigued. I did finish the book, because some of the story's bones were interesting...but WILDLY?
What book did they read???
Characters: The Girl with the Tattoo - her I liked. Well developed, intriguing, beyond quirky character. Blomkvist, a journalist, yawn, yawn, yawn. Everyone else in the story was either extraordinarily superfluous OR a sexual sadist.
Apparently, Sweden is overrun with sexual sadists. They are everywhere. They are breeding. The poor dragon girl falls prey to a sexual sadist guardian. The journalist uncovers a family of murdering sadists. We get IN DEPTH descriptions of their acts and tools. GREAT. I'm skimming, skimming, skimming...the "sneak peak" at book two appears to reveal that the poor Girl was the victim of ANOTHER sexual sadist and abuser when she was 13. What is going on??!!
Sorry, Board of Tourism, but this has knocked Sweden off my European tour list.
Also, the story is rife with casual, casual sex. Random people meet, say "hey, how about sex?" and most often the answer is "great." I realize I've been married a LLLOONNGGG time, but really, it was just too much, too easy, and too frequent. Maybe the casual Swedes are motivated by extreme gratitude for sex offered without whips, burns, and restraints.
Twice the author used a character to note with discomfort that a young person had "got religion", as if it were one of those trying adolescent choices, like drugs or anorexia.
The plot has two parts. Part one was BORING. I started skimming with the lame, long, tedious description of Blomkvist's article about a Swedish financier. I like a great corrupt financier story as well as the next guy, but not dictated like a school report. Get me into the story! Make it speak!
Due to his article, Blomkvist is found guilty of libel against the financier. Plot 1's purpose is to serve as a vehicle to make a major investigative journalist available for private hire. Eventually Blomkvist has the opportunity to re-address this slur on his journalistic reputation and plot #1 re-emerges in new form, but the story on pages 21 - 30 is irrelevant to the conclusion of plot #1 and I give you permission to skip them.
Blomkvist begins work on a mystery with the Dragon Tattoo girl. At one point, he finds a picture showing someone taking a picture, and he needs to find that photographer in order to find her pictures because it shows the opposite viewpoint. MASSIVE skimming as he drives to a Swedish town and finds a person who says "No, I do not know them." Drives to another town: same response. Drives to another town "Maybe so-and-so knows them". Finds So-and-So - "YES!". Gives directions to photographer's house. Suspense finally builds....but NO!
The person is NOT HOME, and we get to read about the journalist driving to a hotel, sleeping, having coffee and returning.
This is WILDLY suspenseful???
With optimism, I picture the screen writers (the author, Stieg Larsson, has died)(I'm sorry Stieg) tearing page after page from the book. OR, the movie could be terrible like Angels and Demons, where we see Tom Hanks running from location to location to location to location until we want to scream and throw our drink at the screen (or is that just me?).
I pictured Tom Hanks as Blomkvist the reporter, simply because of the parallel between his running, running, running and the driving, driving, driving scenes.
The book picks up at the end. We get a better picture of the Tattoo Girl. Plot #2 ends at the 2/3 point with a not-so-surprising result. There's a torture scene that ought to make great cinema. Yay-rah Hollywood. Plot #1a is revisited and the Girl shines. Again, I didn't connect to the writing style, but I could see this working well for the screen writers.
SO, my question to you is - do I read/skim books #2 and #3, or give it up? Are the next two worth the time?
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