The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It sounds like it's supposed to be elusive, mysterious and exotic. The object of having such a title of a book is obviously to perk interest and arouse intrigue.
Except that a girl with a dragon tattoo is hardly intriguing. Isn't a dragon one of the most common tattoos along with hearts, roses and Chinese symbols? There are certainly hundreds of girls out there with dragon tattoos. Wait, hundreds is probably UNDERestimating. Thousands at least. So what makes this girl special and what makes this book special?
Well, not very much to be perfectly honest. At least, not in the case of the book. I will admit that the character of Lisbeth Salander is interesting and, I suppose, special. She is not your typical detective. The main surprise regarding her character, however I didn't find at all surprising. Unfortunately, you would have to read the book to find out what that is. Which I wouldn't stop you from doing.
I am not saying that the book is terrible. What I am trying to say is that it is not the amazing piece of literature that people make it out to be. It is a mystery novel, and for a mystery novel I found it quite difficult to get through. The first half of the book drags quite a lot. It is a description of the lives of Lisbeth Salander, a freelancer working for a security company who tends to dig into peoples lives and is particularly good at it, and Mikael Blomkvist, a journalist who has just been found guilty of libel and is about to spend some time in jail. Salander is hired by a lawyer to run a background check on Blomkvist, as the lawyer's client is interested in hiring him for a special job.
The job is where the story starts to get interesting, and is only really mentioned (aside from the prologue) about a quarter of the way through the novel. And it still takes another quarter for the job to get interesting. Sure, there is a suspicion of murder which draws the reader's attention, but then another quarter of the book is spent detailing a past of the family involved, a past that, while it has interesting moments, is not all that interesting overall, I found.
And then, halfway through, the drama really starts with discoveries of information, heart attacks and Blomkvist finding out about and meeting Salander. From halfway through the book, I struggled to put it down. I really started enjoying the novel and finding it interesting, and it is because of the second half that I am not completely against the reading of it. I would just recommend being prepared to trudge through the dregs to get to the good part.
So overall, the book is only half good. Whether that is good enough to justify the great press would be up to you to decide. I don't think so. Tons of people do. If you've read the book, let me know what you think!
I have read it. I found it much easier to read than the two books that followed.
ReplyDeleteI would say its an okay book into the seedy background of Europe. Not my best read and found the main characters to be self-centered and selfish.
I'm more into fantasy :) like orc armies going into battle :P