January 1, 2015
The "Millenium" trilogy by Larsson is probably the best-known literary work to come out of Sweden since Pippi Longstocking (which is referenced more than once in this book). Overall I found the story to be pretty run of the mill; neither of the issues that Mikael Blomkvist dealt with were particularly compelling. What kept me interested was the setting in Sweden, and the title character, Lisbeth Salander.
I thought it was rather insightful of Blomkvist to identify Salander as a person with Asperger's (lol, "assburgers"... I don't know if that will ever stop being funny to me). Only part of her past is presented to the reader, and some things can be inferred. I imagine that the other two books will tell more about what Salander has been through, she and her family. She definitely hasn't had it easy, but she is tough and smart and she's learning to open up to others.
The mystery of Harriet Vanger was kind of interesting, but I felt that it was resolved predictably, as far as what happened to her. The crimes of her father and brother were shocking, to be sure, but there's more of an implication of horrible deeds than many descriptions of these. At least, I found it mild compared to, say, American Psycho.
In spite of this, I found the whole Vanger situation to be way over the top. This was a busy book; Salander goes on to help Blomkvist ruin a crooked businessman, Hans-Erik Wennerström, who had first tried to ruin Blomkvist when he, a journalist, wrote about his shady double-dealings. I would have honestly wanted to see more of that situation, and less of the whole Vanger thing.
This book has gotten attention internationally in recent years, and the film trilogy has already been made in Swedish. I don't think I was all that impressed with this first installment. I could do with less Blomkvist and Berger and more Salander. She's the only reason I would consider reading on in this trilogy.
No comments:
Post a Comment