It has been one of my secret dream job to be a reviewer. I mean..if u work like in the The New York Times, u r paid handsomely, u get free stuff and people ar
e scared of u..hahaha..the book, movie or even food critic in The Times must have a blast doing their job. I had the privilege of reading a very good book this month.The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Normally, I would not read such heavy stuff because such books would haunt you and you just can't stop thinking about it even after you have finished it. But curiousity got the best of me and I grab this book wondering what all the hype is all about. Oooh it certainly live up to all the hype. Quite dark actually. Normal Malay readers (or even normal Malay women) would not find this entertaining..hehehe very XS adult book which actually remind me of Miss Wanie's fav J.D. Robb series.
It's about Blomkvist; a journalist who is investigating the disapperance of an heiress Harriet Vanger at the family gathering which happened some time ago. The suspects includes the members of the wealthy but weird Vanger family who each have their own hidden agenda.
The mystery and characters are riveting but the book has a very documentary feel and quite dragging at times. It's a complex whodunnit book. U have to really read it page by page otherwise u'll be missing important clues. The girl with the dragon tattoo actually referred to Lisbeth Salander; a hacker who is helping Blomkvist with the snooping. She's a brilliant gothic chick with a secret past which will be revealed in the next 2 books.
Spoilers alert! I really like the ending because Stieg Larsson have the decency not to kill the heiress. It's a nice twist rather than ending it with the cliche 'the heiress' body was found buried somewhere..' . There's a real dark and sinister secret behind her disappearance and women readers will be cringing at times reading this novel.
Conclusion: a good read but quite heavy. If ur not into this kind of stuff maybe u should read a nice feel-good chick lit instead which I did just to get the gory stuff of this book out of my mind.
Yup..I'm not good with horror movie and violence. I love mystery novels but sometimes the eerieness kind of stuck with u..right?
The movie is awesome too! Well, not for the faint-hearted or 'please-help-me-I'm-fainting' kind of damsel in distress chicks anyway.
ReplyDeleteIt's more for the 'no-BS' & 'don't-mess-with-me-or-I'll-kick-your-butt' kind of gal.
I love the actress too. Girl power!!
Oooh I love Lisbeth..she's so kick ass but not the sleeping around thing..wah..these people really have loose morals..
ReplyDeleteThe original movie and book is fantastic but as You're right sometimes it was too harsh and agressive for me because of the violence and revenge. BTW I love the storyline and details and that unique atmosphere about this story .
ReplyDelete:)
Maybe it's only me, but I didn't like these books too much...And I like horror, gory....I tried to like/love it, but it was just an okay read for me.
ReplyDeleteI really loved this book although it is very dark and some parts were quite hard to read. I am looking forward to seeing the movie hoping not to be disappointed.
ReplyDeleteIt's such a shame that the author died so young. I think he had ten Lisbeth Salander books planned and I'm sure that it would have been a really good series!
ReplyDeleteIf you haven't watched it yet, I highly recommend the Swedish version of the movie. I haven't seen the American version but the Swedish version was really good! Plus, I adore the sound of the spoken language! hehe.
Thanks for the review. I've had the series on my TBR list for ages and haven't managed to pick them up. I think you just pushed them up the list :)
ReplyDeleteMy sister liked all three books and I gave this one to my mom,,but she said there was a lot of info. about the financial system at the beginning and she gave up (bored). So, now I'm not sure I want to read it. I saw the movie and really liked it though.
ReplyDeletei really want to read this book
ReplyDelete