Readers' Review: "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2010-07-21/readers-review-girl-dragon-tattoo-stieg-larsson
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" features a middle-aged investigative journalist and a youthful computer hacker struggling with personal demons. It is the first book of a Scandinavian crime fiction trilogy by Stieg Larsson. He died four years ago, before seeing his novels rise to the top of best-seller lists around the world. Diane invites listeners to join her and a panel for this month's Readers' Review.
Guests
Deirdre Donahue
book critic for "USA Today"
Anna Westerstahl Stenport
director of the Scandinavian Program at the University of Illinois and Affiliate Associate Professor of Literature at Gothenburg Univerversity, Sweden,
Edward Kastenmeier
Vice President/Executive Editor of Vintage/Anchor books where he oversees Vintage Crime/Black Lizard, including their Stieg Larsson program.
Comments
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Dear Ms. Rehm, Ms, Donahue, Ms. Westerstahl Stenport,
and Mr. Kastenmeier,
I was struck by the TV interview that Blomkvist did in which he distinguished between “the Economy and the Stock Market” (pg.627).
Is it an oversimplification, the way he described it?
-That the economy is “the sum of all the goods and services produced......the products that are made, sold and bought - that’s the Economy”
And he goes on to say that in the Stock Exchange there is no economy and no production of goods and services.
There are are only “fantasies in which people from one hour to the next decide that this or that company is worth so many billions more or less.
It doesn’t have a thing to do with the ....economy.
Is there a bit of truth to these comments by Blomkvist?
Dee Lusk
San Antonio
Dear Ms. Rehm, Ms, Donahue, Ms. Westerstahl Stenport,
and Mr. Kastenmeier,
Do we passively condone Salander’s vengeful tactics as “justified”?
As when she simply made a call to Miami (pg.632) to inform Wennerstrom’s enemies of his whereabouts in Spain, then immediately afterward Wennerstrom was assassinated.
She, of course, did it because of Wennerstrom’s part in torturing a waitress that he had impregnated.
And, the whole premise of a hacker as a source for a journalist...? (pg.432)
As Salander is for Blomkvist and Berger.
I seem to applaud the process of exposing Evil this way, even though I know that it is indeed illegal, and I wouldn’t want a hacker to do a “personal investigation” of me...
Is Stieg Larsson making us examine just where our limit of “ethical journalism” is?
Dee Lusk
San Antonio
3.
Dear Ms. Rehm, Ms, Donahue, Ms. Westerstahl Stenport,
and Mr. Kastenmeier,
Stieg Larsson makes the point about how crime reporters, in the past, had seldom written about financial crime. (Pg.628) And that “crime reporters were not expected to investigate intricate dealings on the Stock Exchange.”
This must have been a big challenge for today’s media people - being forced to actually fully understand the very complex financial shenanigans that have occurred in society in the recent decades
(ie: Enron, Abramoff, AIG, etc..).
Dee Lusk
San Antonio
I decided to join the crowds and read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo after hearing that it would be this month's Readers Review. No stranger to modern crime fiction, I was unprepared for the level of graphic violence in this book, especially that directed at women. Strong, female characters and the investigative journalism angle couldn't dissuade me from concluding that the book's popularity is due to the fact that sex sells and violent sex sells more.
Julia Belshaw
Durham NH
The Girl... disappointed me. The author seemed to be trying to bring sexual violence against women to the forefront, but only produced sensational, book selling trash. The relationships, specifically sexual, between Blomkvist and Erika and Salander were unbelievable and portrayed as an ideal, in contrast to the other obvious deviant men in the book. Guess that's how Larsson thought real men should behave. I certainly don't!
Having lived in the UK thru cold dark winters, Steig Larson had the perfect setting for a novel. I read it twice to make sure I didn't miss a detail. Parts are disturbing, but some of the characters are very close to the reality Swedish/European society. I think many Americans wish to close their eyes that family violence does not exist-it does. In fact, most murders in the US are by family members. It's a difficult read, but brilliant. I'm on part 2, The Girl Who Played with Fire and it's even better. I do hope that Hollywood doesn't attempt to make it into a movie-they will destroy the story & make it a happy ending. It's a dark story and needs to be kep in context.
Dear Diane and panel:
I've recently finished "Tattoo," and have just seen the film, in Swedish w/ subtitles. Some of the name pronunciations surprised me, so I am passing these two important ones along to you, assuming that the film is correct, in case there's any question.
Mikael Blomkvist: Mick-AIL BLOOM-kvist
Lisbeth Salander: Suh-LAN-der
I'm in the middle of the second book, and am looking forward to today's Readers' Review.
Best regards,
Karen in Vernon, Vermont
PS It's slightly off-topic, but it was interesting to see how the plot of this complex book was necessarily simplified to make the movie. Quite successful, I thought, and the casting of the main characters was splendid.
I am in the middle of the second novel and thoroughly enjoying this book. I can't wait to see what happens.
I think they should have kept the original title for the first novel. I think it fits the context of that book better.
I am interested to know what the original title was for the second book.
I read and enjoyed the book, but often I found the translation plodding and off-putting, and for that reason it took perseverance to get to a point where I was drawn into the plot. Please comment on the problems of such translations. Thank you.
Recent parodies of the Millenium Trilogy not only mock the styles of Swedish names but also satirize the "policier" details which send us careening through Stockholm along avenues and around corners to whom most readers have no orientation. In your opinion, Would Larsson had a different thought about scene-setting if he had in his wildest imagination been able to predict a global readership?
I relish his details and did the only thing one can do -- I bought a map.
I saw the movie first. It was so compelling. I bought the book right after the movie. I've read the following two books before the week was over. Since then 5 friends have borrowed the series and three more are waiting their turn. It has been a while since I found a book, let alone a series, that revives the voracious reader within me. So sad there aren't more books to come.
Seriously?!? That's what you took away?
I had great difficulty deciphering and following the street and city names. I pulled up maps on the internet too! : )
I was repulsed by the book and attracted to it all at once. I observed some serious flaws in the writing, which lessened what otherwise was a gripping story with believable and even likable characters. Primarily, the book reads like an episode of "Law and Order" watches. Did Larsson write a screenplay disguised as a novel?
The first movie really caught my attention. The second movie was like 1/4 of the book. The third book wraps almost everything up. It is so worth the read. Great fun. Haven't found the third movie online with English subtitles yet.
I loved the first book, but after reading the second I felt that it was unrelentingly violent and negative. I would not buy the third and had actually heard that the third was not finished by Larsson but by someone else.
Please make a note of the way in which the titles of the books were changed when they were translated from Swedish to English.
Mike
I am puzzled and disturbed by the criticism that some readers are leveling at Stieg Larsson's series that the books glorify sexual violence against women. I actually have an extremely low tolerance of violence when reading books or watching movies, but felt the violence in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was entirely justified. A writer cannot shed light on injustices in society by keeping them in the shadows. In the weeks after I read Larsson's books, I talked extensively with my friends and family about issues of social justice, violence in society, mental health, and the role that the government should play in all of the above. I for one was motivated by these books to look more closely at my society and protect the vulnerable in it.
I admit it, I read these books voraciously. I even ordered the third book on Amazon's UK website so that I could read it months before I could get it in North Carolina. I felt the juxtaposition of Harriet Vanger and Lisbeth Salander was a remarkable, generational statement on violence against women and society's acceptance or tolerance of it. Blomkvist seems like sort of an idealized "Modern Man", appealing to women of all generations and backgrounds, even sexualities, which is at times quite over the top and completely unbelievable, yet is sketched with flaws to try to overcome this perception. However, the later books seem edited with a much lighter hand which keeps this series from being the truly great novels they should be. Do you think that the Larsson's early demise, before the great international success of the novels effected the editing of the later two novels.
In response to one comment, Lisbeth got tatooes to remember and remind her. In the first book she is instinctively impulsive but because of her experiences amazingly calculating. I heard that the author witnessed a rape by his associates when he was young and this marked him for life. I believe his partner once said that the novels were his way to settle the score, to make justice in an unjust world. Your thoughts?
These are indeed page turners, but they are laughable as literature. Do read Nora Ephron's wonderful parody in The New Yorker, "The Girl Who Fixed The Umlaut".
Want to point out that this goes beyond being a feminist book,
it is a book that brings to the forefront the epidemic of
sexual violence that affects the worldwide community,
families, children, women and men.
I haven't had so much fun reading mysteries since I discovered PD James 20 years ago. I agree with the caller early in the show who spoke of the literary nature of the three. They are dense with complex characters and interesting history and disturbing questions. Perfect for a book club.
I disagree with the panelist who felt the violence against Lisbeth was inappropriate. I of course disliked it, was horrified by it in fact, but I felt it was necessary to create the identification with Lisbeth that makes you yearn for her revenge and celebrate her victories (hopefully, am not quite done with the third one).
Does anyone else feel disappointed by Blomkvist's lack of monogamy? Is this a Swedish thing? Too modern for me, but I still love him anyway.
I'm looking for someone to go to the Michigan Theatre in Ann Arbor with me tomorrow night. They will preview "The Girl Who Played With Fire" and have a panel discussion following. Anybody?
I didn't make it in time to comment during the show, but I wonder if anyone else saw some similarities between Lisbeth S. and several of the computer hacker/experts on popular TV shows: Abby Sciuto on NCIS, and Penelope Garcia on Criminal Minds.
"Dragon Tattoo" highlights the real life effects of sexual violence, and may trigger feelings or memories for survivors. Help from RAINN is just a call or click away: 800.656.HOPE or rainn.org
The best part of the books (from an American perspective at least) is the glimpse you get into Swedish cuisine. Coffee 24/7. Every meal involves multiple sandwiches (made with fun ingredients like marmalade, avacado, caviar, herring, pickles, etc.), pasta from 7-Eleven (!), and, of course, Billy's Pan Pizza. Sushi is scoffed at, and the characters long for meals of meatballs. I found myself waiting for the mention of the next sandwich rather than searching for resolution of any mystery. (I also enjoyed the description of Blomkvist putting on a "track suit" to jog, and of Figuerola "pumping iron" for hours at the gym.)
I would not call these books page-turners. The first book was the only one of the trilogy that actually involved any mystery--the others basically involve the characters trying to prove what the reader already knows to be the truth. The style was clunky and kind of silly with all the italics and inner monologues. But I read them anyway, so I guess Stieg was onto something.
Time for some bacon pancakes with lingonberry sauce!
Let's not confuse ourselves thinking that Stieg wrote this book to sell a popular book about sex. Yes, this book graphically portrays sex, but in my opinion he is trying to bring the topic to the forefront. The Swedish title is "Men Who Hate Women". Stieg does society a favor by bringing discussions about the violence against women found in societies all over the world these days. Let's not bury our heads here.
I believe the violence in this series is necessary to give Lizbeth Salander epic stature which is directly proportional to the magnitude of the forces conspiring against her. If she had not been treated abysmally by very powerful men, her victory would be minimal.
After listening to the discussion of the book on NPR, I stumbled upon the movie and was intrigued. "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" was such a disappointment. The sexual violence was so degrading and the retaliation screens in the movie by Lisbeth, seemed like the audience was supposed to cheer. I found it very sad, disturbing and could not rally myself to cheer for our "Heroine" at all. I do feel that this book is literature or entertainment.
Dear Ms. Rehm et al,
I'm curious if anyone else felt the same way, but I have 2 comments:
Since you stated in the beginning of the show, not to give away the ending to appease all the potential readers, I feel like we suffered in the sense that your review was very shallow. There was no discussion of plot or characters. No, 'what did you think of so and so' and 'why did you think he did that' etc. It was very disappointing.
And my 2nd comment, the guest from US Today, (she has been on before) is very inconsistant and difficult to listen to. I'm sorry I don't think she adds value to the program.
Sorry to be so negative, but in essense, it was a waste of time. I do look forward to ' A Room with a View' where perhaps we can talk about the plot and character(s), similar to what we did on 'Out Stealing Horses'. On that show you even read the ending!! -Regards, a faithful listener.