Review: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Review: in which I whine like a little girl about a very naughty book

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

by Stieg Larsson

2/5 stars.

I did not like this book.

I found it interesting. And I couldn't let it go. I finished it, which I suppose is some sort of victory for the author.

But let me make this absolutely clear: the only reason I finished this book is because I am a very, very stubborn girl. Once I start a book, I have to finish it. Because, you see, I can't let it win. I know it's not particularly well-reasoned, and that really I'm only torturing myself (and the people I bitch to about the books), but it's the way I am. That's not the point, though.

The point is that I hated this book. I had a bloody, knock-down, drag-out fight with this book for six months because I just could not let it go. I couldn't let it win.

And here is the fruit of my labor.

The short, spoiler-free version:

Things you should know about GwtDT:

1.Stylistically speaking, the writing is superb. The prose is obviously well thought out and put together well.

2.As may be expected of a crime novel, certain events that many find triggering were described in stark detail.

2.The characterization is quite good, and I was left feeling that each and every character, even minor ones, were actual people I could run into in the street.

Things that frustrated me:

1.The writing is quite dense.

2.The book is stupidly long, for no reason that I can fathom. The first third of the book could, and should have been condensed into a fraction of what it was.

3.The pacing upset me. The first half nearly put me to sleep. The next quarter was halfway interesting. The next sixth was heart-pounding and riveting. The last part of the book was back to merely being halfway interesting. Why couldn't the entire book be riveting?!

4.There are quite a few cultural references that I suspect only Swedish citizens would understand. I had to look up the dollar to kronor exchange rate so that I could understand monetary references.

5.The ending is shit. At least it is, character-wise. I can't tell you why without spoilers, but I can tell you unequivocally that I hated it.

And now for the spoilery bits.

Mikael Blomkvist. I hate him. He has a relationship with his best friend, Erika, that is basically friends-with-benefits. He describes himself as not being able to stay away from her, even after she got married. Fine. Whatever. I think that's bullshit, but I suppose I can accept that. Then he gets married. ...Fine. The wife knew what she was getting into, in regards to Erika, and decided to marry him anyway. Okay. Then they had a daughter. Then Mikael continued to cheat on his wife with Erika, and his wife realized that no, she actually couldn't deal with it, and divorced him. I understand that too.

From that point on, he becomes basically uninvolved in his daughter's life. He only visits sporadically, and doesn't devote any time to getting to know his daughter and keeping up with her life. He gives no good reason for this besides slight shame, apathy, and what I think is laziness. This is when I realized that I hate Mikael Blomkvist, and it was within the first fifty pages of a six-hundred-page book. First of all, you don't bring a kid into the kind of fucked-up relationship he has with women. Second, I refuse to allow him any leeway in the effective abandonment of his only child. He was a successful journalist and half-decent human being for most of her childhood; he had the means and opportunity to do better. He should have been there. No excuses.

Lisbeth Salander. I love her. She's the only thing that made this book tolerable for me. She has cool tattoos and piercings, is sarcastic and antisocial, and a tech-literate bisexual. Also she has a motorcycle. I liked her instantly. I found her character multi-layered, complex, and immensely interesting (as opposed to Mikael, who I thought rather shallow). I liked reading about her reactions and choices.

I was extremely incensed by something the author did to her, particularly because of the context. You see, Lisbeth is brutally raped. Perhaps I could have accepted this event as a necessity of exploring and growing her character. But. Remember how I told you how Mikael just can't keep his hands off women? Well, within twenty pages of Lisbeth's rape, Mikael gains a new amour. This upset me. Throughout the novel, Mikael remains a static and frustrating character who enjoys success and overall good luck. This event, in this context within the novel, made me feel as if perhaps Mikael is only a thinly-veiled stand-in for the author, so that Larsson could live out a charmed and interesting life through his character. It made me question his attitude towards women. It made me dislike this book, and Mikael, even more.

As I said before, I found the first half of the book unforgivably boring. The plot crawls at a snail's pace and at times seems nearly dead. Nothing interesting happens. There's a great deal of financial journalism and Swedish politics, but all that did was serve to irritate me. Nothing that was important to the plot and character development could not have been written in a third of the first half. I found a fraction of the book honestly attention-grabbing and adrenaline-inducing, the way I expect a crime novel to be. The quality of prose in no way makes up for this.

The tone the author took during the novel was surprisingly apathetic, especially for a crime novel. I never felt real emotion in the language, except in the climax, and that was, again, but a fraction of the entire novel. I found that frustrating. When I read a book, I want to be engaged. I do not want to feel apathy from the author in his own work. That's boring, and frankly I consider it to be bad writing.

The ending is shit. Lisbeth realizes that she's in love with Blomkvist. I hold none of the same affection for him, and I think that she could do much better, but I understand and the author did a good job of making me believe it. Lisbeth decides to confess her feelings, because to do otherwise would drive her crazy. She buys a gift, a thoughtful one, something she's not known for, as an excuse to see him and tell him. Cool. She goes. She sees him going home with Erika, obviously to have sex. Her heart is broken. She throws away the sign. She goes back home without telling him. Her already fragile self-confidence takes yet another beating, and she thinks to herself that no one could love a freak like her. The book ends.

KIRA RAGE. Not about Lisbeth's reaction, nor her feelings. I believe those and understand. What I don't understand is the author's choice to end with some kind of namby-pamby so-called 'literary' ending. It's a shit ending. I don't give a fuck about 'literary' endings or endings fraught with 'meaning.' I could care less that the author is attempting to create a poignant moment or some shit like that. Pointless angst does not a good ending make. I am not left with a positive feeling about this book when you beat up on my favorite character yet again, Stieg Larsson. It makes me angry. Is this ending supposed to provide further depth for Lisbeth's character? Bullshit. Depth can be found in happiness. Complexity is found in joy. You sir, are just not that good of a writer. You leave Lisbeth in the dust, as Mikael literally walks into the sunset of his success, as static and anger-making as ever.

May this book forever reside in the special hell.