Jenn's Review: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Summary: Disgraced journalist Mikael Blomqvist is hired by Henrik Vanger to investigate the disappearance of Vanger’s great-niece Harriet. Henrik suspects that someone in his family, the powerful Vanger clan, murdered Harriet over forty years ago.

 Starting his investigation, Mikael realizes that Harriet’s disappearance is not a single event, but rather linked to series of gruesome murders in the past. He now crosses paths with Lisbeth Salander, a young computer hacker, an asocial punk and most importantly, a young woman driven by her vindictiveness.

Together they form an unlikely couple as they dive deeper into the violent past of the secretive Vanger family.

Review: Many of reviewers will tell you, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a slow start. To be honest, it's downright sluggish. The translation is cumbersome in the beginning, full of names, places, and plot exposition for three seemingly unrelated stories -- in the beginning. Then, just when it seems impossible to continue, the three stories begin to weave together into an intricate and engrossing tale.

Blomkvist is a bit of a paradox to me. He has high journalism ethics, which he touts to anyone and everyone, but low morals. He's not an unlikeable character, but he's certainly flawed. Lisbeth, on the other hand is fascinating, though we only get a peek into her life because this is, after all, Blomkvist's story.

There is a decent amount of violence and abuse, something I often have trouble reading about, but Larsson approaches it in a clinical, detached manner that doesn't minimize it, but makes it bearable to read.  I'll have to see how it translates to screen (I may have to cover my eyes for some of it).

All three story lines had intriguing resolutions although, one was slightly more spectacular than the others.  However, Larsson doesn't try to resolve all the story lines at once, letting them unfold as they might naturally. As a matter of fact, I had to remind myself on several occasions that this is a work of fiction not a factual account of real happenings. Although I was pretty sure I solved the mystery of Harriet early on, Larsson made me doubt myself, and in the end I was only partially right.

The ending was a bit open as far as the personal stories go, but it segues nicely into The Girl Who Played with Fire, which is Lisabeth's story.  I can't wait to know more about her. (As you can imagine, that just floated it's way to the top of my To Be Read pile.)  If you've tried this and put it down, I urge you to give it another chance.  I thought it was superb.

Final Take:  4.5/5

Julie's Review of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Lisa's Review of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Part of Jenn's 2011 TBR Challenge