"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Steig Larsson

I bought this book in my book buying frenzy before my trip to China. I finished it yesterday on the train. It was on a 3 for 2 offer, and as it had been an international bestseller, I thought I wouldn't be wasting my money. I just read the blurb, didn't even really know what it was about, but that it seemed interesting enough. After finishing Eclipse (Twilight series), I thought that I should probably read something.... better (for lack of a more suitable word), and so I started this. It was only when I opened the book to start reading that I knew that this was originally written in swedish, and then it had been translated into english. Personally, I don't think translations are very good because things that the author wanted to convey gets lost in translation. Nevertheless, I read on. The first parts were confusing to say the least. Characters are introduced that seem to have no link whatsoever, and you don't know whether the events that happen are important enough to keep in mind or not. I hate leaving a book unread, so stubbornly I continued. The book is written focusing on a number of main characters. The girl with the dragon tattoo is Lisbeth Salander, and the main focus isn't really on her or her tattoo, though she does play a prominent part later in the novel. The swedish title for the book is actually "Men who hate Women". If that was the english title, I would have definitely not bought this book. However, it is a more fitting title in terms of matching up with the plot. This is a crime novel which explores human relationships as well as corporate politics. Throughout the book you are yourself trying to think of conclusions to the mystery that is to be solved, yet Larsson successfully creates an ending which is both surprising but completely believeable. The multiple sub-plots build up each character and adds a lot of depth to each of their lives. Larson does this without over-complicating or confusing things. As the story unfolds, the characters and their lives start to slowly knit together to form a perfect tapestry of a crime thriller. Larsson uses this book to critique Swedish society. In this one, the society issues are mainly moral bankruptcy of big businesses and men who are abusive towards women. The responsibility of an individual is also questionned, in terms of whether a person is fully responsble for the crimes they commit, or does blame also fall on their upbringing and childhood? Not only is this novel an excellent read but it also raises some thought-provoking issues. "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" comes highly recommended.

Just before the author died in 2004, he submitted the "Millenium" trilogy to his publisher. The first of which is this one. I can't wait to read the next part :D

Apparantly, this has already been made into a film in Sweden, and they are thinking of bringing it to Hollywood. I'm going to try get hold of a subbed copy or otherwise wait patiently for Hollywood to adapt this book into something that's about as half as good.