Stieg Larsson and The Girl Who Did Things

At this point we all know that Steig Larsson wrote about a girl and she had a tattoo and played with some dangerous materials. I am of course talking about the trilogy that has become over the top famous in quite a short time. I will admit that I started reading them after the hype had started and the first movie had come out. (Note: I did not watch the movie and only then begin to read the books.) But the movie coming out, with the news that America is already started production on our version, inreased my curisoity. I was wondering why it was so popular. So I went and bought the first book "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo." And I read it in 6 days. Now for someone with two jobs and who likes to try to get some sleep in there somewhere and also for someone who isn't the fastest reader in the world that is pretty fast. The point of the matter is that I loved it. I couldn't put it down. I actually had to force myself to stop reading in order to get sleep and go to work. It was a fantastic mystery. It's hard to even talk about because even the smallest thing could give it all away. That why the book was so good! Because it is so intertwined and mysterious that you can't even talk about how good it is without giving something away! The characters are human. So real. They have flaws and everything. I mean how cool is that?  I was so excited by it that before I was even done I went out and bought the second book.

Book 2 "The Girl Who Played With Fire" started off out slow. But I was not worried because the first book started slow as well. So I had all the faith in the world that this book would be the same. That there was no way the slow part would fool me into putting the book down because the first book had rallied so amazingly. After a few days though something struck me. The book wasn't getting any better. It wasn't getting any more exciting. It was instead turning into a very generic murder mystery. I was just not feeling it. I felt all sorts of disappointed. But I was not willing to give up. I was however skeptical about going out and spending the money on the hardcover book 3. The thing about the second book is that while it is written well and includes all the characters that we love from the first one. But instead of being all twisty and turny and layer upon layer of mystery it was just a "whodunit?" filled with misdirection. I was disappointed. Since I was getting ready to head up to Portland to visit a friend and I was going to be in airports and airplanes I needed something to read. So I went out and bought "The Girl Who Kicked a Hornet's Nest."

In the third installment it was kind of the opposite of the other two. The beginning was interesting and full of "OH MAN WHAT IS HAPPENING?" moments. But then it started getting very complicated and full of information about the Swedish government and history. It took up many, many pages. And I was just not into it. In fact there were times when I actually spaced out whole chunks of what was being said. Something that I really don't understand about the books, why are the last two books connected not only in regards to the characters but in regards to the plot as well? If you were gonna do that why not just keep all three together? And then the end just got tired. I don't know what happened at the end of the writing process but something went off. It just ended "blah." Not really the way you hope something that started off so amazing would end. I was fairly disappointed to say the least.

Now I know that I am going to be in the minority in this. But I do have a problem with Lisbeth Salander. She is "the girl" in the books. And in the first book I kind of enjoyed her quirkiness and her "who gives a shit" attitude about well everything. I didn't like that it kept up for all three books. I didn't like that because she had an affair with Blomkvist, the journalist, in the first book but made it very clear that she didn't really want anything to do with him. Then despite herself she falls in love with him. She doesn't tell him and then sees him with another woman and because he is not psychic she ends up hating him. And continues to hate him. And despite the fact that she gets proof time and time again that she can trust certain people she continues to be her annoying stoic self. Anyway the long and the short of it is that she kind of annoyed me. I really just wanted her to get over herself by the end of it.

The movies are coming out in quick succession. The first two are out and very, very popular. I'm sure that the third is not far behind. I have thus far not seen the movies. I might give them a try now that I have finished all three of the novels. And I know that the Swedish version is most likely going to be a lot better then what our very own Hollywood will produce. But at the same time I am very reluctant to watch the movies. I am scared to see what they did with the plot and the characters etc. I guess we'll see.

All in all I would have to give "The Girl Who Did Things" books a seven out of ten. Good enough to keep me reading but not good enough that I can gush.