Stieg Larsson
(click here for author website)
Kindle Edition
I don't often read mainstream fiction. The style of Larsson's doesn't exactly make me want to read more, but the scope and ambition of his plotting does.
I could speculate about how the novel (and others in the series--though I haven't read them) would likely be better had Larsson lived to oversee a greater editing process. But who knows.
What I enjoyed most about this book is that it did not read like other mysteries I've read in which the atmosphere is a little too thick with suspicious things and the reader can too easily imagine the orchestral hits accompanying the shocking revelations.
The attempted mix of local color, and critical thoughts about economic and gender issues in Sweden makes for a believable and interesting world. Unfortunately, the things that happen in this world are not as satisfying as the fabric itself. Too often the protagonist, Blomqvist, has breakthroughs that come in the nick of time from his unconscious, i.e. the numerous times when he glances at a picture and knows--intuitively--that there's something wrong with it.
The character of Lisbeth Salander has major staying power for a long running franchise, but Sundquist has very little personality other than the suspiciously self-indulgent characterizations he receives from women, via the narrator, through indirect discourse.
For example, we hear often that he is kind and patient and disarming, but we rarely see it except for one instance (per girlfriend) of Blomqvist taking time out to make sure the ambivalent woman in question knows that friendship is really important to him.
In sum, I think Larsson is admirable for his desire to tell a story involving the rich and fraught social fabric of his time and place through the eyes of characters that (he hoped would) push the envelope. Unfortunately, I think the legacy of the novel will be the same as most stories of its kind--focusing people on the entertainment value of the serious issues it pretends to tackle.
That and Hollywood, I assume, is going to make it into another good sex/bad sex crime thriller.
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