The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (f.t.)
“Les hommes qui n’aimaient pas les femmes” by Stieg Larsson
(french translation, known in english as : “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”)
I write this review not as a “mystery books” fan, but as a reader who loves a book with a good part of mystery.
The book was a quick read, a real page-turner; the writing is quick, simple, fast paced.
Leading the story are two characters, Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander. He is going through a rough time, while she is haunted by a troubling past (which won’t be completely explained in this first book). Together, they investigate a disappearance that occurred over 40 years ago for an old wealthy man who senses his life is coming to an end.
The story starts slowly, but then it quickly gets more interesting. The characters are numerous and intriguing, and the story is written in a way that keeps you guessing all along.
One thing that should be noted, if you are interested by this book, is that the second half of the book introduces some violent scenes that might be difficult to read. I have read far worse before (which, in a way, is sad to say), but that doesn’t mean that the scenes aren’t horrible to read. Violence and rape are always difficult subjects to talk about; what should be shown? Is it better to suggest and “hide” the facts, or should the author show the horror in all its details? There are various opinions on this, which I won’t discuss here, but you should definitely consider this if you are sensitive about those. The writer does a “great” job of describing those scenes is graphic details that feel very real.
Fortunately, the book is a lot more than that. I thought the main characters were interesting enough, especially Lisbeth. The author also touches the subject of ethics, a nice touch in a book where the main characters are a journalist and a P.I.. I’m still a little unsure why there is so much hype around this book though, but that might only be because I don’t read much of the mystery kind.
Great review! I am amused that the English and French titles of this book are nothing alike. I wonder what this book was really called in Larsson’s native tongue?
I do tend to like mysteries, so I will probably check this one out one of these days.
I was amused by that too, so I did a little research.
The original swedish title is “män som hatar kvinnor”
män = men
hatar = hate
kvinnor = women
So I think it’s safe to say the french title is closer to the original one. It makes more sense to me, too; “the girl with the dragon tattoo” is Lisbeth, and although a lot of the story is around her, she is not the main story of this book (I began reading the second one, and so far it’s mostly about her), while the original title refers both to her story and to the main story.
I’ll be curious about your opinion if you read it, too! I love mysteries but I don’t read much of those.