I have been dodging reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson for over a year. I've picked it up and put it down so many times at Costco. I borrowed the book on cd to listen in the car and just finished it. The book does not start well. In fact, it wasn't interesting until you meet the character Lisbeth Salander. She really moves the story along as she's a fascinating character. We find out some of her secrets in the first book, she might have Asperger's disease, she has a photographic memory, is a genius computer hacker and has had a significant life altering event occur when she was around 12 or 13. She is horrible at developing relationships and has virtually no friends. She meets Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist who has been tasked to solve a 40 year old mysterious disappearance of a wealthy industrious' niece. Together they solve the mystery and develop a relationship in the process.
This is not a book for everyone as there are some very mature themes. Larsson states horrific Swedish statistics regarding women and abuse, which is one underlying theme. What captured my attention was the interaction between the two main characters and how Salander's character and her secrets were revealed. There were times when I shut off the cd, because I guessed what was going to happen and I became mad at how a character was treated. When I calmed down enough to listen again, I found out I was right in the direction the storyline took, but there was one or two twists I didn't see coming that made the book enjoyable. Bottom line, if you can handle intense subject matters and are willing to get past the first section until you meet Salander, you might enjoy the book as I did.
I started listening to the second book, which continues the story of Salander and Blomkvist and it's very intriguing, but with stronger themes.
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