The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
by Steig Larsson
(Chosen by JM)
Unfortunately, JM was ill the day of our April meeting and was not able to attend to discuss her book choice, but in true No.1 Melbourne Ladies' style, we were able to wing the discussion, and cover a lot of different aspects of the book.
Stieg Larsson, who lived in Sweden, was the editor in chief of the magazine Expo and a leading expert on antidemocratic right-wing extremist and Nazi organizations. He died in 2004, shortly after delivering the manuscripts for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest.
(General biographical details from the official website for the books)
What the publisher says about the book:
An international publishing sensation, Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo combines murder mystery, family saga, love story, and financial intrigue into one satisfyingly complex and entertainingly atmospheric novel.
Harriet Vanger, a scion of one of Sweden's wealthiest families disappeared over forty years ago. All these years later, her aged uncle continues to seek the truth. He hires Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently trapped by a libel conviction, to investigate. He is aided by the pierced and tattooed punk prodigy Lisbeth Salander. Together they tap into a vein of unfathomable iniquity and astonishing corruption.
What we discussed about the book:
- Was Mikael an aspirational character for Steig Larrson?
- Did the translation make sense? At what points did we feel the English words chosen possibly did not accurately reflect the author's intention?
- Who is the main character? Mikael or Lisbeth?
- If it was Lisbeth, what was Mikael's role?
- Is Mikael a bad man? Did we lack empathy for him? Why?
- Would the relationship between Erika and Mikael read differently to Swedish readers?
- Were we frustrated by them not going to the police? Why was this the path chosen?
- Were there parts of the plot that didn't seem credible, and therefore affected our engagement with the plot? (i.e. the idea of compensation the families of all the girls, Harriet being able to live as Anita, the scene with Lisbeth and the two hotels/disguises)
- Is this a feminist novel?
- Is Lisbeth an anarchist? Do we like her or not? Does she show signs of Aspergers?
And then we were sidetracked into:
- Who wants to see the movie? Does it matter if the movie is in Swedish with English subtitles?
- How responsible is a criminal for his crimes? For example, Martin's abuse as a child continues in his abuse of others. How responsible should he be for making that choice?
- Photographic evidence. Does the sheer volume of digital photography of any given moment ensure that there will be way more evidence for investigators to examine for crimes?
- Do what extent are we able to read graphically violent scenes?
In other news:
- In case you missed it previously, the online bookstore some of us use is http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/
- We agreed to take part in The Great Book Swap for Indigenous Literacy Day this year in memory of our much missed member, S.
- We chatted about Burma as a holiday destination, and the age range of the No.1 Melbourne Ladies (10 years between the oldest and youngest)
- And we discussed what to do with all those digital photos stored on computers (e.g producing Photobooks), wondered at the ability of Picasa to recognise faces in photos and mused about why it is that setting photos to a music soundtrack is guaranteed to produce tears in the viewer?
Ratings
Range: 6.5 to 9.5
Average: 8.05
Next book: The Other hand by Chris Cleave (Chosen by Elster)
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