Borzoi ebook (Random House), 547 pages, 2005, translated by Reg Keeland in 2008
Yeah, I finally read this, and while I think I liked it overall I'm also kind of ambivalent about it. The nice thing about this book is that it has enough different storylines going on that at least some of it will probably interest every reader. I LOVED the media face-off between journalist Mikael Blomkvist and financier Wennerstrom, and I also enjoyed the mystery of the Vanger family and the descriptions of Blomkvist's life and research in Hedestad. On the other hand, I found Lisbeth Salander, the titular "girl with the dragon tattoo," annoying at best. She was fantastic in the few scenes that showed her in her professional capacity as a private investigator, but the rest of the time it was just this "oh, she's so damaged and promiscuous" act and that got old really fast. A lot has been made of the author's supposed crusade against violence against women, but I really didn't like all the descriptions of rapes and murders--they were completely gratuitous and didn't actually say anything about the issue. And the vigilante justice scene with Salander bugged me--there was something similar in The Time Traveler's Wife (although that was even worse because it was Clare's boyfriend going to kick the rapist's ass--really?), and it's just such a pointless male fantasy. So yeah, I would have been a lot happier if the book centered around Blomkvist, but I'll probably still read the next book in the series. Eventually. Maybe.
Up next: The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery
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