The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Stieg Larsson)

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo isn’t the type of book I’d normally choose for myself. I’m generally indifferent toward crime novels, and the only ones I’ve read - including this one - have been gifts. But when a colleague left this book on my desk, I didn’t even know its genre. I went into it blindly, but I finished it wide-eyed.

Honestly, it started kind of slowly for me. It’s top-heavy with finance talk, which historically has bored and befuddled me, so the intrigue was a little muddy in my mind. But around the halfway point, the plot comes together and the discussion moves toward family friction, religion, sex, and secrets. I was all there.

The gist of it is this: An old Swedish business tycoon, Henrick Vanger, hires Mikael Blomkvist, a middle-aged financial journalist, to sleuth out the murderer of his niece, Harriet, who had disappeared thirty-six years earlier, when she was a teenager. Mikael initially works by himself but later teams up with Lisbeth Salander, a scrawny young ward of the state with multiple tattoos and piercings and dyed-black hair. As the investigation grows more complex, so does their personal relationship.

Although Mikael is the apparent team lead, Lisbeth has an unusually brilliant mind and one very special skill. I’ll bet that Lisbeth could have easily carried the investigation with Mikael, or practically anyone, as her assistant. Perhaps Lisbeth will be the clear leader in the sequels (The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, both of which my friend subsequently left on my desk - Yay! No spoilers, please!) 

Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander

Larsson submitted his manuscripts for this series shortly before his death in 2004. Written in Swedish under the original title, “Män som hatar kvinnor,” which translates to “Men who hate women,” the story features horrific misogynistic acts. Some scenes are unsettlingly violent, but they effectively establish the evil dynamic underlying the entire plot. Larsson also includes a substantial subplot with a secondary mystery for Mikael and Lisbeth to solve - and to profit from.

I, of course, read the English translation, and as usual, I wish I could report on the author’s true stylistic tone. I can say that Reg Keeland’s translation is clear and effectively dramatic, if not poetic or linguistically inspired. Contrary to the descriptions on the back cover, I did not find the The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo “mesmerizing” or a “blazing literary sensation,” but it was an engaging, intelligently plotted story that delves into misogynism, sexual abuse, societal prejudice, religious fanaticism, and Naziism.

Stieg Larrson

I understand that movies have been made of this story, a Swedish version and an English version. Naturally, I haven’t seen them. Some people have told me that the English movie is good. Others have said that the Swedish one is okay, but to skip the English version. Still others have recommended that I not bother with either. If you’ve seen the movie(s), what did you think? Is either of them worth my time and money, or should I let the book suffice?

Check it out on Amazon!