The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo BOOK REVIEW

Steig Larsson. Vintage Books, New York City. Originally published in Stockholm, Sweden in 2005. Originally translated in Great Britain by MacLehose Press. www.vintagebooks.com. PT9876.22.A6933M36. 2008

The book "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" focuses on the complex life of Henrik Vanger, a scion of one of Sweden's wealthiest families, as he battles to seek his nephew Harriet Vanger--who disappeared for over forty years ago. The book gives their readers the thrill and anticipation throught the story, from vague hints to enigmatic revelations. The author, Steig Larsson, was the editor-in-chief of the magazine Expo and an leading expert on antidemocratic right-wing extremist and Nazi organizations. He died in2004, after delivering the manuscripts for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire and the The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest.

With the time the book was written around 2002 to 2003, Steig Larsson’s famous enigmatic character, Lisbeth Salander, was actually an inspiration he got from his niece, Therese Larsson. As a matter of fact, Therese was suffering from anorexia at that time and was struggling with his drug addict boyfriend. Furthermore, Steig was surprised when she got a tattoo of a rose on her shoulder instead of the dragon she had talked about –and that is where he got the inspiration. On the other hand, Steig also emphasized some innuendos towards the people whom have been giving him death threats, as he was major whistleblower of the filth of the Neo-Nazis.(Fagge,2015) The summary of the book talks about, Harriet Vanger, an heir to a wealthy family in Sweden who disappeared mysteriously over forty years ago. Her aged uncle Henrik Vanger, continues to seek the truth and hires Mikael Blomkvist; a crusading journalist recently trapped by a libel conviction, to investigate. He was assisted by a pierced and tattooed prodigy Lisbeth Salander. Together they search the mysterious tangled corruption between amongst the Vanger family.

For the evaluation, I divided it into three categories: the physical merits of the book, the concept fluency and the style of writing by the author. First, with the physical merits, the cover of the book is colored black with yellow title text. Additionally, it also has a watermark of Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist. This feature of the book gives the vibe of being mysterious and thrilling. Furthermore, the type of paper used in the book is in a light brown motif which gives off a nostalgic feel in to it. Secondly, with the concept fluency, the writer made the storyline constant at the present time of the story. The writer elaborately emphasized the flashbacks he made and narrated the story in a way that the current setting does not overlap with the literary devices.

As a conclusion, the book gives off a new twist on the stereotypical genres of books at the time. It portrayed mystery and thrill at the same time. Additionally, it gave an opportunity for the readers to actually have their “detective skills” on the run as for they were, intrigued by the plot and probably had guessed who could have done which. The author’s style was also great because he highlighted and presented a unique lead character in his story which is Lisbeth Salander. He indirectly put a halt on the cliché features of lead characters in most stories; in fact, he made an obnoxious tattooed punk a star that fitted for the liking of most readers.

References:

Fagge, N. (2015, April 15) Revealed, the real-life Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: Stieg Larsson's kickboxing, anorexic teenage niece with drug addict boyfriend was inspiration for Lisbeth Salander. Retrieved from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3036586/The-real-life-Girl-Dragon-Tattoo-Lisbeth-Salander-Stieg-Larsson-s-kickboxing-anorexic-teenage-niece-Therese.html

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. (n.d.) Retrieved from:http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo/context.html