The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Post 2)

I have finally had time to make it to page 300 in the novel and can finally make more legitimate hypotheses (the plural of hypothesis?) and comments about the writing. My first conspiracy theory is that Cecilia is the murderer (or at least had something to do with Harriet being missing). I have no really strong support for this conclusion but only that I am always suspicious when the writer tries to make a character look so innocent of any crime. What I mean is that Vanger tells Blomkvist many times that Cecilia did not do it and that he should not even bother being suspicious of her. It also seems very unprofessional to me that Blomkvist is sleeping with one of the suspects in a "murder" case. My final reasoning is that Larsson tells part of the story through Cecilia's perspective...thus if anything is meant to keep the reader from suspecting someone it is in allowing the reader to read his/her thoughts. All this being said, I could be completely off base.

I do not believe Vanger had anything to do with the murder/disappearance (why else would he hire someone to find the murderer?)...also the fact that he has spent so much time trying to find the murderer seems to discount him. I do, however, have some misgivings about the man who 1. Hired Salander (well her employer) to find out information about Blomkvist and 2. seems to use Blomkvist's precarious economic position to coerce him into helping him. While I do not think (at least not at this point) that he committed any crimes related to Harriet, I do believe that he is a suspicious character.

So far the novel is progressing quickly and i like the juxtapositions between Salander's storyline and that of Blomkvist, but I do have one problem with Larsson's writing. Larsson writes many scenes in which Salander's breasts are described or Blomkvist is resting his head on the chest of either Cecilia or Erica. While I am not opposed to these situations for moral reasons I do wish that he could find something else to describe. The scenes in bed between Cecilia and Blomkvist and Erica and Blomkvist almost seem to mirror one another and I do not know whether this is a literary device that I am not understanding or whether it is just lazy writing. This being said, I generally enjoy Larsson's writing and this problem is nothing more than a slight pet peeve.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Post 1)

After planning to read at least 100 pages every day I must confess that I have fallen behind and have only today read to page 150. My inability to concentrate on the literature, however, has nothing to do with my interest in the novel. On the contrary, I have actually found Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo to be quite thrilling and hard to put down (after I have actually sat down to read some of it).

As I am only 150 pages into a 644 page novel I do not feel that I am far enough into it to make any real critiques or observations about the text, but I can say that I am intrigued by the characterization of Lisbeth Salander. Based on her punk description I feel as though I should be annoyed by her, but in fact I am intrigued. So far she seems much more intelligent than any of the male characters and while her introverted attitude comes off as rude to me, her quick wit and tech savvy help redeem her less favorable qualities.

I also find the "murder" of Harriet Vanger to be perplexing. I do not understand why there is such an assumption that she is dead. Her uncle believes that the pressed flowers he has been receiving in the mail are proof that someone is trying to drive him crazy but couldn't they also be proof that his niece is still alive or in hiding somewhere. I know that this hypothesis is more than likely false but I think it says a lot about the characterization of Henrik Vanger in that he is transfixed by the desire to find Harriet's killer without having any hope that she may still be alive.

So far I am impressed with Larsson's writing style. When I heard this book classified as a "popular thriller" i feared it would be a Dan Brown-esque book with horrible writing but a decent plot. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the plot is not only extremely interesting, but that Stieg Larsson can actually write.

As I have only barely scraped the surface of the book I feel that I must read more of the novel before I can draw any more conclusions or make any more observations, but needless to say, the book is off to a promising start

Day 1: An Introduction

As an unemployed woman with a degree in English I feel I must do something to distance myself from the monotony of housework. I have decided to try and keep daily record of my thoughts and opinions as I make my way through the many books on my reading list. I have no desire to gain any notoriety or fame from these random musings and ramblings, but only to entertain (even if the only person I am entertaining is myself). All this being said I guess there is nothing left to do but begin reading...