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Post by Fincher on Jul 1, 2011 20:46:54 GMT -5
I know that there's a large amount of praise for these novels, but I recently finished the first one of the series and found it a chore to finish. No matter how hard I tried I just never really ended up caring for Micheal Blomkvist as a protagonist and the conclusion to the mystery itself was a complete letdown for me. The only parts I actually enjoyed reading were the ones with Lisbeth Salander. If the novel had focused more on her and her background, I might have liked it a bit more. A friend of mine told me that the next two books are more invested with her character, but I don't know if I'm willing to sit through them just yet.
Has anyone else read any of the novels from the trilogy? Did you like them? Hate them?
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Post by ohdayna on Jul 2, 2011 11:25:46 GMT -5
I took a class on Swedish Lit last semester and this book was part of the list that I devoured. I did manage to get through the book, but I also had a Swedish professor giving insight, tips and background information on the novel. Salander does come to the front lines in the next book as it moves in and focuses on her family and history.
Netflix also has the Swedish movie versions of the three books on the instant watch thing they have (you'll need subtitles). They are pretty good, but do change around the chronological order of the plot and it's shocking/startling to actually watch one of the scenes with Salander (it's one thing to read it, but it's a whole different animal to actually see it in action).
Interesting note: the author intended the title to be Men Who Hate Women and he was also quoted in saying he saw himself more in Salander than any other character.
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Post by djcarter on Jul 2, 2011 12:59:48 GMT -5
I really enjoyed all three in the series. I can agree Blomkvist is not the most exciting of characters, but I feel it's really Salander who's the central focus. To me, the plot is really what moves the book along, although it does require a great attention to detail to get all the little points. I don't really want to spoil any plot points so I'll limit discussions of the intricacies of it alone, but shall we say that all the books and events are tied together very nicely at the end for quite a satisfying conclusion!
Additionally: Are there differences in translations between the UK and US versions? I bought all my copies in Europe and found the translation really natural.
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Post by thestrangewinston on Jul 2, 2011 17:20:30 GMT -5
Personally I was a fan,b ut I can see why people wouldn't really like the series.
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Post by thestrangewinston on Jul 3, 2011 17:04:47 GMT -5
Not a fan. I couldn't get through the first one. They are just so foreign! I felt like an outsider whenever there were references to the Swedish culture because I know very little about it. The half that I read just seemed so very...corporate? I think is the word I am looking for. To me, that just isn't fascinating. It seemed (and I hate applying gender to books) like a man's book. Funny you say that because it is believe he was murdered for being a male feminist xD Sweden has a serious problem with sexual abuse/harassment which he used in his novels to criticize society xD Before I read it I made sure to do a tiny bit of research so it wouldn't appear so foreign to me |
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shaunanigans
Armadillo Pup
Love is merely a madness
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Post by shaunanigans on Jul 8, 2011 11:17:47 GMT -5
I barely got through the first one, but I enjoyed the other two a lot more.
I hated Blomkvist. He was a man-whore.
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badger
Armadillo Pup
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Post by badger on Jul 10, 2011 1:14:45 GMT -5
I enjoyed them, but I did find the way Larsson describes settings to be a bit odd - why do I need to know the exact dimensions of a room? The first book is probably the least interesting, jut because half of it is Blomkvist having sex all the goddamn time. It's like Maestro except without the excuse of the character being a randy teenager (not that I liked Paul anyway).
I agree that they're very Swedish, I had to do a bit of searching to find out who some of the politicians were, but I liked that part of it. It's a way of making people learn about other countries and cultures. I also have a friend from Sweden whom I asked a lot of questions, which would have helped my understanding a lot.
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Post by batmanjenkins on Jul 12, 2011 22:32:42 GMT -5
I really enjoyed them! The first one is definitely my least favorite of the three, and the end of the third is mostly disappointing because there are certain story lines left untold because of the author's unfortunate death.
I can see why people would have a hard time connecting to the books because they're set in Sweden which isn't exactly a well-known country, but that's kind of a lame argument in my opinion. Do you only read books set in your country, or real areas? You don't have to be personally acquainted with the geography of a country to be able to picture the setting. It was difficult at first, but if you google a bit about Sweden it's easy to become familiar with some of the references.
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Post by Marina on Dec 29, 2011 17:13:32 GMT -5
I'm bringing this back, because I just finished the novels awhile ago.
The first book was really hard to get through because of how graphically he describes all the abuse. But once you get past that it's actually pretty good.
I liked the second book much better than either the first or the third. Probably because I think that the romance between Blomkvist and Salader is really weird and they barely spoke to each other in it, if at all. He just don't know how to write romance.... at all. Romance does not equal good sex.
I liked the third book too, I just thought it a little weird that trained professionals were beaten by a journalist. I know it was written by a Swede but it just seemed so Hollywood. Pssh.
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