Spoiler Alert
I just finished Män som hatar kvinno (Men Who Hate Women), or as we know it, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. It’s a thriller with the violence against women as its central theme. I think its Swedish title, aka, Men Who Hate Women is more appropriate than the English one.
The main story, or rather the story that occupies the majority of pages in the book is about a murder/disappearance investigation of a 16 year old girl, Harriet Vanger, who disappeared without a trace in 1966 under mysterious circumstances. Her great uncle, Hernik Vagner, a leading industrialist of his time, is certain that she was murdered by one of the family member. He hires a journalist, actually a financial journalist (don’t ask the logic behind that one), Mikael Blomkvist to investigate the case after 37 years. Mikael unravels a well hidden family secret involving serial killers during his investigation and is finally able to figure out what happened to Harriet on that fateful day.
Yet another central character of the novel is Lisbeth Salander, who is a genius private investigator. The book alternate between Mikael’s and Lisbeth’s perspective of the events around them.
The book is certainly a page turner and is worth reading. However, I found the book to be a bit disturbing. The details of the violence against some of central female characters were particularly revolting, which I guess, was the writer’s intention. It was a bit unnerving to read through some parts of the book and I had to put it down for a while before I could read again.
I think the reason it affected me so is that I can’t put it pigeonhole it as “work of fiction”, or something that never happens in real life and move on. I know for certain that each and every incident described in the book can be and has been happening in the real world. That’s what, I think, is the scariest part of the book.
I think I need to take a break before I start the second book in the series, The Girl Who Played with Fire. I am scared enough for next few weeks..
I just finished Män som hatar kvinno (Men Who Hate Women), or as we know it, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. It’s a thriller with the violence against women as its central theme. I think its Swedish title, aka, Men Who Hate Women is more appropriate than the English one.
The main story, or rather the story that occupies the majority of pages in the book is about a murder/disappearance investigation of a 16 year old girl, Harriet Vanger, who disappeared without a trace in 1966 under mysterious circumstances. Her great uncle, Hernik Vagner, a leading industrialist of his time, is certain that she was murdered by one of the family member. He hires a journalist, actually a financial journalist (don’t ask the logic behind that one), Mikael Blomkvist to investigate the case after 37 years. Mikael unravels a well hidden family secret involving serial killers during his investigation and is finally able to figure out what happened to Harriet on that fateful day.
Yet another central character of the novel is Lisbeth Salander, who is a genius private investigator. The book alternate between Mikael’s and Lisbeth’s perspective of the events around them.
The book is certainly a page turner and is worth reading. However, I found the book to be a bit disturbing. The details of the violence against some of central female characters were particularly revolting, which I guess, was the writer’s intention. It was a bit unnerving to read through some parts of the book and I had to put it down for a while before I could read again.
I think the reason it affected me so is that I can’t put it pigeonhole it as “work of fiction”, or something that never happens in real life and move on. I know for certain that each and every incident described in the book can be and has been happening in the real world. That’s what, I think, is the scariest part of the book.
I think I need to take a break before I start the second book in the series, The Girl Who Played with Fire. I am scared enough for next few weeks..
Oh I didn't know that was the Swedish name! It really is more appropriate. I liked the book and yeah, despite how vivid the depictions of assault were, I knew that these things actually happen. And that's scary. I liked the first book better than the other two. The other two don't seem to have such a meaningful theme as this one imo. Have reviewed all three on Bond with Books....
ReplyDeleteI loved the three books. I refused to stop reading till I had read all three!
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