When I first heard about the millennium trilogy, the series that begins with The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, I wasn’t the least bit interested in reading them. First of all, I don’t base my reading choices solely on what makes the New York Times best seller’s list, ahemTwilightahem. Secondly, crime novels never really interested me, not that this reason was a real deterrent, which brings me to my third reason. Every time I saw or read anything to do with the books, I couldn’t understand what the plot was supposed to be about, not that I ever paid much attention to begin with.
Then one day The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo was on Netflix streaming, so I figured why not. I ended up really liking the movie. It was dark and gritty, the plot was interesting, and the acting solid. So naturally, I wanted to find out what happened next, so I got the next book in the series, and am currently making my way through the third.
The one thing I do find disappointing in the series it that the author, Steig Larsson, died of a heart attack shortly before the book were published. A major theme and occasional plot device revolves around extreme Misogyny. In the books, women are often viewed with disgust and commonly referred to as slut or whore. Given the author’s background as a journalist and anti-racism/anti-right wing extremism activist, I have to wonder how close some events are to reality. Certainly, if the author were still alive it would be interesting to hear his comments on the matter.
If you haven’t seen the movie yet and like crime dramas, then I recommend you watch it. I should mention though, the movie is subtitled as it’s filmed and casted in Sweden, where the books take place. If subtitles aren’t your thing, you can always wait for the Americanized version to come out. Why there is an American version, I have no clue; only guesses.
Anyway, the moral of the story is; always keep an open mind. Unless it’s about an Apple product.