So I borrowed this book from a friend on the recommendation of her fiance. My first chapter books were of the Clue and Clue Jr. persuasion so it is no secret that I am a great fan of "the old Miss Marple" closed-room murder mystery (though I have yet to read an Agatha Christie Book). While I am a great fan of murder mysteries, I must admit that I had never read one made exclusively for adults (having read my share of tween/teen R.L. Stein and Diane Hoh who dunnits) so I entered this novel with great enthusiasm.
From the beginning we were off to a rough start, the names were all Swedish and they used words like kronors for dollars (which I was too lazy to look up so I had no idea if the sum they were ever talking about was significant or not) and "Kalle" Blomkovist (a nickname the main character - no, not that girl with the tattoo of a dragon - a man named Mikael Blomkovist, who sounded mighty hot minus his disgusting choice of lifestyle, absolutely dispised). Now why would anyone hate being colled Kalle? I have no idea what it means but it sounds fun.
Anywho back to the actual story. So it started off pretty interesting, in that we're introduced to Henry Vanger, a billionaire old guy receives another pressed flower on his birthday from his missing-for-40-years-so-she's-presumed-dead neice, who had been giving this gift to him since she was 9 years old (ooOoo creepy). Unfortunately, after this intersting start, the novel immediately slows down and brings forth this character name Mikael Blomkovist, a guy who was charged with libel and didn't have any retort therefore making him seem like he was sticking to his word, okay great, whatever, boring. We're briefly introduced to the girl with the drag tat when she does a background check for Vanger on Blomkovist whom he hires to solve the mystery of the girl which has been the old's man passion forEVER (by the way, he's been accusing his entire family of the murder for the past 40 years so everyone on the island hates each other, the victim and the old man). Great. So Blom agrees because the old man promises him some dirty deets about the guy who Blom slandered on paper.
Then when we finally get introduced to the dragon girl, Lisbeth Salander, we find out that she's got a mom in a nursing home, has been living in the system, went through a horrible period in her life but somehow manages to the best detective there ever could be with the uncanny ability to uncover anything anywhere about anyone at any point in time. As unlikely as it is for a girl with no education, no background in such a field, and a social disorder to be capable of this we also find out she's the most incredible hacker in the world and that she has a photographic memory. I'll admit life beats this girl up but there is no doubt that she doesn't even try to prevent some of the atrocities that happen to her, she waits and then MAKES THEM PAY. I hate this character from the get-go because she's to simple. She can accomplish all of these incredibly impossible things because people happen to hang all of their dirty laundry on their weakly encrypted computers, oh and she boxes so while she's not strong enough to protect herself from the Baddie in her personal life, she is strong enough to protect a man who was stripped an gagged from a Serial Killer (as if.. according to movies, Serial Killers are far more resiliant than this).
The problem, for me, with all of these characters is that there is no character development or growth. This is something I rely on. My attachment to characters is what has the power to make a book timeless to me. Though the actual mystery and details of how it unfolds has great layers, which I do commend the late author for, I feel like the actual characters learned nothing in the end and have no depth or changes from their experiences. As well, when the problems start getting resolved, they do at such a rapid pace there is not time to appreciate what has unfolded. Oh we found the killer an hour after his discovery, he's dead. Oh look this is what happened to Harriet and all of the bad people in her life end up dead. Oh and remembre those boring problems that Blom had in the beginning? The old man swindled him but don't worry Dragon girl is a super genius and the big corporate baddie didn't password protect the life story he wrote on his computer so all of the problems that resulted in a court sentence ended up creating a best-selling novel for Blom and they all lived together, happily ever after.The end.
I honestly wouldn't have finished the novel if Wikipedia had a better plot summary.
I realize I don't actually review the books as much as I rant about specific parts of the storyline.. so I guess that's what this blog will be.
On a side note, I'm starting Franny and Zooey by my homeboy J.D. Salinger (Catcher in the Rye is my book, it's in my top 3 of all time which also includes the Secret Garden and Anne of Green Gables).
