The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
What motivated me to read this novel was that I had recently seen the American dub of the film, which showed that the story was complex, covering varying topics from female abuse to crime mystery. With prior knowledge of the story, I figured reading the novel would make it easier to understand the greater in depth the book is compared to the film.
The first fifth of the novel or so lays the setting, characters, and all other necessary info so that the main plot can make sense to readers. With two main protagonists, and each one having different plot lines for the first half of the story, it can be confusing at times. One of the two, Mikael Blomkvist, becomes entangled in a libel conviction with corruption dating back to the fall of Communism, where his target successfully evades being exposed and instead frames Blomkvist. The other, Lisbeth Salander, is in her early twenties and is under government care for being 'socially incompetent', though in actuality she is far from the label forced upon her. More focus is on Mikael through the beginning, but Lisbeth's story picks up interest over time, though I have not reached the 'unique' part of Lisbeth's story just yet in my readings.
One of the interesting aspects of Mikael's plot is the business corruption he is caught in. His occupation being a journalist and a shareholder of the Swedish political magazine Millennium, his work often involves exposing businesses and political figures in an effort to keep the magazine alive. In his most recent publishment however, the person he was trying to expose for business corruption, Hans-Erik Wennerström, uses his money he has gained from malpractice over the years to keep at large and unchecked. This kind of corruption and scandal has taken place numerous times throughout history, which makes me wonder just how much exposure is needed to take down a hypothetical corrupt business with billions of dollars at its disposal. Also, what is not too surprising is that businesses manage to gain this much strength due to lack of government surveillance, which is exactly what happens in the novel. Wennerström gets a large grant from the Agency for Industrial Assistance, a government program in Sweden, back in 1992, when democracy was still spreading over what was once Communist controlled areas of Europe. With both the government and businesses eager to expand their control and assets, little attention was paid towards Wennerström's actions; all the government required was a report of his new business's earnings and spendings. This was easy for Wennerström to fabricate, allowing him to make off with much of the money that was granted towards this new business, though in actuality very little was put towards it. This scenario paints an all too realistic idea of one of many corrupt business practices.
On my next post I'll have more pertaining to Mikael and Lisbeth.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete-Luke
ReplyDeleteThe historical context of the novel sounds very interesting, as does the concept of Mikael's role as a sort of "corrupt protagonist". How does the author mix Mikael and Lisbeths' perspectives?
This was a nice, informative review, but you might want to add more opinion to plain summarization, as well as the name of the author.
-Collin G
Mikael is not corrupted, though you could say Lisbeth has a dark side to her persona. I am going to add more of a summary in the next one, as I hadn't read that far when I posted this.
Delete-Luke M.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a book worh reading! I must ask, was the movie a good adaptation of the book, or do you feel like there was added action for dramatic effect?
ReplyDelete- Kristen E
The movie is not so much actiony actually, only at the very end does the action begin, so I'll have to get back to you if there's added action. For as much as I've read, the movie covers all the important major plot events, while cutting out the not some much needed minor aspects that have little to do with the overall plot.
Delete-Luke M.
Kristen makes a good point, but it would also be interesting to elaborate on more of the key differences that separate the book from the movie. For example, does the movie go as in depth on certain points as the book does? Does it emphasize other points? We have to remember that a movie based on a book is, in a way, an interpretation of the book as the director views it.
ReplyDeleteThe issue is, I haven't actually observed any glaringly obvious differences. Aside from minor insignificant parts that were cut out of the movie that were in the novel, nothing important has been subtracted yet from what I have read.
Delete-Luke M.
^^^^^^^
ReplyDelete-Yahya H.
This book sounds like a good book. The plot seems to be quite interesting. I'd like to know why the book is called, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" though?!.
ReplyDelete-Chante E.
The other main protagonist, Lisbeth Salander, has a tattoo of a dragon that covers her shoulder and upper back. The original name of the novel in Sweden (where the novel first originated) is "Men Who Hate Women", which makes more logical sense for why it is named that if you have read the novel or seen the movie.
Delete-Luke M.
You said, the "other main protagonist". Does this other character have more significance to the plotline than the other? I have noted that a lot of this books begin with "Girl With..." and am uncertain why this is so. Care to elaborate?
Delete-Kristen
The other main protagonist actually follows an entirely different plotline for the first half of the novel or so. While she does have a little interaction with the first main protagonist, Mikael Blomkvist, he never actually physically interacts with her until later once their plotlines intertwine.
DeleteThe series of novels all start with "The Girl With/Who/etc..." probably because the English versions of the novels decided to tone down the sexism in the titles, as the original Sweden name for the novel is "Men Who Hate Women".
-Luke M.
A complex plot, long introduction, prior knowledge due to movie dub-overs? Sounds like you'll be taking a while on this work! This mystery novel appears to be quite interesting and I cannot wait for your next post to come!
ReplyDeleteAlso, it appears that this work will show us how corrupt the human being can be, can you confirm this as soon as possible?
-David L., Hot Wings
Correct David, the novel will indeed show the reader various forms of human corruption, ranging from big business corruption of money, to the corrupt abuse of women, to the cynical mind of a killer.
Delete-Luke M.
With having two protagonists with completely different plot lines, is the book then changing back and forth causing the reader to have to pay very close attention so they don't lose track? The book sounds interesting, but also seems like you would have to be sitting in a very quiet place so you can focus mainly on what is happening in the book so you don't get confused.
ReplyDelete-Secada C.