The Millenium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson

I haven’t posted a review this month because I have been curled up in my chair reading the “Millenium Trilogy”. It hasn’t been easy finding the time to hide from my family; and, with my favorite reading spot right in the living room, I’ve been kind of conspicuous. But I managed. The third book was a paperback secreted from London, pre-American publication. The heft of this paperback is just astonishing. I was happy to have the final book, though, as a designer, I was a little miffed that now our set does not match, (see images). To be honest, we stole the first one from my mom, so I shouldn’t complain.

Which brings up my first point – these books are graphic and violent, so be warned. I still highly recommend them. For the most part, the speed of the drama helps you past this, especially in the first book. I did laugh to myself at several of the more uncomfortable parts, just imagining my 71-year-old mother, teacup in hand, discussing this with her book club. Not too dainty.

I cannot even begin to summarize the many plot points. I will say that the first and second books could stand alone, while the third is definitely dependent on the second. Personally, I loved The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, enjoyed The Girl Who Played with Fire, but my attention started to wane by The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest. I was almost halfway through the 600 page third book when the action finally picked up and I began to lose sleep again. My husband tells me the author planned for a series of seven books, but three was plenty for me, despite a few loose ends I would have liked cleaned up. Sadly, Stieg Larsson died soon after submitting these three manuscripts, so I guess we’ll never know what he planned.

For those of you who have not heard the hype or seen the new Swedish movie, there is a lot going on in this series. There are family dynasties being toppled by greed, journalists who get so involved in their story that they become players in it, criminals inside and outside the law, and everyday people who get caught in between. Governments may fall, civil rights are violated, and the perpetrators are the people we thought could be trusted. And if that’s not enough, there is also sex; pretty much all kinds of sex you can imagine, but nothing presented in an especially titillating way.

Since the book is translated, it’s difficult to know if there are instances where a better editor was needed, or if the translation is just off. Stieg Larsson was a journalist and this shows, most often in the third book. There were whole sections explaining Swedish law, which reminded me of the large chunks of political commentary I used to skip over as a teenager reading Ayn Rand. I understand he did his research, I just wanted back to the action. As an outsider, I also got tired of the many explicit street directions given in the books. My husband teased me that if I ever go to Sweden I will know my way around, but it was a little over the top for me. I kept wondering if this was tiresome for the Swedish readers, or if they were saying, “Hey, he’s on my street, cool!”

As a short woman who for most of her life has been considered younger than she is, I LOVED the eccentric heroine of these books. Because of Lisbeth Sanders, I am considering, among other things: taking up boxing, going to the airport with just a small computer and a purse and traveling to a foreign land for an unplanned vacation, and getting a beautiful dragon tattoo. Despite any flaws with the books I have mentioned, I still loved reading them. Think back to the last time you raced through a book, picked up the next one immediately after, and then did that again (pre-Kindle). When you forced yourself to bed at 3am because you knew you had to get up at 7. We make time in our lives to read, and that time is sometimes so scarce. When we’ve filled it in such a satisfying way we understand why we make the effort.