do you need a book that will grab you and keep you interested until you finish the whole lot? not too difficult and not too serious, with just the right amount of everything to make it the huge international best-seller that it is and large enough for that vacation coming up?
i found it! it’s stieg larsson’s millenium series.
1 – men who hate women aka the girl with the dragon tattoo
2 – the girl who played with fire
3 – the air castle that was blown up aka the girl who kicked the hornets’ nest
you must have heard already about larsson’s skill of building and maintaining the suspense, about how he’s guiding the reader’s reactions with precision and finesse toward the exact climax he wishes. another member of that tiny club of writers who know exactly how to delve in the public subconscious and come up with the accurate roller-coaster ride. unfortunately, he died before his books were even published…
i will give you no spoilers but i’ll tell you that the gripping story of lisbeth salander was inspired by the fact that the author, aged 15, witnessed the gang-rape of a girl named lisbeth. as he could never get past the fact that he failed helping her, he wrote this novel, whose real main character is women’s place in modern society, as a sort of apology.
you’ll love it, especially if you hate men who hate women.
PS. the trilogy has a swedish film version. also, a david fincher re-make of the first book will be released later this year, with a stellar cast and with mr. reznor + mr. ross on their second collaboration with the director after their oscar-worthy the social network score. i haven’t seen any of these films, but the masterfully edited fincher trailer with a sountrack of the reznor-produced, karen o-sung rendition of led zeppelin’s classic, immigrant song, really makes me want to!
so: buy it, borrow it, steal it!