A while ago, we talked about bestsellers, and I mentioned that I seldom read them. That’s because I’m usually disappointed by these books that catch the world by storm, and that’s depressing. There was one happy exception this year, so I thought we’d talk about it today.
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO is more than a bestseller – it’s an international sensation, which means that I had absolutely no plans to read it. It’s been selling and selling and selling for several years now, in a number of languages, and is interesting in terms of the magnitude of its success. Still, I wouldn’t have picked it up if Mr. Math hadn’t watched the Swedish movie when I was busy elsewhere. He was quite enthused about it and subsequently bought the book. He’s not as avid a reader as I am, so I was amazed when he gobbled up that fat book in a couple of long sittings. Then he went out and bought the other two books in the trilogy. Hmm.
I agreed to watch the Swedish movie with him and it was really good. Even with our needing to read the subtitles, it was a riveting movie. Beautifully photographed and atmospheric, as well, which always works for me.
So, I read the book. The author almost lost me in the first chapter – there’s a lot of flashback and info dumping there – but based on Mr. Math’s endorsement, I kept reading. And I’m glad I did. It’s a really good book and an entertaining read. I’m not much for reading linked series (even though I write them, which is funny if you think about it) so haven’t tried the other books in the series.
We also watched the English movie, but didn’t like it nearly so well as the Swedish one. The story was cut and changed from the book, (changes like that always annoy me) and I felt that the characterizations weren’t as strongly presented as in the Swedish one. It was shorter, which would be part of the reason for it feeling tighter and thinner. (It would be fun to pick and choose between the two versions – maybe have one starring Daniel Craig from the English movie and Noomi Rapace from the Swedish one.)
Have you read this book or this series? What did you think of it? Did you watch either or both of the movies? What did you think of them?
Deborah Cooke & Her Books 
Glad you kept with it Deb, it was a lot to swallow all at once though wasn’t it. For me the problem was the similarities in all the names, all the “sens” and “sons” with the same first part. I did have to make a list of characters which did help.
I also like the Swedish writing team of Roslund & Hellstrom their novels are 3 Seconds and the latest one which was really good was Cell 8
deb
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I’ll have to look for them, Deb. I read a mystery by a Swedish author a few years back – Mari Jungstedt. The book was called UNSEEN. It was good, very atmospheric – so good that I lent it to someone and now it’s gone!
d
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