Stieg Larsson, I Take It Back

I WAS WRONG.

Now that we've got that over with, I can move on.
And explain to you what I was so very, very wrong about.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, that's what.

I thought it would be a sensationalistic, slightly trashy sex-soaked, middle-aged man's fantasy.
Well, it wasn't.
It was an incredibly intricate tale of corporate espionage, corruption, and a psychotic family. Even though I don't think it's quite the epic masterpiece of literature that will lead us into the Golden Age that it is occasionally described as, I did enjoy it, and look forward to reading the rest of the series.
Despite the graphic violence towards women, it wasn't nearly as gratuitous as I expected it to be. All the abusers of women were, generally, punished for their sins, and I think it's interesting that Larsson felt the need to include that. I actually don't think that criticisim of the book based on its portrayal of women is fair. To be honest, I find shows like CSI to have more gratuitous violence against women (how many Vegas strippers can that show realistically kill before they, you know, RUN OUT? I mean, strippers are not exactly an endless resource. Just saying.). The backstory of Lisbeth's character is certainly worth reading - when Larsson was a teenager, he saw a young woman (by the name of Lisbeth) being gang raped, and it haunted him for the rest of his life that he did not help her.
If anything, I think his portrayal of Lisbeth taking revenge on psychotic males to be fitting. Though it's true that at least in the first book women take it pretty bad, I think that punishment is doled out in plenty.

The character of Lisbeth Salander is the highlight of the book, for me. She's promiscuous but not judged for it, she's young but wiser than most people older than her, and she's a technological genius - but despite this, she's not a stereotype. She's not some Goth tech chick with a raging sex life who all the nerdy boys and FBI guns drool over. She's a damaged, psychologically flawed, and bitter little person with a crazy back story, and wicked need for revenge. While I'm not going to hail her as the start of a new wave of feminists heroes, I think it's just neat that she is a hero.

So, there you have it.
I apologize, Stieg Larsson.
(I still think there could a little less about the corporate corruption, but it was still good.)

Sincerely,
the Maybe Girl

Planet of the Literary Guilt Monkey Part II

Today I caved to the hype, and checked out a Stieg Larsson - my first, actually. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Multiple friends, family, acquaintances, libraries, and publications have told me that TGWtDT is a book worth reading, but I have just not been able to muster up the urge to WANT to read it. Why? Why, you ask?
(Why yes, I AM blatantly setting this up for a list! How DID you guess???)

WHY I CAN'T SEEM TO READ TGWTDT:
1) It's enormous,
2) the actual main character is a middle-aged man, not someone I easily identify with,
3) the way people say it treats women (not so good), and finally,
 4) it's been publicly lauded as fantastic and multiple people have recommended it to me.

For some reason, while I enjoy recommending books, I rarely enjoy books recommended to me. Especially books like TGWtDT, what with it being pasted all over Time, Newsweek, Macleans, Entertainment Weekly, bookstores, libraries, etc. for the last couple of years.
In short, overexposed.

When a book has been as talked about and praised and recommended as TGWtDT, I just find that it never really lives up to my expectations - much like The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins. While I acknowledge that both books are good, incredibly good, even, I can't seem appreciate them as much as a book I find on my own. This may tap into my block with Jane Austen books, and is definitely something I would like to one day vanquish as Buffy did so many of the undead.

But New Years is a long time away, so I suppose I will just have to tuck my LitGuilt 2.0 away until December - when I can obsess over it with PURPOSE.

Sincerely,
RR