August 17 2009
1
17
/08
/August
/2009
13:29
I just finished the Millenium trilogy, and I must say it had been a while I hadn't been that obsessed with a story. The first book has already been turned into a movie, which is really, really good. The cast is perfect, the sounds, images and atmosphere extremely convincing and close to the book.
The first opus of Millenium, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, is set in Stockholm, Sweden, and is about a journalist, Mikael Blomkwist, who is trying to unveil a huge conspiracy in the financial world, within a company called Wennerström. He works for the journal Millenium. He fails in his attempt to destroy the Wennerström Board of Directors, so he is sent to prison for false accusations. Before doing his time, he is hired by an old man in the countryside who lost his granddaughter 40 years before and would like to know who killed her, because no one has ever found out the answer. Mikael accepts the mission without much conviction and settles in the country to solve the Harriet Vanger mystery. In his task he receives help from oh-so-bizarre Lisbeth Salander, an excellent hacker who also happens to have spent 6 years in a psychiatric hospital as a child before being released, under guardianship, at 18.
Millenium is different from all the other books I've read, first because of the violence it contains (rape is described in detail), and the overall adult content. I'm more used to young adults or women books, light and full of fantasy, although I also love Kathy Reich's novels. I think the big difference between what I usually read and Millenium is that they were written by a man instead of a woman which changes a lot of things, in the end. Stieg Larsson, whom unfortunately died unexpectedly and quite suddenly before knowing of his own success, is really perceptive of his characters and presents detailed, accurate and credible description of what's on their minds. I'm all for Lisbeth Salander's character, because she's a geek and a rebel, and also because the way she thinks and acts is very interesting and not much different from who I am, although in a much deeper and more inflexible way.
I loved the Millenium books because they are real page turners, and I also loved the movie because it is authentic (Swedish director, Swedish actors, Swedish everything) and very respectful of the book.
The first two opuses are available in English, but the third one has not been translated yet. So unless you're fluent in Swedish, you'll have to wait for the release on 01 October. But if you speak French, it's available, although I personally found the translation very poor, especially about some phrases which are not at all used in French but seem to be the literal translation of English phrases. E.g., when we want to say "a couple of hours", we don't use "une paire d'heures" but rather "quelques heures". The third book is full of such occurrences, which I find very annoying. I read the first two in English so I don't know if it's also the case for those.
Swedish, English, French, I don't care, JUST READ THEM!!
The first opus of Millenium, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, is set in Stockholm, Sweden, and is about a journalist, Mikael Blomkwist, who is trying to unveil a huge conspiracy in the financial world, within a company called Wennerström. He works for the journal Millenium. He fails in his attempt to destroy the Wennerström Board of Directors, so he is sent to prison for false accusations. Before doing his time, he is hired by an old man in the countryside who lost his granddaughter 40 years before and would like to know who killed her, because no one has ever found out the answer. Mikael accepts the mission without much conviction and settles in the country to solve the Harriet Vanger mystery. In his task he receives help from oh-so-bizarre Lisbeth Salander, an excellent hacker who also happens to have spent 6 years in a psychiatric hospital as a child before being released, under guardianship, at 18.
Millenium is different from all the other books I've read, first because of the violence it contains (rape is described in detail), and the overall adult content. I'm more used to young adults or women books, light and full of fantasy, although I also love Kathy Reich's novels. I think the big difference between what I usually read and Millenium is that they were written by a man instead of a woman which changes a lot of things, in the end. Stieg Larsson, whom unfortunately died unexpectedly and quite suddenly before knowing of his own success, is really perceptive of his characters and presents detailed, accurate and credible description of what's on their minds. I'm all for Lisbeth Salander's character, because she's a geek and a rebel, and also because the way she thinks and acts is very interesting and not much different from who I am, although in a much deeper and more inflexible way.
I loved the Millenium books because they are real page turners, and I also loved the movie because it is authentic (Swedish director, Swedish actors, Swedish everything) and very respectful of the book.
The first two opuses are available in English, but the third one has not been translated yet. So unless you're fluent in Swedish, you'll have to wait for the release on 01 October. But if you speak French, it's available, although I personally found the translation very poor, especially about some phrases which are not at all used in French but seem to be the literal translation of English phrases. E.g., when we want to say "a couple of hours", we don't use "une paire d'heures" but rather "quelques heures". The third book is full of such occurrences, which I find very annoying. I read the first two in English so I don't know if it's also the case for those.
Swedish, English, French, I don't care, JUST READ THEM!!