Goodwood

Goodwood

Thursday 1 September 2011

Isn’t it great when you carried away by a story?

I have a dilemma: I’m reading a book and I can’t put it down. I’ve actually considered cancelling attending a family do, as I would rather sit and read this book that has hooked me in… isn’t that a terrible admission to make?

I’m reading, let me re-phrase that, gobbling down: ‘The Girl who played with Fire’ and I am addicted. Funny that: as I’m not usually keen on violent political thrillers.

The pace is fantastic, I want to read and turn the page at the same time, I ignore the phone and god help anyone who dares to disturb me and knocks the front door. I think I may greet them very sourly…

Several of my friends husbands recommended that I read ‘The Girl with the Dragoon Tattoo’ so it was added to my ‘to-be-read-list’ but I was in no hurry as my list is for ever growing and then by chance, recently, I watched the film.

Well for a girl who does not like scary films… I used to hide behind the sofa when Dr Who was on telly and the night the ‘Yeti’s’ wandered along London’s underground I left the room, utterly terrified!

So you can imagine what happened when I watched the g/w/t/dragon tattoo… I abhor violence and the level of violence in this film is unbelievably gratuitous and evil. So I ended up leaving the room more than once and I actually debated whether to finish watching the film.

The violence in the book seems less memorable, not because of the writing but because the author did not linger over it too long. Whereas the film maker lingered unnecessarily long and the graphic images of violence are far more vivid and intense, for me, having them imprinted on the back of my retina.

It’s a great shame that this gifted author will never know about his huge success but I think he probably knew that ‘the boy done good,’ when he delivered the trilogy to his publisher.

There is a good mix of unique characters, utterly memorable and not necessarily likeable, a small amount of love interest, and some explicit snippets of sex covering just about all gender variations alongside cops and murderous events that are horrific, set against a backdrop of politics and business. So just about all bases are covered.

The main theme of violence against women is hard to read in places. And as to his writing for me he succeeds because he has chosen to write many POV’s and he is successful in this aim by making them all focus on one outcome, the fate of a single person.

However, the story is full of passion and gives subtle insights into an arena we may not chose to visit willingly. Reading the reviews I’m surprised how many people didn’t enjoy the first 100 pages… these are well written and I found them fascinating.

Lucky for me I was won over and I did watch the whole film. And for the girl who apparently gets easily scared I was screaming at the set willing our heroine on, to commit vile and despicable acts of violence, as I could not bear the idea that the evil wrong doer was going to get away with it! So the film gave me a ring-side seat and managed to draw out my gladiator.

If you have not read Stieg Larsson books then please add them to your ‘to read list.’ It is both curious and interesting to note that when, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was published in Sweden it was called: Men who hate Women!

Reading the second in the trilogy I have plunged into an espionage thriller, a commentary on social injustice and crime who done it, and I have a good clear image of the characters so I can’t wait to see the next film, it’s on my to buy list…

To sum up:

If I can write a book half as good as this, so that my readers will not be able to put my book down and once they’ve picked it up can’t stop reading it, I shall know that I have achieved my ultimate aim.

I’m off to read… and the joy of this news is there is number three waiting for me on the bookshelf.

No comments:

Post a Comment