Ever since I got my iPad last month, I have been trying to maximize using it (biar gak berasa rugi gitu loh). One of the application that I have been using quite a bit is iBooks, which is a fantastic e-reader. I really love the built in features, such as auto orientation, the option to change font type and size, sephia mode, and not forgetting the built in dictionary. So while reading, if you don’t know the meaning of any word, you can just tap on it and the dictionary definition will pop up. NICE! :)
Anyway, the first book that I load into the application is “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo”. It is a fiction novel by Swedish author / journalist Stieg Larsson. There are 2 other books in the series, making it a trilogy, often called the Millenium Trilogy (which refers to the publication company that the main character worked in)
Honestly I haven’t heard much of this book and author until recently. It turns out that the author is actually deceased in 2004, and he was more of a politican rather than a fiction novel writer. The books were written in his past time, and he only wrote them for himself. He did not attempt to publish it until shortly before his death. That is why the first book was only published in 2005, one year after his death. It become an international phenomenon, and by March 2010, the series have sold 27 million copies in more than 40 countries. He is also the first author to sell more than one million e-books on Amazon.com.
Anyway, enough with the introduction. Let’s get on to the book review….
The two main characters in the book is a journalist named Mikael Blomkvist, and a peculiar girl named Lisbeth Salander. At the beginning of the book they are two strangers, and I feel like I’m reading two different story, jumping back and forth between one another, and I must admit the first few chapters of the book was quite boring. But, looking back now, it does provide key background information that helps you to understand why the characters behave in a certain way later in the story.
Anyway the main plot revolves around the disappearance (and possible murder) of a young girl (Harriet Vanger) that happened 40 years ago in an isolated island at northen Sweden. Harriet is the niece of a very powerful and successful businessman named Henrik Vanger, previously head of the Vanger corporation. He is now a retiree and have passed on the corporation to Martin Vanger, his nephew (and also Harriet’s brother). There are also other characters, mainly from the Vanger clan.
Henrik asked Mikael to help him with the investigation, but before he does that, he asked Lisbeth (who is a part time private investigator) to do a background check on Mikael. Lisbeth became aware of Harriet’s case and was intrigued. And so she did some investigation on her own. In the middle of the book, Mikael’s and Lisbeth’s paths crossed again, and they combine their efforts and in the end managed to solve the mystery. Along the way they uncovered some terrible secrets involving rapes and murders. I won’t spoil too much of the story here. Pokoknya seru deh! :)
Overall I think it’s a great book with gripping storyline. As mentioned, the beginning was quite slow, but as I get into the main storyline, I’m totally hooked. Now I can’t wait to start reading the 2nd book “The Girl Who Played With Fire”.
OK now moving on to the film review…..
Following the success of the book, it was adapted to a film Män som hatar kvinnor (Men Who Hate Women), released in 2009. The main story is the same as the book (ya iya lah, masa beda? Hehehe). The main characters were played by Swedish actors and actresses, with Michael Nyqvist as Mikael Blomkvist, and Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander.
There have been many movies that are adapted from books, and most of them failed miserably. The problem with this kind of movies is always the same : if you read the book first, then you will feel that there is a lot of scenes missing (it’s difficult to cram 600 pages into 2 hours of movie). But if you don’t read the book first, you would probably be confused by the characters, because the movie skips the introductions and often goes straight into the main plot.
Here’s my thoughts of the film adaptation : (WARNING : SPOILERS AHEAD)
It’s nice to finally have a visual of the scenery, although it’s not as pretty as I imagined it would be.
Noomi Rapace is perfect in portraying Lisbeth, while I think Michael Nyqvist is just OK. I imagined Mikael Blomkvist to be more handsome and not so fat :P
Harriett Vanger is just as I imagined, but my imagination of the other characters are way off (Martin Vanger, Erika Berger, Cecilia Vanger). I imagined that they are good looking people, and not so old.
The “torture chamber” is also not like what I imagined at all. I thought it is a dark and dirty dungeon, but in the movie it is an all white room with bright lights (reminds me of an operating theatre in hospitals).
As expected, a lot of the side stories are changed or not even mentioned, which includes
o Blomkvist relationships with Erika Berger and Cecilia Vanger. I guess with all the violence in the story, adding adultery and casual sex partners was a little too much, even for Swedish people.
o The cover up (in the book, only Henrik, Frode, Mikael and Lisbeth know that he is actually working on Harriet’s case. They told everyone else that Mikael is working on a biography for Henrik, which is a perfect cover up for allowing Mikael to ask everybody about their past)
o How Henrik convinced Mikael to work for him (in the book, at first Mikael was not interested to work on the case, but Henrik promised him some key information that can clear Mikael’s name in exchange for the work). In the film, Mikael suddenly agreed to work on the case, which is a bit weird, in my opinion.
o How Mikael discovered the connection between the writing in Harriet’s diary with the bible passages.
o The timeline is changed quite a bit (in the book, Mikael went to jail in the middle of the investigation, but in the film he went after the case is finished).
But anyway, overall I think it’s a good movie. Now we just have to wait for the Hollywood adaptation of the movie. The main characters will be played by Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara; and the movie will be released in December 2011 (gile lama ajeeee…)
