The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Whew.

I picked up "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," by Stieg Larsson, last November. I started reading it, despite the fact that I was finishing up my master's degree, teaching a writing class twice a week, teaching in a voluntary position once a week, and doing all the other stuff (kids, house, work) that comes along with being me.

I had to put it down. I don't know if I wasn't interested or if I was just too busy.

My life has calmed down a bit, so I picked it up again yesterday around 2:30 p.m. At 11:30 p.m., I finally made myself put it down so I could go to bed. I woke up this morning and finished it.

Masterful.

I think my difficulty the first time I tried to read it was that in the first four or so chapters, it's really difficult to see how all these people and all this information is going to come together. Last semester, I didn't have the time to weed through a book that was going to eventually have a big payoff. This time around, I did.

The book (the first of three; the second book is "The Girl Who Played with Fire," and "The Girl Who Kicked a Hornet's Nest" comes out in May) introduces Lisbeth Salander, a private investigator with a complicated life; Mikael Blomkvist, a journalist with issues; and finally, the completely crazy Vanger family.

There were times when I wanted the story to get going already, and then there were times when I wanted it to slow down so I could wallow in the plot development.

It's not the perfect novel. I think it could have been condensed a bit. I would have liked a map of Sweden so that I could refer to the places Blomkvist and Salander visited. I would have liked some sort of idea of what the dollar equivalency to the kronor is (I could have and probably will look it up, but when I was curled on my couch, I was curious).

But, it kept my attention. I'm glad I finished it, finally. And, as soon as I was done with it this morning, I downloaded "The Girl Who Played with Fire" to my Kindle.

If you read it, give yourself time. Get past the first 7 or so chapters before you give up. It was probably around chapter 8 this time around that I realized I was committed to this novel.