The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (#11)

My 28th birthday was pretty uneventful. Dinner with the fam, the in-laws, some family friends, my best friend and her husband.  That's the main event of the day. Other than that, everyone was working, so I had a pretty "typical" day. A typical day for me is doing research, reading articles, and trying to make some headway on my dissertation proposal.  

Except the day was not typical at all, because I decided that "Hey! It's my birthday! I'm not going to do work! I'm going to read a book!" And so, I did.

I've been meaning to read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo for ages. Seriously. Everyone I know who has read it has been telling me to read it. And I've been wanting to read it. But I've had so much else going on with moving, getting married, finishing exams and classes that I hadn't gotten the chance to read it. Until now.

Larsson's book was excellent, even though I did struggle through the first few chapters. I thought that the characters were well-written, and the story was intriguing. I started my birthday on about page 100 and finished it by 5:00. I don't just read any book in one day.  Like Blomkvist and Salander, I felt that I had to know the outcome of the crime, and once I got to a certain point in the book I couldn't stop reading it for the life of me.  The various subplots all fit together really well, and I thought the outcome of the investigation was well-orchestrated and seemed appropriate to the intrigue of the story.

I was a little disappointed in the ending, because I don't know if it was supposed to be a hanging moment to spur the reader to immediately pick up the next book (which I did), or if it is supposed to have its own moment of finality.  If it's option A, then job well done. But if it's option B, it leaves a little something to be desired.

Despite the fact that I didn't love the ending, I still loved the book. I would definitely recommend it for people who enjoy psychological thrillers - and the twist! I didn't even see it coming! Of course, it's already in talks to be made into an American movie (and has already been adapted in Sweden), and I can only hope that they stick to the story, because the story is what made this book so fascinating. The characters are interesting, and I'm excited to see how they develop, but it was the story that made this book one of those I-can't-put-it-down must-reads.