The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

*Warning this book and article contain scenes of and discussions of sexual assault.*

It was the summer of 2015 when I first read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. I remember it vividly because it was my first summer in LA and Kevin and I were staying in a studio apartment. I wanted to stay up late reading a few times but he had to work early. The only other room with a door was the closet/bathroom area, so I grabbed a pillow and sat on the bathroom floor to read. Not many books can I remember exactly where I was when reading certain chapters, but this one I can.

I remember my grandma (who also reads a lot) read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and sort of recommending the book series to me. Let me explain what I mean by sort of. Every time I would ask about the books, she would tell me someone else was reading them or didn’t know where they were at. I understand now why she was hesitant to let me borrow the books since there are a couple of graphic rape scenes and she wasn’t sure her 16-year-old granddaughter, at the time, could handle that.

I wasn’t sure at first if I wanted to read them anyway. High school me thought the books looked long and hard since they have a lot of Swedish words. But I knew I would have a lot of time that summer so I decided to buy the first book. I am so glad I did because Lisbeth Salander is one of my all-time favorite literary characters!

Book Stats

• Title: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
• Author: Stieg Larsson
• Translator: Reg Keeland
• Series: Millennium #1
• Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Crime
• Publication Date: 2005
• Pages: 644
• Audible Narrator: Simon Vance
• Est. Reading Time: 16 hours
• My Rating: 5/5 Stars
• Buy Now: Amazon

Plot Summary of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Henrick Vanger is a wealthy Swedish businessman and his favorite grand-niece, Harriet Vanger, went missing over 40 years earlier under suspicious circumstances. It was presumed she was murdered, most likely by a family member, since Henrick was being taunted by the murderer. Every year on his birthday, he would receive a pressed flower just like Harriet used to give him. Henrick hires Mikael Blomkvist, a journalist at Millennium who just lost a libel case, to crack the cold case. Henrick also hired Lisbeth Salander to do the background check on Blomkvist. Blomkvist realizes there is information in her report on him that no one else should know and soon discovers she is an exceptional hacker. Eventually, he asks for her help with the case and they continue to solve the mystery together.

Why Lisbeth Salander is my Favorite

I think the main reason I love her is that she is not perfect. She has a lot of problems and that’s what makes her interesting. These are not every day, average girl problems, either. I feel she was the first of her kind. The book was published in 2005 in Swedish and translated to English in 2008. I don’t know much about Sweden but here in the U.S., there had never been a character like her before.

She is a borderline crazy, total badass, genius. Lisbeth is a super-smart computer hacker, one of the best in the world. Her intellect combined with her childhood trauma makes her very antisocial. On top of that, she doesn’t follow social norms with all of her tattoos and piercings. She prefers to be by herself and can get absorbed in her work for hours.

Finally, she is a badass because she does what she wants when she wants. All these things make her a very unique character but the fact that she doesn’t take shit from anyone puts her over the top for me. Lisbeth is a very tiny woman but that doesn’t stop her from doing whatever is necessary to protect herself from full-grown men.

Quotes

One of the quotes I found interesting is:

“That I would have to be totally insane to stop seeing you just because you’re going to leave one day”

― Stieg Larsson, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Cecilia Vanger was helping Blomkvist with the Harriet case and fell in love with him. When he left to serve his prison time, she was devastated. After he came back, she wanted to keep her distance. She didn’t want to break her heart again once his work was finished and he left the island for good. She soon realized that was foolish.

I completely agree with this no matter who they are or for whatever reason they are leaving, you shouldn’t cut off ties early or keep your distance because you think it will be easier to deal with. Enjoy the time while you can. Life can change suddenly and you never know how long you have with someone. Try to enjoy every minute while you still can.

Statistics

The quotes that actually stuck out to me the most were the statistics at the beginning of the 4 parts of the book. Part II says,

“Forty-six percent of the women in Sweden have been subjected to violence by a man.”

Part III states:

“Thirteen percent of women in Sweden have been subjected to aggravated sexual assault outside of a sexual relationship.”

I find these statistics mind-blowing. I’m sure the real numbers are actually much higher too, or at least in the United States. Especially, since this was 15 years ago and considering all the recent incidents that have come to light. I think it’s great to discuss these statistics because few people realize how often these things actually happen. Too many people suffer in silence and nothing will ever change if it’s not talked about.

Feminism in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Some could argue Stieg Larsson is misogynistic because of the way the women are tortured and brutally murdered in this book but I think it is the opposite. He is trying to bring attention to the terrible things that can happen to women. He said when he was 15 he witnessed a friend of his gang-raped. Later, he tried to apologize for standing by and not helping but she wouldn’t accept his apology. He carried that guilt for years and it inspired him to write Lisbeth, who is also a sexual assault victim. There is some controversy over whether that incident actually happened to him or if he heard it secondhand and claimed it as his own. Either way, an amazing character came from it.

Translation

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was originally published in Swedish. It was translated by Reg Keeland. I feel you always have to be careful with translated books because they can easily miss what the author is ultimately saying. Kevin reread Siddhartha last year that was translated by someone else. He didn’t think it had the same powerful meaning of the first translation he read.

They also changed the title when they published it in English. The Swedish title is Män som hatar kvinnor which translates to Men Who Hate Women. I was shocked when I read that. But I can kind of see why they changed it. It might put some people off to not even pick up the book with that title. I am kind of glad they changed it since The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo became an iconic title. Now, there are so many titles that start with “the girl” or “the women”. I believe it was the first or most well known to start the trend.

They at least did include the line in the English translation:

“One more man who hates women,” she muttered at last.”

― Stieg Larsson, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Lisbeth says this to Blomkvist after he tells her about the man he lost his libel case to, Wennerstorm. Wennerstorm, a wealthy powerful man, got a young woman pregnant and threatened her until she got an abortion. This is just one of the many cases where Lisbeth witnessed men using their power to abuse women.

Audiobook

I listened to this on Audible before writing this review because it had been a while since I had read the book. For a while, I was listening to all my favorite books on Audible because I liked that it refreshed in my mind what I love about the books. It would also give me a new perspective that sometimes I didn’t get through reading. But be warned the audiobook of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo almost ruined the book for me. I was really disappointed considering how much I love the books and the movies.

Reasons for Not Loving the Audiobook

There were a few reasons I did not love the audiobook and it all had to do with the narrator. I don’t think they had the right narrator for this book.

1. One reason was the narrator is a man. The book is titled The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Lisbeth is a lead character, therefore, I felt the narrator should have been a woman. Or, it could have been a dual narration. It wasn’t until listening to the audiobook that I realized how little Lisbeth actually speaks. I knew she was quiet and didn’t bother explaining herself to people since she learned at a young age it didn’t make a difference. But, you are in her head and know what she is thinking a lot, so it feels like she speaks more. In my head, when characters are thinking it sounds like their own voice. This was something I didn’t really know I did, so at least the audiobook helped me discover something new about myself and the book.
   
2. The second reason, the narrator had a British accent. An older male with a British accent narrating a young Swedish woman didn’t work for me. Again, she’s a pretty important character whose role you should get perfect. I get there are more male voices in this book and Simon Vance did a good job with Blomkvist’s voice but that wasn’t enough for me. He also made her voice sound whiny which is not the way I thought of it at all. Overall, I was very disappointed with the audiobook and will not listen to it again or the rest of the books in the series if they’re by the same narrator.

Final Thoughts on The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

This is still one of my favorite books. I think Lisbeth Salander will always be an all-time favorite character of mine. I hope she inspires people everywhere to stand up to abusers or help others in need. She is one of those characters where I could write for days and never describe perfectly why she is so amazing. You need to read and determine that for yourself.

If you don’t have time to read the books the Swedish extended movie versions are the best, they follow the first 3 books almost exactly. The 2011 American movie version is not bad either but cuts more out and deviates a little from the book. I am currently reading The Girl Who Lived Twice, the last book in the Millennium series. I will have a review up of it as soon as I am done.

Have you read the books or seen the movies? What do you think about Lisbeth? Do you think the books are sexist or pro-feminism? I would love to hear your thoughts!