Diane chose the book and hosted the meeting (her first!).
In Diane's review of the author's biography, we discovered an extraordinary life. Stieg wrote from experiences in his own life and of people who impacted his life. He was born in 1954, was raised by his grandparents, and was given a typewriter at age 12. He witnessed the gang rape of a 15-year-old girl and lived his life with regret and sorrow of not having intervened. He and his long-time partner, Eva Gabrielsson, hid from neo-Nazis, rarely leaving the house and keeping the drapes drawn. This is the first book in a series of three published posthumously. Stieg died at the age of 50 after climbing 7 flights of stairs when the elevator was broken. Some consider his death suspicious.
This book was very well received by the group although the graphically violent sex scenes were difficult. The many characters were confusing and we needed to refer to the family tree often. We had lots of different theories, showing that it was truly a complex mystery. Not only did it have lots of twists and turns, but it was at times "twisted."
The Swedish title of the book is Men Who Hate Women. We probably would not have chosen a book with that title. We wondered if the tattoos on Lisbeth were symbolic of the events in her life. Many questions were unanswered about Lisbeth and her life. Carol W. assures us that the next book delves into Lisbeth's past and explains why she is the person she became.
Some found the book difficult in the beginning but, after the first 80-100 pages, were hooked and could not put the book down. We were sometimes overwhelmed by the number of characters. A map of the island compound and of Sweden would have been helpful.
The official website for Stieg Larsson's books: http://stieglarsson.net/
No comments:
Post a Comment