Ronnie G. (frenchgiant) reviewed on 11/26/2010 + 22 more book reviews

Ok, so after witnessing seemingly 95% of the Earth's literate population reading this book over the past few years I finally caved in and read it during a recent vacation to Mexico. After finishing the final page a few minutes ago I'm honestly surprised at how much worldwide hype this book has received. Perhaps the fact that a recently deceased Swedish writer penned it was enough to get people talking about it? Or maybe it was a matter of perfect timing? A book partially about corporate greed released in the U.S. during the worst financial meltdown since the Great Depression?

With all that said I'll start by saying that I did enjoy the book, and was able to finish it in a relatively short amount of time, however I can see why many folks were bored with it. The first 200 or so pages are incredibly dry at times, as Larsson bombards us with tons of information as he builds the foundation for the rest of the novel. I completely understand the need for this, considering the many moving parts of the story, however at times it felt as though I was being spoon fed much more information than was absolutely necessary.

If you're able to get through the aforementioned pages you'll find that the pace of the story does pick up considerably. At this point I found my interest in the mystery of Harriet's disappearance increase as new clues were presented and new suspects were introduced. I thoroughly enjoyed Blomkvist and Salander's characters and as they continued to dig deeper into the mystery I found myself not wanting to put the book down. Perhaps that's the greatest mystery of all. How in the world was Larsson able to captivate the masses with a novel filled with such a large amount of incredibly dry subject matter?

As mentioned earlier I just finished the book today and while I did enjoy it I'm stunned at the worldwide acclaim it has received. I mean, we're talking about a planet populated with people whom over the years have grown infatuated with the likes of the Spice Girls, Beanie Babies, Creed, and Nickleback. Thankfully "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" does not fit into their category and is definitely enjoyable, but extremely overrated in my opinion.

Will I read the sequel,"The Girl Who Played With Fire"? You bet your bottom dollar I will! I'm intrigued by the characters and really am curious to see where Larsson decides to go from here. I can only hope that that it starts out a more blistering pace than this one.

On a sidenote, did anyone notice how much coffee the main characters gulped down? Don't get me wrong, I love coffee and drink a few cups every day but the amounts consumed by Blomkvist and Salander made me feel like an amateur. I mean, is it even possible to consume that much coffee?

Mmm. Coffee.

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