The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo was originally titled Män som hatar kvinnor in Swedish which literally translates into “Men Who Hate Women”, which i think would have been an apt more appropriate title than the official English one. It is the first book of the 3 Millenium Trilogy written by Stieg Larsson (R.I.P 1954-2004).
I had first picked up the book as a result of a review i read by Tom Matlack of the Good Men Project(now doesn’t the name alone makes you feel oh so refreshed! XD) which suggested the idea that this book can play a role in helping rape victims. Now i have to admit that i was pretty skeptical at first on how exactly a crime fiction book can play a role in the advocacy on violence against women but still, it was gonna be pretty interesting to find out.
And that was almost two months ago… As of now, i have already completed two of the trilogy (i.e. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo & The Girl Who Played With Fire), so to say that i don’t love the books would be seriously an understatement!!!
Feminist critical thinking aside, Larsson managed to write an engaging story with complicating and endearing characters that you probably find yourself rooting for someone or being able to relate to someone else. Sure, many of the characters have flawed personality, but don’t people do too in real life? At some point or another i found myself completely unable to put down the book cos i just cant wait to find out whats going to happen at the end of the story.
And while most of us would have read about rape every single day on the papers or other media, i couldn’t help but notice how similar the responses that Larsson had described in the book as in people that i see in my line of work. The whole attitude that “she wears dark eyeliner, tight leather pants, enjoys sex and thus she must be a prostitute” and “she’s a whore & thus she deserves to be raped anyway”, are just a few things that even i myself have came across in my life more often than i wished. I knew immediately that Larsson had meant it as a commentary and critique, but i couldn’t help but realize how this abhorrent attitude truly does transcends not only real life and fiction, but also pretty much borders and countries as well.
That said, the book has some serious issues as well… For starters, the translation. Now how do i put this nicely…? Well, lets see… Actually, i can’t put it nicely, because the translation was just DODGY. PLAIN DODGY. Grammar errors, spellings errors, i could go on. Although granted, that is not something that we can attribute to Larsson himself (so Mr.Keeland, i know you’re a renowned translator and all, but seriously!
).
The chapter where the main protagonist Lisbeth had tattooed her rapist with the words “I am sadistic pig, a pervert and a rapist” is probably the most jaw-dropping and awe-inspiring part of the book to me. Because for one, it meant that Lisbeth had no fear of her perpetrator, which to me, is the biggest challenge that some rape survivors are forced to overcome: FEAR.
And Lisbeth natural distrust with authorities was something that I think many of us would have came across, and felt personally at some point of our life. I mean let’s face it. I would for a Women’s Organisation, and if somebody asks me what do they do about a stranger harassing them over the phone, i tell them to make a police report, but when the same thing happens to me, i don’t make a police report either. Why? Because i myself do not have much faith in the authorities anymore than Lisbeth Salander does.
Sure, it would have been nice if the character Blomkvist did not slept with every single female character that he had came across. The key word here is CHOICE. Which is something that all the women who slept with Blomkvist had, and all other rape survivors don’t.
And i enjoyed the fact that the book itself is filled with many colorful and powerful women who are empowered, confident, and every bit as successful in every aspect of their life and men who understood and fought for women’s rights as much as the book is littered with scumbags, racist, and twisted people who are not that hard to find in real life.
And while Larsson never fails to hold the perpetrator’s responsible for their own crimes, he does highlights the grey area of how much influence an upbringing and a society can leave on a person.
Larsson made it no secret that the his main target was aimed towards violence against women, bad journalism, and incompetent authorities. And let’s face, don’t we have a bit of all that everywhere in the world right now.
And Lisbeth Salander’s moralistic approach to everything is just wonderful to read because it’s so unbelievably black and white. And thats one liberty that most of us don’t get, having been caught up in all the grey areas all around us most of the time.
P.s. This review was initially meant to be on The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo alone but it somehow rather ended up being a review on The Girl Who Played With Fire as well. So now, i’m off to the third book! Ta! 
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