Before going into detail about this book vs movie review I am writing, I'd like first to tell you about my relationship with books. Me and Books are fine friends. I try to read every night, it's my unwinding method and escape. After all my nightly seremonias, I open up the book on my bedside table and read a chapter or two before turning the light off and really going to sleep.
Bookstores love me. I am that nerd who stays a whole hour or two just roaming around the store, looking for new books to read. I have discount cards for both Fully Booked and Powerbooks. When I am meeting friends, I always suggest meeting at the nearest Fully Booked, Powerbooks or National Bookstore.
I have a "To-Read" pile which I am desperately trying not to add to yet. It's becoming too unmanageable. Soon, I will need to have another book case made. I can't seem to resist, it's like a magnetic force. "Read us, buy us, love us" creepy chanting.
OK, so now let's go to Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist.
Most of the time, the book is better than the movie. Which makes sense, because the characters have more room to spread and make themselves known in a book, the plot unravels in the right pace in a book.
Not in this case.
First off, I got kind of lost in the book. The story has a lot of different layers, sub stories to the main story. My average reading time of a book is a week. Because I just read around 2 chapters a night and more during the weekend. So usually, reading a book for two weeks for me, means it's a really thick book or that I fall asleep before my average of two chapters.
A main strength of the Swedish movie here is that it cut out a lot of the fatty layers of the small stories. It went for the jugular, right to it. And it made it more understandable and less complicated.
In my opinion, Stieg Larsson made one of the greatest female characters in all bookdom in the character of Lisbeth Salander. She is well-thought out, three-dimensional. A real person with real feelings. Even other character's reactions to her behavior is very real. I am not sure if Mr. Larsson based her on a real person (and we can't ask because he has passed away) but, I would not be surprised if he did.
She kind of reminds me of Scarlett O'Hara. Someone who will do anything to protect herself and people closest to her. A flawed heroine.
I don't want to spoil the plot for those who will read the book or watch the movie but one thing that I must say, I wish they did not change the title.
The original title is "Men who hate women": i think this is more apt to describe the underlying message of the story but I understand why they changed it. "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" is more mysterious, more positive in a sense.
But after you go past the first 100 pages, you will find it easier to read and more compelling. The story is intelligent, not your usual fiction thriller.
Mikael Blomkvist, the male character, who is kind of like the main protagonist of the story, is also a great character. You instantly root for him. He is also a very three-dimensional kind of character. The casting of the Swedish movie, I think, was spot on. Michael Nyqvist brought depth to his character.
You also see that the book is underpinned by different types of human relationships: homosexuality, open marriages, affairs. The movie doesn't dwell on that. It was interesting to read in the book, but I agree that the way the movie was made, it was bare-bones story, the other themes would be lost.
My recommendation is: watch the movie. I'm not saying the book is not great, far from it.
Get the story first, watch the movie. To enrich your experience and get the full effect, after watching the movie, read the book. :)
I heard that the movie is going to be made Hollywood style. I don't know when it'll be out. I want to see how they will do it.
Stats:
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson
English, translated from Original Swedish
P335.00 at Powerbooks
463 pages
I am currently reading the next book in the Millenium trilogy (3 Larsson books): The Girl who Played with Fire. I am enjoying this one actually.
Until then...
Adjö´ så lä´nge! so long!
