Biography - Stieg Larson

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This is an image of Stieg and his significant other, Eva Gabrielson. They were together for around thirty years but decided not to get married because of Larsson's career as an activist. They felt that it would have endangered her life. However, now, after his death she gets left with nothing because they are not technically married, thus she has no rights.

Quote: "He was a man of political commitment who was prepared to risk going to prison for his beliefs." (3)

This quote is at the beginning of the book describing, in a nutshell, who Stieg Larsson is. He was a very loud anti-war and anti-facist activist. His life was dedicated to taking down the irrational radical conservatives who promoted racism. He was a much hated person and many people wanted him dead. Although he wasn't murdered, he still risked his life for what he believed in.

Connections:

1) This connection is more of an anti-connection. This biography, wasn't a biography at all. When reading this book, it didn't follow a logical progression. The chapters went from Publishing Larsson's books, to What I want to say, to a summary of each of the books, to Scandinavian crime novels. After reading Born Standing Up, Steve Martin's autobiography, I figured that a biography would be an overview of Larssons' life. This was more of an all over the place collaboration of commentary on Larssons' life from others who worked with him or analyzed his writing.

2) In the first chapter the author talks about how Larsson was completely absorbed in politics. Larsson found an organization designed to 'counteract the growth of the extreme right and the white power culture in schools and among youth.' (6) Although I neither started an organization nor worked with an organization that was dedicated to politics, I have been working with and leading an activist organization, Sierra Club. My life has been surrounded by helping the environment, which is my loyal cause, but Larsson's cause were his political causes.

3) One of the current issues with Stieg Larson is the remains of his so called 'fourth book'. Apparently on Larssons' personal laptop he had written about 200 hundred pages of a fourth novel. This is similar to the pyramids in ancient egypt. There are pyramids out there that are still closed and we won't know what's in them for a long time! It's the same with the book! Until the problem between Eva and the Larsson's is settled we won't get to read those 200 hundred pages of the new book.

Reflection:

This biography was not the most eloquently written. It covers a multitude of topics based on Stieg Larsson but it does it in an odd way. The biography follows an illogical progression skipping all around his life. The beginning three chapters have to do with him and his life but then it changes into summaries of his novels and then into his competing Swedish novels and finishes with a long summary of the first three chapters. However, the last chapter is mainly quotes of people who worked with him.

I was completely unimpressed with the writing style of this autobiography. It does give some background information about Stieg Larsson, but it was mainly focused on his novels and the writing style used. I would have enjoyed it more if it gave more background on his life and inspiration for his novels as opposed to just summaries of his books.

I would not recommend this book to anyone because I don't feel that it did Larsson justice. A biography should showcase a person, whether good or bad, and this book did not do so. It merely lightly touched on Larsson and the author got others to talk about him. I would not consider this a well written biography.

Questions:

-What will happen to Eva G., his significant other?

-Why is Eva so reluctant to join forces with the Larssons?

-Was there any single source that inspired Larssons writing?

-Will the forth book ever be released?

-If Larssons' health didn't kill him at an early age, would he have finished his goal of ten novels?

The Girl Who Played With Fire

This image displays the hatred in Bjurman's eyes when hey realizes the control that Salander has over him. His hatred turned into his determination to get revenge on Salander. He hires a giant blonde hit man, but wants her back alive. In this guys eyes you can see he has no mercy for anyone, which is like Bjurman.

Quote:

"Now you listen Bjurman: you're a pervert. I have no reason to forgive you. But if you keep yourself clean, I'll let you off the hook the day my declaration of incompetence is rescinded." (Larson 39)

This quote is at the very beginning of the book. It is referring to what happened in the last book when Bjurman, Salanders' guardian raped her. This is the basis for the rest of the book because this book in the series goes deep into Salander's life, her problems and how she deals with them. Bjurman has sent out a hit man to bring Salander to him and this book is about how she lives and manages to fight Bjurman. Additionally, the quote talks about her declaration of incompetence and how it is to be rescinded. Bjurman is a star player in that and she has a video of the rape which she plans to use against him until that declaration is rescinded.

Connections:

1) Big Brother: Salanders whole life is based off hacking into peoples computers. She is the real life big brother. When she taps into Mikael Bloomkvists and Advokat Bjurmans computers she is only proving the idea of there being a Big Brother to be true. In chapter 9 of this book she taps into Bloomkvist's computer just to simply check in on him. She reads through his emails and finds out personal information about a relationship he is having. It is instances like that in the book that show how simple the idea of Big Brother is to carry out. /In today's society it proves to be very possible to keep an eye out on anyone you please, as long as you understand technology well enough. It's kind of creepy.

2) Rape victims: In the first book, when Salander got raped by Bjurman, she was enraged by him. She didn't understand why anyone would want to do it to this lanky, short, skinny, punk girl. Her rage with him carried on through the second book, scaring her for life. Rape in todays society is a huge problem and this book shows the affect it can have on someones personal life. For instance "1 in 6 women are sexually assaulted in their life" claims RAINN. The fact that rape occurs so much in society shows the seriousness of the situation.

3) Sexuality: In this book Lisbeth Salander struggles with her sexuality. She has had many sexual encounters with men but she also enjoys the company of women. In chapter nine she goes to a bar with her sexual partner, who's a woman named Mimmi. In the bar she sees Mikael, whom she had a relationship with in the previous book. She gets confused with how to handle the situation and ultimately leaves with Mimmi. Her sexuality comes into question throughout the book and it is safe to come to the conclusion that she is bi-sexual. Sexuality is constantly being questioned by individuals today.

Reflection:

This book, was better than the first book! The story progressed a lot quicker than the first book allowing me to become absorbed in it more quickly. The story is definitely not relatable, but it is a riveting story. The complexity of Salander's problems helps the story progress as she experiences changing emotions. The sex and violence also help the story progress because it allowed me to follow the relationships and it made me curious as to what would happen next! I would completely recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good mysterious thriller. It is on quite the cutting edge of novels, with the depth in which it talks about the characters. The descriptions of Salander are so detailed that you could picture her in HD. Another reason why I would recommend this book to others, is because of the way that he tells three stories at once that are somehow intertwined yet they don't come together until last minute. He is able to have three different stories going at once, but he keeps them all so well organized. In the end all of the stories come together to figure out what happens next! That is why I would recommend it; it is very well written.

Questions:

-Based on the cliff hanger, what will happen in the next novel?

-Does the giant have any relation to the story other than being a hit man?

-Why does Salander not talk to Bloomkvist in the beginning?

-How does Salander manage to survive emotionally?

-Why does Bloomkvist get into a relationship with Harriet Vanger in the first place?

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo: Honors Blog #1 (contains spoilers)

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This image shows a scene from the Swedish movie, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. It shows how Lisbeth Salander has no facial expresion even though she is being assaulted. Her role in the book is depicted in this photo quite well. It shows her calm exterior and lack of a sense of personal space. She doesn't seem to be phased by what is going on in this photo and it seems that way throughout the whole book.

Quote:
"I'm not joking. This may have started out as a historical mystery, but what with dead cats and people trying to blow your head off we can be sure we're on somebody's trail." (Larson, 418)

This quote is from Chapter 22 and this chapter talks about the consequences of Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander continuing to follow through with the case. In this quote, Salander (the heroin of the book) is talking to Bloomkvist (the protagonist) about an event that just occured. This story has a lot of mysterious parts to it and this quote is from the height of it. This quote summarizes the central part of the book, in that Bloomkvist is on a mission and he is so enveloped in it that he will stop at not cost.

Connections:
1) There is an attempted murder against Bloomkvist because of what he is researching. Today many people are hated purely based off what their job is. In the book, Mikael Bloomkvist is looking into the murder of a woman by the name of Harriett Vanger who is the niece of the industrialist Henrik Vanger. Because Mikael is snooping around the Vanger family he is scrutinized and hated purely for his work. A good example is how Martin Luther King was assassinated for the work he did. He was an activist for civil rights and because of his ideals and work he was hated. Bloomkvist is also hated based on what he is researching.
2) CSI (the crime scene investigation show) is a lot like the story of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. As an avid fan of CSI (all three shows) I enjoyed this book. It was like a long episode of it in book form. CSI usually begins with a murder and they go through the motions of figuring out who the murder was and sometimes along the way one of the investigators may get hurt. In the books case, Bloomkvist is the investigator and although he ends up still alive in the end, he hits a few bumps along the road. Between going to jail, almost getting shot and ultimately figuring out the mystery, he lives the life of a CSI.
3) The corporations vs. the media. In this book there is the conflict, from the start, between Wennerstrom and Bloomkvist's magazine, the Millenium. Conflicts like these, where the media is exposing difficult truths within large corporations, are present in today's society. The media is constantly exploiting different companies and even people for the sake of their publication. Us Weekly and People are prime examples of publications who exploit others for the sake of their puplication, when they make up stories for shock factor.

Reflection:
This book was simply amazing. The thriller has so much depth to it that it is quite the page turner. It starts off slow, when beginning to introduce the characters, but once you reach page 100 it is hard to put the book down. The story is compelling because of the characters. It is not compelling because of the story of a missing girl but because of the characters trying to find her. The characters and their relationships with one another create such an interesting story because of the way they interact with one another. The way that Bloomvist can carry out so many lovers so casually and still have a piece of mind and how Salander can be raped but stay so emotionless; it's subtleties like that, that keep the story moving while at the same time having a mystery behind it. I would completely recommend this book to anyone interested in a compelling mystery. However, it is a little bit gruesome and dark, so be mindful of that.

Questions:
1) Is there something "wrong" with Salander allowing her to function the way she does? Could it be autism or some other disease?
2) How will Bloomkvist and Salanders relationship continue in the future books?
3) How come Henrik Vanger didn't find someone to investigate the matter sooner?
4) What role does the accident on the day of the disappearance play in the greater picture?
5) How did Salander maintain such a low level of moral? How was she able to hack peoples computers with no sense of personal space?