Finally finished with that Dragon Tattoo Girl Series

Wow.  I thought I might still be reading about the Dragon Tattoo Girl in December.  This series was even harder to read--and finish--than The Lord of the Rings series last summer was for me!  What makes the story so boring/difficult/challenging:

1.  As I said before, it's riddled with politics.  I hate anything to do with politics.  I don't understand it nor do I care to begin trying to understand it.  I understand just enough to know who I need to vote for and what I need to vote for.  Beyond that, don't even TRY to get me involved in a political discussion.  It'll be the fastest way to get me to shut up, though!!!!  ;)

2.  LOTS of unnecessary detail.  Telling me the name brand and number of microwavable pizzas Lizabeth consumes just isn't important to the overall story and/or my understanding of her character.  Describing/telling me all the times Mikael and this woman AND that woman as well as another woman--and, yes, there's still another one or two--fool around and where just doesn't make a difference to the overall plot of the story and what happens to Lisabeth.  Nor do I care.  I do get/understand the details described about Lisabeth's rape, but that doesn't mean that I like reading about it.  But those details do help give us a clear and full picture of Lisabeth and how's she's been mistreated and abused by the "powers that be" her whole life.  So while there is a lot of sexual stuff that could have been left out, I do understand why some of it had to be in the story.  I just wish Larsson had chosen to leave out the unnecessary sex stuff....

3.  The sheer number/volume of characters!  UGH!  This story rivals the wonderful book The Count of Monte Cristo in the massive number of characters named in the story as a whole.  Honestly.  How many of them did I REALLY need to KNOW in order to fully understand Lisabeth's victimization?  The huge number of people investigating and/or working on clearing Lisabeth is enough to give me nightmares, so throwing in the vast number of people trying to destroy her is just more than a reader can handle.  I got lost so often with what was going on because there are SO MANY characters in this story.  And what's worse is that some of the major players in the story as a whole don't even come in to the story until this third and final book!!!!!  Yet they've been there on periphery from the beginning....as a reader, I just don't know that until I get to the 3rd book!  UGH!  The overwhelming number of characters does not in any way endear the series to me AT ALL.  I made it through The Count of Monte Cristo and the huge number of characters in that book laughing at the fact that I felt like I need a white board wherein to write the names of all the characters and their relationships with one another in order to keep up.  But I still thoroughly enjoyed the book.  This Dragon Tattoo Girl series just overwhelmed me and kept making me want to throw the book across the room--every time a new character was brought in to the story--sounding/looking all important to the story as a whole!!!!  UGH!

4.  Mikael is too perfect.  All the women are attracted to him.  Most don't resist, and, not unlike a man, he doesn't try to resist.  Of course, it means that a couple of the women actually fall in love with him and it causes problems since he sleeps with enough women throughout the series that it's difficult to say which women (woman, I honestly think) he doesn't sleep with versus those he does.  What's so ironic is that most of these women proposition HIM rather than the other way around.  And his relationship with Lizabeth?  He wants to be her friend, even from the beginning, but doesn't seem to care that she fell head-over-heels for him.  Yet he continues to fight for her and her rights, doing everything in his power to ensure that she is proven innocent and seen as the true victim in the whole escapade.  Everyone likes Mikael.  No man is THAT perfect.  Even if he is played by Daniel Craig in the US version of the movie, who, as we all know, is James Bond--the most perfect male specimen ever in all literature or in the movies!  (Except, of course, for Rhett Butler, played fantastically by Clark Gable!!!!!)


What I actually like about the series:

1.  As I've mentioned before, Lizabeth Salander is a very interesting and fascinating character.  I love the dichotomy of her character in that on the one hand, she has NO social skills and doesn't seem to get along with people, while on the other hand, by the end of the series, she honestly has an army of people working to ensure that the truth is revealed and Lizabeth is shown as the true victim she has been for more than half her life.  I found that I wanted to reach out to her and let her know that she doesn't have to be alone in the world--if she would just let me in--not as a lover, but as a friend.  She is very untrusting, but she has great reason to be.

2.  Most of the female characters are VERY likable.  Larsson is very careful to show women as strong, independent fighters who don't take crap from anyone--and they get what they want in life.  He shows women being mistreated and violently abused, but he also shows the determination of women not to let such things take them down or break them.  It's kind of empowering.  And I LOVE Gianni's character (Lizabeth's lawyer).  She's awesome.  She really has an incredible courtroom scene at the end of the book that is truly a page-turner!  That trial helped me sit down and WANT to finish reading the book more than any other part of the series/final book!

3.  There IS some great action in the series as a whole.  Sadly, the action-packed parts are few are far between, but when they happen, boy howdy, look out!  I especially like how Lizabeth's father is killed.  I was waiting for it and not only was it a shock, but it was a good shock.  It was about time someone did that man in.  I am glad that Lizabeth doesn't do it because then the story would have had to end on a more tragic note.


I am very glad that I am finally finished reading this series.  I don't know what I read next.  I have several books I've been wanting to read, but just haven't gotten into them because I've been so determined to finish, finally, The Dragon Tattoo Girl series.  Now that I'm finished, it's bittersweet because I've spent so much time with Lizabeth.  Unlike my desire to continue reading anything everything about Harry Potter and I am devastated that the series has ended, I am thrilled that there will never be another book about Lizabeth---Stieg Larsson died soon after turning in the manuscript for all three books in the series!  So while J.K. Rowling COULD POSSIBLY continue the story of Harry, and millions of us fans would bow down to her in deep gratitude if she would, Larsson can't possibly drag out Lizabeth's tale, making this reader happy indeed to put this series to rest......