After an almost all-night reading session and with a bit of sadness, I wrapped up the final novel in Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. The book is, of course, a sequel to The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played With Fire, all set in Sweden and all dealing with corruption and crimes against women, especially one tattooed, anti-social computer hacker named Lisbeth Salander.
I say I concluded the series with some sadness because I know there will be no other sequel -- at least not one by the Swedish author. He suffered a fatal heart attack after climbing seven flights of stairs shortly after he turned the trilogy into a publisher and never got to see his books hit the bestseller lists and stay there. Already, the first novel has been made into two movies, one Swedish and one American. Another movie is planned.
While the third novel's ending is such that I doubt Larsson planned another sequel, he clearly could have written another one if he had wanted. It would be nice, after all, to know how Sander -- aka the girl with the dragon tattoo, the one who could defend herself quite well with a gun, a golf club or a carpenter's nail gun -- adapted to society among other things. It would also have been nice to know the whereabouts of her twin sister -- a major detail Larsson never addressed. It seems odd he would have repeatedly mentioned the sister if he never meant to let the reader meet her or even know if she is alive or dead.
I immensely enjoyed all three books, and I don't usually read crime fiction. I am fully aware of the criticism that Larsson's books are packed with graphic violence, especially sexual violence mainly against women but also the reverse in a couple cases. Yet the novels never condone or glamorize the sexual violence. The rape scenes comes across as twisted violence, not sex. And that is to Larsson's credit.
Larsson also includes statistical information on violence against women in Sweden and refers to other gender discrimination, albeit less violent. Near the end of the final novel, the lead male character, investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist, tells his sister, "When it comes down to it, this story is not primarily about spies and secret government agencies; it's about violence against women, and the men who enable it." Indeed, that theme seems to permeate all three books.
The trilogy also abounds with consensual sex -- of various flavors. Blomkvist is a bit of a 21st Century James Bond. Perhaps not coincidentally, Daniel Craig, who portrays Blomkvist in the American movie version of Dragon Tattoo, is also Hollywood's latest Bond.
The books depict Salander as far more than a sexual victim. Though seriously lacking in social skills, she is a survivor not to mention a genius. The daughter of a not-so-nice Russian defector, Salander is prone to violence herself when she's provoked. She's also equipped with a photographic memory, computer skills that would make Microsoft and Apple look like newbies, and an ability to plot her every word and action, even in a crisis.
Larsson's books reflect significant research and a talent for creating intricate plot lines with countless subplots. While his occasional plot summaries are at times helpful, they more often are annoying and unnecessarily repetitive. The first and third books also take more than a few pages to gain the reader's interest. Larsson could have written more concisely, and his editor should have done more editing.
Still, anyone with the talent, the drive and the ability to write three novels that have captivated so many diverse readers around the world deserves applause. I just wish Larsson could have lived to hear it.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Friday, March 2, 2012
Turn of Mind by Alice LaPlante
Imagine a murder mystery narrated by the chief suspect. Imagine the suspect is a Dr. Jennifer White, once an expert hand surgeon in Chicago, now a retired surgeon suffering from Alzheimer's. There lies the basic plot of Alice LaPlante's first novel, Turn of Mind.
White, the main character, has good days and bad ones. She cannot remember from one day to the next, though, that her longtime friend and neighbor Amanda is dead. Nor can she remember if she killed Anna.
The book is appropriately not divided into chapters but into four distinct parts of White's life after the killing in an upscale neighborhood near Lake Michigan. After, all Jennifer White's life is no longer clearly divided. At times, she thinks she is a teenager; at other times, a new mother eager to give up breastfeeding and return to her surgical work.
At one point, she vividly recalls her late husband James' shady financial dealings as a lawyer for the richest white-collar criminals. At other times, she believes her 30ish son Mark to be James. And there are the many times she believes James is once again late, a no-show. She must grieve her husband's death over and over -- each time she is told anew that he has died.
LaPlante takes care not to paint any of the characters -- the key suspect or the victim -- as all good or all bad. The same goes for the supporting cast -- the less-than-successful Mark and his younger sister Fiona (the one who so often covers for others' misdeeds).
Could one of White's adult children have been the killer? Might Fiona have covered for her mother? Might Mark have killed for the money he's always needing? Or did the chief suspect, Dr. Jennifer White, commit the crime but face no fate worse than the one she already faces in the few remaining years of her life?
The book is far more than a murder mystery. It also is a virtual diary of a brilliant surgeon's deteriorating mind as well as the story of a woman who learned early on to adapt, whether to a marriage gone awry, to a lavish lifestyle unjustly earned, to a friend's betrayal and finally to the betrayal of her own mind.
White, the main character, has good days and bad ones. She cannot remember from one day to the next, though, that her longtime friend and neighbor Amanda is dead. Nor can she remember if she killed Anna.
The book is appropriately not divided into chapters but into four distinct parts of White's life after the killing in an upscale neighborhood near Lake Michigan. After, all Jennifer White's life is no longer clearly divided. At times, she thinks she is a teenager; at other times, a new mother eager to give up breastfeeding and return to her surgical work.
At one point, she vividly recalls her late husband James' shady financial dealings as a lawyer for the richest white-collar criminals. At other times, she believes her 30ish son Mark to be James. And there are the many times she believes James is once again late, a no-show. She must grieve her husband's death over and over -- each time she is told anew that he has died.
LaPlante takes care not to paint any of the characters -- the key suspect or the victim -- as all good or all bad. The same goes for the supporting cast -- the less-than-successful Mark and his younger sister Fiona (the one who so often covers for others' misdeeds).
Could one of White's adult children have been the killer? Might Fiona have covered for her mother? Might Mark have killed for the money he's always needing? Or did the chief suspect, Dr. Jennifer White, commit the crime but face no fate worse than the one she already faces in the few remaining years of her life?
The book is far more than a murder mystery. It also is a virtual diary of a brilliant surgeon's deteriorating mind as well as the story of a woman who learned early on to adapt, whether to a marriage gone awry, to a lavish lifestyle unjustly earned, to a friend's betrayal and finally to the betrayal of her own mind.
Oldies But Goodies -- Alice, Let's Eat & Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
Only recently did I get around to reading Calvin Trillin's Alice, Let's Eat and Annie Dillard's Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. The book by Trillin, who still writes for The New Yorker, was published in 1978, four years after Dillard's collection of nature essays came out.
Both authors were ahead of their time. The TV Food Network didn't exist. And except for the likes of Julia Child, food writing wasn't the big seller it is now when Trillin wrote of his adventures as a "Happy Eater" -- adventures that took him from Paris to Kansas City.
When Dillard's book was published, DDT was fortunately a thing of the past, albeit only recently, and global warming wasn't even a part of our vocabulary yet. It would be a long time before Americans once again focused on nature, from tiny insects to tall mountains. But Dillard was already there with the essays in her Pulitzer Prize-winning book -- works that explores such oddities as the sex life of a praying mantis, the eating habits of a honey-loving wasp and the art of a snowflake.
I liked Dillard's book but found it tedious at times.
Trillin's writing, however, is a fast and light read. His humor is self-effacing. And while he loves a good soupe de poissons de roche, rouille et croutons dores and knows what all that boils down to (fish soup), he also appreciates good barbecue, scrapple, country ham and my personal favorite: red-eye gravy. But what most shines through in this pre-Food Network book is the one thing that clearly supercedes Trillin's love of a good meal -- his wife Alice. ... But then again, she never made him choose.
Both authors were ahead of their time. The TV Food Network didn't exist. And except for the likes of Julia Child, food writing wasn't the big seller it is now when Trillin wrote of his adventures as a "Happy Eater" -- adventures that took him from Paris to Kansas City.
When Dillard's book was published, DDT was fortunately a thing of the past, albeit only recently, and global warming wasn't even a part of our vocabulary yet. It would be a long time before Americans once again focused on nature, from tiny insects to tall mountains. But Dillard was already there with the essays in her Pulitzer Prize-winning book -- works that explores such oddities as the sex life of a praying mantis, the eating habits of a honey-loving wasp and the art of a snowflake.
I liked Dillard's book but found it tedious at times.
Trillin's writing, however, is a fast and light read. His humor is self-effacing. And while he loves a good soupe de poissons de roche, rouille et croutons dores and knows what all that boils down to (fish soup), he also appreciates good barbecue, scrapple, country ham and my personal favorite: red-eye gravy. But what most shines through in this pre-Food Network book is the one thing that clearly supercedes Trillin's love of a good meal -- his wife Alice. ... But then again, she never made him choose.
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