Book by Steig Larsson, Movie directed by David Fincher
Review by Stephanie Bragg
Family drama, isolation, and murder. Many years ago a young member of the Vanger family disappeared from the family estate on Hedeby Island, presumed murdered, but the body has never been located and the killer never found. The aging Henrik Vanger wants answers and justice for Harriet. He hires a disgraced journalist, Mikael Blomkvist, and a unique computer hacker, Lisbeth Salander, to dig around the family and weasel out the murderer.
I must admit I was super excited to read this book. The reviews are amazing from critics, online sites, and acquaintances. Larsson wrote an extremely compelling character in Lisbeth Salander, there is so much more to her than her surface appearance. The book is detailed to a fault. Lisbeth’s chapters are peppered throughout with an exhaustive character study of the Vanger family. I’m not proud to say it, but it took me a year to finish the book because I got bored with the family history lessons. Once I picked it back up I pushed through the muck to find an intense mystery with fantastic action.
Then I heard they were making a movie…one never expects a movie to be anywhere near as good as the book. But in this reviewer’s opinion, what the movie did brilliantly was condense the family history lesson and hone in on the action and mystery. Rooney Mara immersed herself in the role of Lisbeth and is practically unrecognizable.
Book or movie, I loved them both!
Find out what happened to Harriet Vanger!
Check availability of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson
Check availability of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo on DVD
About the reviewer: Stephanie Bragg is a member of the reference staff at Tredyffrin Public Library and new mom to a little boy. She loves Disney, Doctor Who, books & movies (when she can get the time!)
