This year, I finally finished reading the last book of
the Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson, and I loved every single book. I know
technically another book to the series just came out, but it's not written by
Larsson and I'm still unsure about whether I want to read it or not. It just
doesn't feel right to me. Anyway, I thought I would share with you some of the
reasons why I think you should read these books.
1) Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist
The main characters in this series felt
unbelieveble real. They were complex and captivating. Lisbeth Salander is one
of the most interesting characters I have ever encountered; she was incredibly
smart and at the same time it was mentioned often through the series that she
likely suffered from asperger syndrome, which made the depiction of this
syndrom that's in the autism spectrum, such a positive representation. Also,
Lisbeth had a personal moral code that didn't always fit in the conceptions of
sociaty, but that just added to her character. Blomkvist also had a personal
moral code and the fact that they both had one became a fascinating way of
studying what people would do or wouldn't do, what they found acceptable and
what they didn't. About Blomkvist as a character, I can say he had a lot of
flaws, but he was so clever and did his job with such a passion that I forgot
about them most of the time.
2) The way it portrait some of the
horrible things that happen in the world
There was never violence for the sake of
violence in these books. There wasn't an enjoyment in talking about the
horrible things that happened. They were shown as facts because they were,
horrible things happen all the time. But also, not only horrible things happen
and Larsson showed this beautifully, he showed in his books there is still
kindness, compassion, love.
3) The way it portrait the relationship
between society and gender
The central subject of these books was men
who don't love women (that's actually the original name of the first book!). In
that sense, often in this series the author talked about discrimination,
violence, and harrasment against women that was perpetraited by men who
disregarded them as nothing. But at the same time, it had all kind of amazing
female characters that grew as individuals and that supported each other
though out the series. It was a equilibrium that showed all the things a
lot of women have to go though in life and it also showed that women can
overcome so much and that they are incredible.
4)The secundary characters
It wasn't only Lisbeth and Michael that
were engaging characters; I felt completely engrossed in the live and work of a
lot of other characters, each one of them had a unique personality that allowed
them to be gripping and riveting. It could be a journalist, police
officer, or doctor, there was always something that made them stand out.
5) The journalistic aspect of this series
I thinks this was one of my favortie parts
of this series, because it wasn't only a police or private detective
investigation, it showed the rigorous investigation that a lot of journalists
do everyday to hold accountable certain people that have been trusted with
power. Nonetheless, it also showed the way media can become sensationalist and
spread misinformation. It was entralling to see the opossite sides of the media
and the series felt like an invitation to reflect on this, as well as many
other things.
Have you read this series? What did you
think about it? or are you planning on reading it?