Stieg Larsson's visually textured vibrant storytelling
Stieg Larsson's two books that have been posthumously translated into English, "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and "The Girl Who Played with Fire", are unusually vibrant and compelling fare for the crime genre. As is the wont with this genre, there are murders to be solved, plenty of bad guys, also corrupt ones, offset set by the well meaning folks and the brilliant but eccentric heroes. These books, however, are different.
Larsson's narrative is focused and relentless. His writing assumes intelligence. There are no digressions to explain history or science or theology or politics, a common feature of so many novels that supplement simple prose and a straightforward story line with diverting prattle to give the appearance of a book with some literary merit. Larsson's main character's are finely and fully drawn and to the extent that they have certain comic book action hero characteristics, they are damn good ones. The books have pace, build momentum, and integrate threads of the story seamlessly.
What is almost bizarre about the books, from this perspective, is that they create a memory that is more visual than a linear story. Having read "The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo" well over a year ago, my thoughts about this first part of what ultimately will be a trilogy came as if I had seen a film. Did I see this scene or just read it. It created an unusual impression.
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" was absorbing, but its resolution evolved into a Hannibal Lector like hideous chaos. Like much of this genre the ending seemed somewhat contrived, with too much work to tie up all the loose ends. "The Girl Who Played with Fire" has no such flaw. The story never lets up and the ending speaks for itself, a cut without any epilogue type conclusion. It's a much stronger novel than the first one, although the background of the first book may have set the second up for a faster break from the gate.
Larsson's narrative is focused and relentless. His writing assumes intelligence. There are no digressions to explain history or science or theology or politics, a common feature of so many novels that supplement simple prose and a straightforward story line with diverting prattle to give the appearance of a book with some literary merit. Larsson's main character's are finely and fully drawn and to the extent that they have certain comic book action hero characteristics, they are damn good ones. The books have pace, build momentum, and integrate threads of the story seamlessly.
What is almost bizarre about the books, from this perspective, is that they create a memory that is more visual than a linear story. Having read "The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo" well over a year ago, my thoughts about this first part of what ultimately will be a trilogy came as if I had seen a film. Did I see this scene or just read it. It created an unusual impression.
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" was absorbing, but its resolution evolved into a Hannibal Lector like hideous chaos. Like much of this genre the ending seemed somewhat contrived, with too much work to tie up all the loose ends. "The Girl Who Played with Fire" has no such flaw. The story never lets up and the ending speaks for itself, a cut without any epilogue type conclusion. It's a much stronger novel than the first one, although the background of the first book may have set the second up for a faster break from the gate.
posted by John Borden at 10:08 AM
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