Wow!

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo--Awesome so far!

I'm not really into crime novels, or books that are complicated, or super suspenseful. However, once in a while I get a book in my hands that I have a hard time putting down, that goes quickly, and I can find myself reading a hundred pages at a time without even noticing (The Da Vinci Code comes to mind). So, this one definitely is worth reading, and worth being slightly sidetracked for, as it's not on my original list. I'm only about 150ish pages in (644 pages total) but it's awesome so far.

I also love stories where there are two seemingly unrelated characters whose stories I know are meant to intertwine somehow. Anna Karenina has an example of this. The Two Towers did to an extent, except that there are books that start with two characters who then part, but the author tells us their stories simultaneously after their parting (i.e. The Lovely Bones, The Two Towers). However, I find the first kind more interesting because, apart from the two stories that the author begins telling, there is also the anticipation of how the characters are related enough to be in the same book.

For example, Anna and Levin are the protagonists in Anna Karenina, and they are protagonists of their own stories within the same book. The fact that Anna and Stiva are siblings and Levin is his friend is not enough. The book is titled Anna Karenina, so why even bring Stiva's friend into it at all? However, later in the book, Levin and Anna meet, giving way to an earth shattering comparrisson of the two characters, and an obvious look at each character's journey throughout the book. Anna started well-off and then began a downward spiral when she started her affair with Vronsky. Likewise, Levin started off in total despair when Kitty had turned him down, but eventually married her and began an incline. The meeting of Anna and Levin lets the reader put together the fact that Anna and Levin have stories that are mirror images of each other, which becomes more apparent as the story ends.

I'm anticipating the same to be true with Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist. The fact that Lisbeth is investigating Blomkvist is not enough yet...these two must be connected in some way. After all, this book is titled after the female lead just as Anna Karenina is, but so far I have heard the most about Mikael's life on the island with Henrik. We will have to see what Lisbeth is up to soon. I also wonder what all of the facts about domestic violence against women in Sweden is about, seeing as the only thing of that nature to have happened so far is the speculation of murder of Harriet. With the attention this issue, as well as public acclaim for Salander's character, she must take on a larger role in the story as it continues.

Ok! Onward!