Friday, January 18, 2013

The First Girl with Fire

The Girl Who Played with Fire by Steig Larsson
Like the first one in the series, I really got caught up in the mystery in the book, and couldn't stop reading it. I definitely devoted a few late nights to this because I just couldn't fall asleep till I got just one more clue of the mystery. It's funny because I really didn't think I'd like these books based on all the brutality I heard they included, and while it is there, I didn't really mind it, since I was so caught up in everything else.

A lot has been said on this book, so rather than repeat the same things as everyone else, I wanted to mention a few minor plot lines that I really appreciate. First a someone big part of the plot (and somewhat of a spoiler), is that an author dies before his book is published leaving others to decide what to do with his work. I think it's a bit of eerie foreshadowing since Steig Larsson died before he could publish all of his books. Supposedly he had written, or at least outlined, 3 or 4 more Millennium books, but if I remember correctly his family and girlfriend have been arguing over what to do with them. I do think based on some of the actions in this book, you have to speculate what Larsson own belief would be.

A second aspect I really loved was the cameo of Fermat's Last Theorem. Having a Masters degree of Mathematics it's something I am familiar with, and while I don't know the intricate outlines of the proof, I do know basic idea of what it involves. So the fact that Lisbeth supposedly solves the theorem by hand really bugs me. And I wasn't a fan of how they somewhat "dumb-ed down" the problem. But I still loved the fact that they choose a real problem for Lisbeth to be fascinated by.

I think a lot of people have read this by now. But if you're avoiding it because you think you won't like it, know that I felt that way too, and instead I'm loving the time I'm spending reading them.

5/5

Today I'm linking up with Blonde Undercover Blonde for Book Club Friday!

7 comments:

  1. I love the entire series and read them like a crazy woman. I did have trouble keeping track of the names, since they were so unfamiliar to me. But, loved the series! It was also one of the few movies that I feel stayed pretty true to the book...

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  2. i liked this series too even though it was crazy intense/distrubing at times :)

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  3. I love this series as well but this one (the second book) was the hardest for me to get through! The very last one took me two days to get through haha it was really good!

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  4. I had a hard time getting into the first book of the series, but this one and the last were quick reads for me. I'm very unfamiliar with Mathematics, so I was kind of happy the author made it a little easier for me to get, but I totally understand your opinion!

    Have a great weekend!

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  5. i really need to read this series... i love the movie

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  6. Out of the trilogy this was my favorite book. I felt like the beginning wasn't as slow as the first one.

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  7. That is insane about the foreshadowing in a way! Didn't know that. i've seen the first movie, but haven't gotten around to the books yet :(

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