Toni Morrison - A Mercy

I finished this book over two weeks ago, and have been struggling to write the review ever since. I honestly hoped I wouldn't have to drag it into the new year, but there you have it... This is the first Toni Morrison I've read, and I started the book with great trepidation. I've heard phenomenal things about Toni Morrison, and I was intimidated... unsure of what to expect. I really hoped I'd enjoy the book, and it would make me go out and buy more books by Morrison instantaneously, but unfortunately, I was left feeling fairly indifferent. I didn't like the book. I didn't dislike the book... and I'm not accustomed to having that kind of a reaction to a book - especially as I've mulled over it for about two weeks!

A reasonably short book (almost a novella), A Mercy is the story set in the 17th century, and provides insight into the life and times of four women living under Jacob Vaark's roof, prior to slavery becoming commonplace. Vaark is a Dutch trader, who has a farm in rural America, and he gets Florens (a young slave girl) as payment for a bad debt. Rebekka (his wife from England), Lina (a Native American who survived small pox, and now runs the farm), and Sorrow (another servant, who survived a shipwreck, and is grossly incompetent) make up the other three women.

The book starts with Florens' first person narrative, as she leaves the farm in search of the blacksmith, who has medical expertise - expertise needed to save the life of her mistress, Rebekka. However, Florens' primary reason for finding the blacksmith is her unequivocal love for him.

The narrative of each chapter  focuses on one or the other of the female characters (as well as Vaark). We hear their story, determine their origins, and figure out their co-dependencies on each other, as well as their insecurities. Be it Rebekka's ambivalence when she first arrives, and see that Lina runs the farm, or Lina's annoyance with Sorrow's lack of commitment to the jobs at hand; be it Lina's overprotectiveness about Florens, or Florens' desire to wear shoes - just like a lady!

There are multiple layers; a multitude of relationships and emotions explored; events of historical significance weaved into the story. However, I found the book lacking depth, and the characters to be fairly two-dimensional. There was a lot packed into the book, and I found that I couldn't relate to them. Frankly speaking, I didn't really care much about them... other than Florens. The opening chapter had me fascinated, and I found the final chapter to be redeeming, to an extent. But - can a book really tick with just two chapters, and some other captivating events?

Maybe I didn't get the book. Maybe it's just too intelligent for me. Or maybe, it's not one of Morrison's better works. I don't know - it's the first Morrison I've read! Would you recommend trying out another book by the much acclaimed Toni Morrison? Okay, that was a rhetorical question. The main question is: which one?

Rating : C

Junot Diaz - The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao

The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao won the Pultizer Prize for Fiction in 2008. The protagonist, Oscar, is an overweight American boy (with Dominican roots), who aspires to be the next Tolkien. His interests include writing passionately, role-playing games, comic books, sci-fi and fantasy, and of course, women. However, one bad experience with his first love meant his adolescent nerdliness vaporising any iota of a chance he had for young love. He lives in New Jersey with his demanding difficult-to-please mother, Belicia, and his rebellious punk sister, Lola.  While the protagonist of this book is Oscar, it's narrated by Yunior - Oscar's roommate from college, as well as a love interest of Lola. Also, this is not a book about "the brief wondrous life of Oscar Wao" - instead, it's an epic story of the curse (fukú) that Oscar's family has been subject to, for the past two generations, in the hands of Trujillo, a dictator in the Dominican Republic in the mid-1900s.

This is a book rich in history, cultural references and social comparisons.

That's white people for you. They lose a cat and it's an all-points bulletin, but we Dominicans, we lose a daughter and we might not even cancel our appointment at the salon.

We learn of the hardships the family has faced, the co-incidental misfortunes that have befallen each of the members, the lucklessness and hopelessness that seems to embrace all the characters, and how everything is ascribed to fukú - its only counterspell being zafa - which, the narrator admits, that the book might be.

I wonder if this book ain't a zafa of sorts. My very own counterspell.

More importantly, the book is an insight into the harsh rule of Trujillo, a man who

took your wife houses, your properties, put your pops and your moms in jail. Well, it was because he wanted to f- the beautiful daughter of the house. And your family wouldn't let him!

So, despite the fukú that Oscar is under, the past overshadows his present, and the importance of the migration to the States, as well as the hardships his mother has undergone is the predominant story. Oscar's presence, in the grand scheme of things, is "brief" and debatably "wondrous".

Yunior (the narrator) speaks (writes) in colloquial english, with Dominican words and phrases scattered throughout the narrative. All the historical references are accompanied with footnotes, to give context to the events that occur, and this makes the book more real, more interesting, and ultimately, more thought-provoking. I don't know much about Dominican history, and I haven't read any book about DR before. Reading this book has actually been an informative and enriching experience. Dare I say, even wondrous?

The only problem I had with the book was some of the Dominican phrases/words that were left unexplained. I could more-or-less guess what was being said, but, in some cases, I wasn't sure at all. Additional footnotes might have been handy there, if including those references in the main text would break the flow.

Rating: B

Sophie McKenzie - Girl, Missing

Girl, Missing is a story about Lauren, a fourteen year old, who lives in London with her parents. She knows she is adopted, and when she is forced to deliberate on "Who am I?" as part of her school homework, her curiosity in her past increases threefold. Logging on to a website, Missing-Children.com, she finds an American girl who went missing a couple of months prior to her adoption. The photograph resembles her, but, Lauren isn't sure. Her foster parents are refusing to disclose any information as she isn't old enough, but Lauren is desperate to find out more about where she comes from. And - did her parents kidnap her from the American family? Has she even been kidnapped?

This is a quick easy read, full of suspense and mystery. Yet, my major gripe with this book is a result of the coincidental nature of the events - how things conveniently happen in a certain way, against all odds. Major episodes in the book are superficial and lack the detail that would make them realistic. On the other hand, some things aren't realistic at all. Maybe that's a price to pay for children's books?

The story does bring up some interesting points regarding adoption, and the need to know more about where one comes from. It also touches upon some of the issues with adoptions - specially closed adoptions - and how, occasionally innocent people become a victim of circumstance.

Do you find books for children/young adults occasionally lacking depth? Are there any other books on adoption and adoptive parents that you'd recommend? I find the psychology surrounding adoption most intriguing.

Rating : C

My Favourite Reads From The Past Year

So, we're standing at the threshold of 2010, and it's that time of the year... Reflections, introspections, retrospections, that kind of thing. I'm feeling pretty annoyed with myself as I haven't done the hundred books I wanted to, this year, but, I have read some phenomenal books, and I thought I'd just list my favourite reads from the year gone by, which I highly recommend to everyone.  They might not be books that will change your life, but, they will leave you with some food for thought - and, you might reach for the books every once in a while, just to re-read parts of the book that stand out immensely. I attempted doing a top ten list, but, there were about twenty-five names on that list, so I trimmed it, and pruned it, but, it was almost impossible to get it down to ten. Also, if they're all great books, should I really have to choose ten over the others? I think not...

So here they are, listed alphabetically, by author. There are twenty books listed below. Maybe after seeing some of them, you'll understand my dilemma.

1. Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi – Half Of A Yellow Sun
2. Burgess, Anthony – A Clockwork Orange
3. Carter, Angela - The Magic Toyshop
4. Christopher, John – The Death Of Grass
5. Du Maurier, Daphne – My Cousin Rachel (Well, I loved Rebecca as well, but My Cousin Rachel edged it marginally)
6. Fitzgerald, F. Scott – The Great Gatsby
7. Goldman, William – The Princess Bride
8. Harvey, Samantha – The Wilderness
9. Huxley, Aldous – Brave New World
10. Jones, Lloyd – Mr. Pip
11. Marquez, Gabriel Garcia – News of a Kidnapping
12. Mawer, Simon – Glass Room, The
13. Mitchell, David – Number9Dream
14. Murakami, Haruki – Norwegian Wood
15. Roth, Philip – The Plot Against America
16. Rushdie, Salman – Midnight’s Children
17. Saint-Exupery, Antoine de – The Little Prince
18. Smith, Dodie – I Capture The Castle
19. Waters, Sarah – Fingersmith
20. Zafon, Carlos Ruiz – The Shadow Of The Wind

Okay, so that's twenty! But, just trust me - the above twenty are great books which should definitely be read, for different reasons.

I've had an amazing reading year, and I look back fondly on almost all the books I've read*. Here's hoping 2010 is similar... as I sit and make my reading lists for the new year. Look out for that post (plus, three pending book reviews...)!

*There are exceptions, but in time, those will be deleted from the memory, with no backups whatsoever!

Stephanie Meyer - Twilight

If you love the Twilight books, I suggest you don't continue reading this review, despite the fact that it's going to be a really short one. Nope - I didn't enjoy the book, and worse, I didn't see any point to it. I struggled to page 279, and then, I just gave up. On one hand, I do congratulate myself for getting that far, but on the other, I berate myself for wasting that much time. The saving grace is, I didn't buy the books, but borrowed them from a friend, and she's going to get three of them back completely untouched. So, the "story" in a nutshell:

Girl (Bella) moves to her father's, after her mother re-marries and wants to travel with her new husband. While living with her mother, Bella is a misfit, but at Forks, she's cool, and all the boys at school seem to have a crush on her. Yet, she has eyes on only one: Edward. He harbours a dark secret, which she discovers, and despite that, the two of them cannot stay away from one another.

About three things I was absolutely positive. First, Edward was a vampire. Second, there was a part of him - and I didn't know how dominant that part was - that thirsted for my blood. And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.

Most of the book had me wincing with the cheesy lines, and cringing with the constant Adonis and Greek god references. Yes, I know it's for teenagers and young adults - but, it's so gushy, that, I was literally wondering why I was continuing to read it. Of course, when I came across the below, I snapped the book shut. I'd reached my saturation point:

"What am I going to do with you?" he groaned in exasperation. "Yesterday I kiss you, and you attack me! Today you pass out on me!"

[...]

"No - that wasn't the same kind of fainting at all. I don't know what happened." I shook my head apologetically. "I think I forgot to breathe".

I'm just not going to bother rating this book, as I definitely wasn't the target audience, and it's probably my own fault for seeking it out. Guess it's a love it or hate it book, and I unfortunately fell in the latter category.

Oh well...

Winifred Watson - Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day

Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day is a delightful book centring around a middle-aged prudish governess, who has no money and desperately needs a job to click. One morning, a serendipitous incident sees her knock on the door of a beautiful young cabaret singer, instead of a household abound with ill-disciplined children, for a job. However, she never gets an opportunity to state her purpose, but gets caught up in the dramatic life of Miss LaFosse instantaneously. Miss LaFosse and Miss Pettigrew are as different as night and day - the former has numerous lovers, a frivolous lifestyle and many-a-friend, whereas Miss Pettigrew is alone, and in her own words, some day she would be, with no home, no friends, no husband, no children. Yet, as they say, opposites attract, and that certainly holds true for these two women who might as well have come from totally different planets. Caught up in the wonder of Miss LaFosse's lifestyle, Miss Pettigrew allows herself to be "made up", wears fancy gowns, and goes to a cocktail party as well as a night club - each second of the day lifts her morale and confidence a little bit more. She thinks quickly on her feet, resolves tiffs, freely gives relationship advice, and ends up seeming a whole lot worldlier than she actually is.

The book, spanning twenty-four hours, literally describes how Miss Pettigrew "lives for a day," and how she's resigned to her fate of misery and loneliness.

Oh, if only for once the Lord would be good and cause some miracle to happen to keep her here, to see for one day how life could be lived, so that for all the rest of her dull, uneventful days, when things grew bad, she could look back in her mind and dwell on the time when for one perfect day, she, Miss Pettigrew, lived.

This is one of those feel-good books, where you just have a giant smile on your face while reading it. The dialogue is witty, the writing clever, and the words literally lift off the page and dance in front of the reader. Miss Pettigrew is not a typical hero, but, you just want her to have her day!

While this book was written in the 1930s (1938), the environment and narrative seems relatively modern. The women have a flair for the dramatic, and their enthusiasm and frivolity (for lack of better words) is contagious.

It's no use, we women just can't help ourselves. When it comes to love we're born adventurers.

Still, you do wonder about quotes like the below (which is probably the most blatant hint that the book was published pre-World War II):

I wouldn’t advise marrying him. I don’t like jumping to conclusions but I think there was a little Jew in him. He wasn’t quite English.

Rating: A-

Daphne Du Maurier - My Cousin Rachel

For twenty four years, Daphne Du Maurier has eluded me, and I'm still trying to figure out how! I read Rebecca earlier this year, and loved it, which led me to pick up My Cousin Rachel. Surprise, surprise! I loved it as well. My Cousin Rachel is narrated by Philip Ashley, who was orphaned at a young age, and brought up by his older affluent cousin, Ambrose. Philip is totally devoted to Ambrose, and in turn, Ambrose to his naive younger cousin.

Health problems force Ambrose to spend the winter months in Italy, and one year, he sends a letter home saying he is married to Rachel. Philip, consumed by jealousy, isn't able to share the happiness and excitement that the friends and family seem to revel in.

My cousin Rachel had a dozen personalities or more and each one more hateful than the last. I saw her forcing Ambrose to his knees to play at bears, the children astride his back, and Ambrose consenting with a humble grace, having lost all dignity.

When Ambrose's letters home mention sickness, and further ill-health, Philip makes plans to visit his cousin. The last letter received before his departure has an almost illegible scroll: For God's sake, come to me quickly. She has done for me at last, Rachel my torment. If you delay, it may be too late. Ambrose.

By the time Philip reaches Florence, Ambrose has passed on - a result of a brain tumour, the doctors day. Philip refuses to believe that, and insists that Rachel has had something to do with his cousin's unfortunate and untimely demise. Rachel has disappeared, and left the handling of her affairs (and villa) to a untrustworthy-looking man, Rainaldi.

Philip, the heir of Ambrose's estate, returns home and attempts continuing running things as he has been taught, silently glad that Rachel wasn't left anything in Ambrose's will. However, when Rachel comes to England, she seems to be the diametric opposite of what Philip thought, and he quickly discards his many theories associating her with Ambrose's death.

Not having a relationship with any woman previously, Philip is drawn to Rachel like a moth to a flame, and acts naively and impulsively - much reminiscent of the narrator in Rebecca. Yet, Rachel plays the part of the mourning widow to perfection, instead of acting like the black widow... yet, the questions are always there: was Rachel responsible for the events in Italy? Will history repeat itself?

The beauty of this book is in Du Maurier's immense skill of weaving a dramatic plot, that leaves the reader on the edge of their seat. Hints are scattered around artistically, and the various clues that make up the story keeps the reader guessing right till the very end - and beyond. If you had questions while reading the book, the number of questions that flood your mind once the book is completed increases tenfold.

Rating: A

Eudora Welty - The Robber Bridegroom

I stumbled upon The Robber Bridegroom in a second hand bookstore, and was intrigued immediately, by the  quote on the cover:

A Gothic fairy tale set in the eighteenth century Mississippi.

I like Gothic fairy tales, most of the time, and this was no exception. It had all the key ingredients, worthy of a Grimm tale: a rich plantation owner, a beautiful daughter, the evil step mother, the bandits, and the neighbour's pesky son.

Rosamond Musgrove lives with her father, a plantation owner, and her evil stepmother, Salome. While the father dotes on Rosamond, the typical step mother sends her to the far sides of the woods to get herbs, hoping some ill will fall upon her. She even hires the neighbour's idiot son to harm her step daughter... And, one day, harm does befall the naive innocent daughter, when she meets a bandit while running errands, and from that point, things change...

When I first finished this book, packed with interesting characters, and a couple of parallel stories (including tales about Little Harp and Mike Fink), I was disappointed. I thought the characters hadn't really been developed, and the book was superficial. Now, though, I think I appreciate its subtleties a lot more: be it the interaction between the bandits, the choices made by Rosamond, or the varying emotions that carry the book. Barring a couple of scenes, the book is practically suitable for children, and through the entire book, you do wonder when the fairy god mother is going to emerge to wave her wand, and make it all okay.

Rating: C

Peter Carey - My Life As A Fake

Peter Carey, an Australian novelist, is one of only two authors to have won the Booker Prize twice, for the works Oscar and Lucinda (1988) and True History of the Kelly Gang (2001). While I have both books on my to-read list, I thought I'd introduce myself to Peter Carey with one of his later books (published in 2004), My Life As A Fake. The premise of My Life As A Fake is based on a real literary hoax in Australia in the 1940s: When Ern Malley, a garage mechanic, died at a young age, his sister sent a bunch of poems written by him to a modernist magazine, hoping to determine if the poems were any good or not. The magazine, Angry Penguin, devoted a whole issue to the works of Malley, as the editor thought they were written by a poet in the same class as Dylan Thomas or WH Auden. The public reaction wasn't quite what he expected, and later on, it was found out that the editor had been hoaxed by two young poets who were in the Army at that point in time. The two young poets were exhausted of the pretentious intellectuals that defined most of the world around them, and they just wanted to call them out as 'fakes' - not real intellects or, real connoisseurs of poetry.

Carey's novel is a complicated fictionalised version of these events, with new characters being drawn in, and a Frankenstien-esque character emerging. When Sarah, the editor of an esteemed poetry publication in England, travels to Malaysia with a friend of her parents (John Slater, a famous poet), she meets Chubb - the hoaxer. Against the warnings of Slater, she speaks to him, and hears his story, hoping to find an epic poem for her magazine, which he put before her on one of their first meetings. In the fictional account, the editor of the magazine kills himself, after coming face to face with Chubb's monster: McCorkle. While McCorkle originally existed only in Chubb's head, as the book progresses we find that someone does come forward, insisting he's McCorkle... and then meets Chubb and accuses him of not giving him a childhood, and then requesting his birth certificate! In fact, the poem Chubb showed Sarah was written by the "true" McCorkle.

The story takes both, Chubb and McCorkle to various places, as the creator tries to destroy the monster, who is hell-bent on ruining his life - first by kidnapping his daughter, and then going on an adventure in the Malaysian jungles! The sequence of beautifully described, extremely vivid and extraordinary events, set in Malaysia and Indonesia, with some very colourful characters is surreal, and at times, one does think unnecessary. Yet, it does boil down to Sarah's patience in return for that one piece of genius which Chubb put before her initially.

While the story intrigues, my main gripe with the book was that it was very passive. All the events were in the past, and for the most part, Chubb was narrating his story to Sarah. Within his story, another protagonist emerged, and it got increasingly confusing to figure out who was saying what - specially as the editors and the authors decided to forgo the use of double quotes. I had to go back and re-read parts of it, just to keep track of what was going on. As the book progressed, I found I really didn't care that much as to how things unfolded, and ended up speed reading (skim reading) the last hundred-odd pages.

Rating : D

Stieg Larsson - The Girl Who Played With Fire

The Girl Who Played With Fire is the second book in Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy, starring Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist. The tables have turned though, and while last time Mikael was on the wrong side of the law, this time it's Lisbeth. Lisbeth has had her share of trouble with the law before, but, since, she's presumably cleaned up her act, and is not as prone to spontaneous acts of stupidity as she once was. That was thanks to the careful guidance of her guardian, Palmgren. Since his stroke, the baton passed on to the despicable Bjurman, who had sexually assaulted Lisbeth in the previous book, and Lisbeth sought revenge - however, she didn't go to the cops with her problems, but took matters into her own hand.

Now, Bjurman is found dead, as are two friends of Mikael (Dag Svensson and Dag's girlfriend, Mia Johansson), who were working on an expose about sex trade and trafficking, for the Millennium magazine, which would ruin the reputation of various people in high places. Before his death, Svensson had informed Mikael of a new lead: Zala, a mysterious powerful stranger, who no one was willing to talk about. Lisbeth, who had been travelling for a few months prior to these murders, hacked into Blomkvist's computer, and saw the references to Zala - a bad memory from her own troubled and disturbed past.

When Lisbeth's prints are found on the gun, she is assumed to be responsible for all three murders. With a history of being violent, and having trouble with the cops, is it wrong to suspect her? Specially, as she was at Dag's and Mia's place just before the double murders occurred. Everyone is out looking for her, with only one person voicing his unequivocal belief that Lisbeth is innocent: Mikael Blomkvist - who doesn't even know how to get in touch with her! Lisbeth has cut off Blomkvist completely, and changed her phone number and address.

Coincidences run deep as Mikael and the rest of the Millennium crew carry out their own investigation, side by side with the cops. The Millennium crew are working on the assumption that the murders are a result of the controversial subject the couple were working on, whereas the cops have their "suspect" but lack the motive. Will the Millennium crew determine the real culprits, and find Zala, or will the cops find Lisbeth Salander, who seems to have dropped off the face of the planet?

This book is suspenseful - a page turner, if you like. Again, we come face to face with the darker side of the Scandinavian country, as well as find out the past of Lisbeth Salander, and what "All The Evil" was, that led her to become the tough-as-nails law-averse headstrong girl that she is.

The coincidences present in this book are convenient, to say the least - what are the odds that Mikael will be working with two people who are out to find a central person in Lisbeth's past? And how does Mikael conveniently be the person to take a call that gives them their biggest break?

With respect to the language and product placement, my complaints about this book are pretty similar to its predecessor. The Apple product placement is still all too rampant, as is the writing extremely descriptive.

She walked gingerly into the 7-Eleven where she bought some shampoo, toothpaste, soap, kefir, milk, cheese, eggs, bread, frozen cinnamon rolls, coffee, Lipton's teabags, a jar of pickles, apples, a large pack of Billy's Pan Pizza and a pack of Marlboro. She paid with a Visa card.

However, just like The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, this book's definitely worth a read, as the characters of Lisbeth and Mikael transcend the pages, with their individuality, sense of morality and loyalty, sheer intelligence, heavy conscience and utmost bravery.

Rating: B

Simon Mawer - The Glass Room

Shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2009, Simon Mawer's immense novel revolves around The Glass Room, or, Der Glasraum: A modernist house resulting from an architect whose maxim is ornamentation is crime. The conception of the house happens when Victor (a Jew, who owns an automobile manufacturing company) and Liesel Landauer are gifted a plot of land by Liesel's parents, on their wedding. The parents suggest building a good and solid house; yet, Victor, looking into the future of Czechoslovakia, a young nation of hope, conceives a modernist house, without the fortresses, and gothic windows. He actively searches for an architect to undertake this commission, and while the young couple honeymoon in Vienna, they meet Rainer von Abt, a self-proclaimed poet of space and structure, who desires to take Man out of the cave and float him in the air; to give him a glass space to inhabit. And, so the the wondrous Glass Room is born.

Once completed, it had become a palace of light, light bouncing off the chrome pillars, light refulgent on the walls, light glistening on the dew in the garden, light reverberating from glass - a masterpiece created by von Abt for the Landauers. The time is 1930s though, and the nation of hope is soon going to find out that the future is not as optimistic as they foresaw.

As history unfolds, and Czechoslovakia is invaded by the Nazis, the young couple flee the country for Switzerland, where they hope to build a stable life, with their two children. The relationships that were initiated early on in the book: Victor's almst obsessive affair with a prostitute, and Liesel's close friendship with Hana (a "modern" non-orthodox vivacious character), run much stronger now, as Victor and Liesel drift apart, but remain married. These intense relationships and emotions carry the book for the most part.

However, the main protagonist of the book isn't any person, but The Glass Room itself. So, when the family flees, the focus shifts to the Nazi lab that is set up there, which runs "tests" on people, in order to prove that the Jews are indeed inferior to the Nazis. A new host of characters are introduced, who play their short part exceptionally well. Once the Nazis leave, Der Glasraum is owned by the Soviet, for their lodgings. And then, it becomes a children's hospital, and as before, a new host of characters are introduced. Finally, the Czechoslovakian state wants to take it over, and make it a museum.

One would think that the myriad of characters, plots and time-lines would make this book cluttered, and cliched; that it would run the risk of trying to be too profound; that the varying emotions and relationships would be overdone and hyperbolic. However, Mawer, via some artistry (or waving of the wand), manages to escape these criticisms for this absolutely fantastic book, with the atypical protagonist.

At the beginning of the book is an author's note, that reads The Glass Room is a work of fiction, but the house and its settings are not fictional. A little researching indicated that the house is based on Villa Tugendhat, designed by the German architect, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, in Brno. It was built between 1928 and 1930, and is said to be the icon of modern architecture.

Rating: A+

Steig Larsson - The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Stieg Larsson's The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo has dominated the bestsellers' chart this year, and the Swedish author has received much acclaim posthumously (Larsson died of a heart attack at the age of just fifty). It first came to my attention about a year ago (February 2009), and I added it to my ever-growing list, but, was quick to discount it as another "Da Vinci Code" - lots of hype, minimal substance. Finally though, the crime-thriller-lover in me gave in, and for that I'm grateful. I enjoyed the book thoroughly, but simultaneously, some aspects of it annoyed me a fair bit. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is the first book in the Millennium series, and in its opening pages, the reader is introduced to the main protagonist of the story, Mikael Blomkvist, a disgraced financial journalist, who has just lost a libel case (against one of the business tycoons), and simultaneously, forced to temporarily relieve himself of his job at the small independent magazine, Millennium, which founded along with his best friend, Erika.

Out of a job, and in a bit of a financial flux, an offer comes to him by way of Henrik Vagner, an industrialist who offers Blomkvist over 2 million kroner, to write a memoir of the Vagner family. However, what Vagner really wants the journalist to do is solve a forty year old murder mystery - Harriet, Vagner's niece, disappeared from the small island one fateful day, and no one had heard from her since, leading to the only reasonable conclusion: she had fallen victim to foul play. Despite his (and Erika's) better judgment, Blomkvist does take up the job, and gets caught up in the web of part thieves, misers, bullies and incompetents, that makes up the Vagner family tree. Some members are pro-Nazi, some reclusive, some downright crazy, and all, it seems, with secrets to hide!

Considering the task at hand (solving a mystery forty years old, where all the evidence has been examined and cross-examined, and all the clues washed up), Blomkvist is convinced that he will not find anything. However, as the story takes its course, he comes face to face with "the girl with the dragon tattoo", Lisbeth Salander. Salander is a complex lonely character, with multiple tattoos and piercings. She has her own sense of morality, does not abide by the country's law, has serious intimacy issues, has photographic memory and is a genius hacker - a skill that comes in handy, as Salander acts as his research assistant and co-investigator.

The book picks up pace, and once you're in the midst of all the action, it's almost impossible to put down the book (note: I was up 'til half two in the morning finishing this book, on Wednesday, when I had to go to work Thursday!). You see Salander dealing with the troubles in her life her own way, acting on her own impulses; Blomkvist trying to escape the media circus around his name; Vagner desperate to solve a mystery that has consumed his whole life; and a myriad of other characters who seem to have their own whims and fancies.

Also, while on the face of it, this is a crime thriller, the book explores many other themes as well, specially those of misogyny and anti-Semitism. Initially, the book was called, Men Who Hate Women, and that should give the reader an idea as to what to expect, and trust me - at times, some of the more sadistic scenes will make you want to turn the page as fast as possible, while simultaneously, you won't be able to peel your eyes away from a single word!

So, yes, the book is engrossing and it's a pure page turner. Yet, it needs to go under the editor's red pencil once again - I have serious doubts about it even being edited just the once. There's some poor grammar, and while I do like descriptive writing, there is something called going overboard...

The office was a rectangle of more than 120 square meters. One wall was dominated by a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf nine metres long containing a remarkable assortment of literature: biographies, history, business and industry, and A4 binders. The books were arranged in no apparent order. It looked like a bookshelf that was used. The opposite wall was dominated by a desk of dark oak. On the wall behind the desk was a large collection of pressed flowers in neat meticulous rows.

Only the last line of the above paragraph has anything to do with the plot of the novel! Two hundred odd pages could have easily been slashed.

There are also too many characters, and I had to continuously look at the family tree charted at the beginning of the book, to keep track of who's who. I got the feeling that not all the characters were essential, but, they existed to make the book slightly more confusing.

Finally, I've always associated product placement with movies and TV shows, but never with books. However, this entire book had so many brand references, that it made me wonder - is this the future? Books being used to "place" products in the market as well?

The loss of her computer was depressing, but not disastrous. Salander had had an excellent relationship with it during the year she owned it. She had backed up all her documents, and she had an older desktop Mac G3 at home, as well as a five year old Toshiba P.C. laptop that she could use. But she needed a fast modern machine.

Unsurprisingly, she set her sights on the best available alternative: the new Apple PowerBook G4/1.0 GHz in an aluminium case with a Power PC 7451 processor with an AltiVec Velocity Engine, 960 megs of RAM and a sixty gig hard  drive. It had BlueTooth and built in C.D and D.V.D. burners.

The above mentioned laptop spec is already outdated, and PowerBooks haven't existed for a few years now, but, that's not the point. Not only do descriptions like the above prevent the book from becoming as timeless as it could be, but, it's also descriptions that most readers don't care about. Don't get me wrong - I love everything Apple, and hate most things Microsoft, but, the random incessant name-dropping is a turn off.

If you can deal with some ramblings, and bad editing, this book comes highly recommended. I'm already half way through the second book, so, I think that speaks for itself. However, if you're pedantic about things like that, and don't indulge yourself in much "guilty pleasures,"  maybe you should skip this one?

Rating: B-