skip to main content

The Kitchen Table

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

16 years ago

Has anyone read this? My sister-in-law loaned it to me and I started it yesterday. She loved it, so did her husband and a couple more of my friends. I'm around page 75 and I find it really boring. I'm hoping it picks up

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (18)

Jodi_SoCal
16 years ago
Excellent, excellent book! I was just talking to a Swedish friend Monday night about the book (which takes place in Sweden). He thinks it's one of the best books ever. And the Swedish version of the film has amazing visuals that matched my mind's eye perfectly. Can't wait to read the next book in the trilogy.

Jodi-
maryanntx
16 years ago
I just picked up that book to start today. Our dentist here in
town can't say enough good things about it and also The Girl Who Played With Fire.
Related Discussions
March! What are you reading?
Q
Comments (115)
I just heard on the radio that our 'local' author Winifred Foley has died aged 94. I know many of you enjoyed her Child of the Forest which has now been reprinted as Full Hearts and Empty Bellies. If you go to the site below you should be able to hear the interview on iPlayer with her made a few weeks ago. Press 'Listen Now' for today (Tuesday's) prog, or 'Listen Again' after Tuesday. The item is about 10 mins into the programme. It is not easy to understand everything WF says as she is very old and deaf and has a 'Forest' accent but it's well-worth concentrating. Listen out for the bit where she tells the story of receiving a 'doll' for Christmas made of an old black stocking with two odd button eyes. She is so disappointed with Father Christmas that she tells the family that "'im can take the bugger back." Here is a link that might be useful: Winifred Foley Interview
...See More
A Favorite Discussion Reprised
Q
Comments (49)
Oh, absolutely! Maggie Smith was/is and forever will be Jean Brodie in my mind. I also think young Pamela Franklin as Sandy Stranger was outstanding. I saw the film first back in 1969 and was so blown away that I wanted to read the novel immediately. But, for some reason that I can't recall now, I was unable to locate the book so there was a several-year gap between my seeing the film (two or three times) and my actually reading the book. I found Muriel Spark's style of telling the story rather annoying: She would jump into the narrative and start relating what Sandy Stranger was doing a quarter of a century into the future, in other words foreshadowing without any of the subtlety in which that technique is usually used. I later learned that this was something that Muriel Spark did in some of her other novels -- it was almost a 'signature' of hers. Well, I didn't like it...at first, perhaps because the film adaptation left that 'device' or 'technique' (or whatever is the proper literary term) completely out and instead told a straightforward, though somewhat telescoped, story. I also noticed that some of Miss Brodie's set, the crÃÂ¨me de la crÃÂ¨me, were missing from the film. There were six girls in the book, but they were conflated to four for the film's purposes and three of the girls (besides Sandy) were composites. For example, it wasn't Jenny in the book whom Miss Brodie said would be "known for sex." But I don't think the conflation of the girls in the film really matters. Neither does the restoring to wholeness of the one-armed Teddy Lloyd (the art teacher) in the book. A two-armed actor playing a one-armed part is sometimes not very believable -- and can be distracting -- so I think that was a good call of the filmmakers. I have a bit of a harder time with what happened to Mary McGregor in the film that was completely different in Spark's novel. I've puzzled over that change for years. The only way I can reconcile it is to say: Well, it happened one way in the book. It happened another way in the film. They both work. I guess I'll have to compartmentalize one from the other. And that's what I've done, basically, for forty years. Has something similar happened to any of you, either with The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie or some other book/film combo? Well, I was almost certain that the books and films I listed above were ones that I remembered RPers discussing in other conversations and reviewing in monthly threads. I still think they probably were, but the discussers and reviewers must not have been presently posting members, because the only bites I've got so far are about Out of Africa. Are you sure none of you have read or seen The Age of Innocence? :\-)
...See More
July already! What are you reading?
Q
Comments (125)
For some reason I ended up buying both hard cover and paperback copies of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night and never read it until now. Loved it. I know little about the main character's special needs, but enjoyed the way the plot surprised me. I guessed the "murderer" early on, but that was such a small element of the story that I didn't care. I also came away thinking that dealing with those special needs was very much like computer programming. Unless one gets it exactly right communication doesn't happen. Which in the context of the story seems to be a major subtext for those of us who've spent a lot of time programming. Been doing some re-reading of Zelazny. Jack of Shadows I didn't remember at all. Mythic and lyrical, his is a world where one side of the earth always faces the sun and is ruled by science, the other side is always in darkness and magic reigns. Much as I love Gaiman, he just misses, except in Sandman, the charm of Zelazny.
...See More
Ender's Game --- the movie
Q
Comments (16)
The boycott of Ender's Game does raise the issue of how to reconcile your response to a work of art to an artist's behavior. Card's opinions, however, are hardly a secret. He has not just been a recent opponent of same-sex marriage. He has been publicly expressing views against gay people for years. If there is any censorship against Card it must be coming from the movie studio, since his views are clearly going to hit them in their pocketbook. I know of some younger readers who found Ender's Game to be a book with Fascist overtones. Card, however, seems to take any dissent to his views as religious persecution, which to me is like having your cake and eating it too. Even if I was interested in SF, he seems like such a paranoid, neurotic person, I think I would rather just skip his books. It reminds me a bit of all those German opera singers who joined the Nazi party before WWII. After the war, most of the great opera houses would not hire them. Just because someone is an artist doesn't mean that they are absolved from the facing the consequences of their behavior or politics.
...See More
hhireno
16 years ago
Overall, I really liked the book but some of the subject matter was difficult for me to read. I found the story compelling and was glad I stuck with it, even with the sex and violence, since it was key to the story. I also read the "Fire" book and am looking forward to the third book. I do want to know what happens to these characters.

I think my local art house movie theater might be showing the Swedish movie soon. I'm torn about seeing it. I'd love to see the book come to life but I'm also worried the parts of the book that I had trouble reading will be worse in living color, so to speak. It's one thing for me to imagine it and then forget it, it's another for the image to be burned into my brain.

Gee, I hope I'm not scaring you off with my squeamishness. Bottom line: I would recommend the book to most of my book club friends.
Jean
alisande
16 years ago
My gosh, it has over a thousand reviews on Amazon--why had I never heard of it?? Now I'm intrigued......
casey_nfld
Original Author
16 years ago
I'm not a squeamish person, I read Stephen King! LOL But I just find it boring. I'm going to give it another 100 or so pages and if it doesn't get any better I will give up on it. I've got a ton of other books I want to read.
alisande
16 years ago
Casey, this (from an Amazon review) will at least reassure you that you're not the only one:

I am about a third of the way into it, and literally hundreds of characters have been introduced. NOT ONE of them has done anything interesting, so I am finding it nearly impossible to keep them straight. I am the type that will be more or less satisfied reading the back of a cereal box, but this is BAD. I mean bad. The mystery is dull. The who done it is more like a who cares. The two primary characters are so far not very likable at all - in fact, the review descriptions are more interesting than the book descriptions of them.
casey_nfld
Original Author
16 years ago
Ah-ha! I feel the same way about all the characters, and he switches from one to another so quickly I'm having trouble keeping them straight too.
vannie
16 years ago
I tried and it was a no go. I hate to waste my time on a book I don't finish. That's why recommendations are so important, but I know people who loved it. It's just not me!
woodie
16 years ago
Interesting comments! I have this book on loan from a friend who just raved and raved about it and I started it and put it away 2 months ago. I might try it again and see how it goes, but there are just too many other books to read to keep reading something that just doesn't connect with me.
colleenoz
16 years ago
hhireno, there are some very confronting scenes in the movie; you may find them difficult.
tobygirl
16 years ago
I tried reading it, too. I thought the writing style, as well as some phrases and wording, a bit strange. I tossed it up to the translation. I also found it boring. I may try it again, though.
hhireno
16 years ago
casey nfld,
If you're not hooked in the first 100 pages then I'd say move on to another book. I used to be the type that had to finish a book once I started it. But with age sometimes comes wisdom, or maybe less patience, so now if it's not speaking to me I move on to the next book on my pile. Life is too short to waste it on books that don't interest you.

colleenoz,
Thanks for the heads-up, I think I'll just skip the movie. I'm sure someone is already planning a US version of the story. They'll probably change the story so much, except the sex parts!, that it won't be recognizable. I'll also be skipping that movie.
maryanntx
16 years ago
I've read 35 pages so far and now I'm wondering if I should continue. I think I will and hope I enjoy it as much as many have.
Happyladi
16 years ago
I read it and enjoyed it but I know what you are saying. It is a little slow.
kacram
16 years ago
100 pages... I'd give it up. If you aren't in to it now,
I wouldn't waste anymore time.
colleenoz
16 years ago
Actually, the movie is very good, they've tightened it up and cut out most of the minor characters and all the little side-plots but remained very true to the book. One of the best book-to-movie conversions I've seen.
casey_nfld
Original Author
16 years ago
Well I stuck with it. It finally started to get a bit intereting at page 200....I think I'll finish it now.
maryanntx
16 years ago
I just finished it and really enjoyed it! I couldn't put it down.

Related Stories

DECORATING STYLES So Your Style Is: Swedish

By Lisa Frederick

Fresh faced and cheerful, Swedish style marries casualness and elegance with ease. Could its lighter look uplift your home?

LIFE The Wisdom of Kenny Rogers, for Declutterers

By Alison Hodgson

No need to gamble on paring-down strategies when the country music legend has already dealt out some winning advice

DECORATING GUIDES 12 Design Tips From Guy-Friendly Spaces

By Mitchell Parker

Man up with these ideas from dudes who've navigated the decorating process with style and gusto

PLANTING IDEAS 8 Sumptuous Shade Garden Plant Combinations

By Olander Garden Design

Enjoy these plant combinations made for spots with varying levels of shade and different garden zones

GARDENING GUIDES Learn the Secret to Bigger and Better Roses

By Noelle Johnson Landscape Consulting

Grow beautiful roses using both ordinary and unusual soil amendments

SHOP HOUZZ Houzz Products: A Den for Daenerys

Conquer an ordinary room with furnishings and decor fit for the queen of House Targaryen

MOST POPULAR 11 Nominees for the ‘She Shed’ Hall of Fame

By Becky Harris

These special sanctuaries let busy women get away from it all without leaving the backyard

HOUZZ TOURS My Houzz: Personality Radiates Through a Sunny Manhattan Apartment

By Chris Dorsey Architects, Inc

Sculptural lighting and eclectic artwork give a creative couple's New York City apartment personal flair

STUDIOS AND WORKSHOPS Creative Houzz Users Share Their ‘She Sheds’

By Becky Harris

Much thought, creativity and love goes into creating small places of your own

LANDSCAPE DESIGN Natural Swimming Pools: More Beauty, No Chemicals

By Falon Mihalic

Keep your skin and the environment healthy with a pool that cleans itself, naturally

Sponsored

J.Holderby - Renovations

4 Reviews

Franklin County's Leading General Contractors - 2X Best of Houzz!

More Discussions

Catastrophic flood in Nepal — just horrific

6

White corn meal?

18

25

No one needs to spend $50 on...

14

Smile today - 8/28/26

3