The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo- READALONG Part 1

Excuse my tardiness, I’ve been sick and around the doctor caroussell, which usually ends with some lame diagnosis of stress. So that’s been a bit frustrating, but I finally managed to get my readalong post up.

Deepika, Lucia and I are currently doing a ‘We’re the last ones to read it’- readalong of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and you’re  welcome to join in! So, here are my impressions on the first 7 chapters, which kinda include spoilers, but I’m going to assume everyone’s already read it 😀

Larsson starts his book of with an intriguing prologue of two old dudes talking about the yearly gift of a flower one has received.Which is apparently related to an unsolved case, so dum dum dum.

Unfortunately, the next bit was not really for me. I don’t get economic intrigue and white somewhat rich dudes tripping each other up in their clever spider’s nests is BORING. That time is better spent reading critiques of capitalism. But maybe the boring details will tie into the rest of the story in a satisfying way. Who knows? Okay probably everyone but the three of us. I laughed at the nickname Kalle Blomkvist though and felt all proud I didn’t need the reference explained, because I grew up with Astrid Lindgren’s children’s literature.

Mikael Blomkvist doesn’t leave much of an impression on me, I have to admit. He blew the whistle, turns out he was tricked, he gets to pay a huge libel fine and maybe spend a couple months in prison. Apparently he’s a good guy, with a complicated non-manogamous  off-again on-again relationship with Erika, the co-partner of their magazine.

Oh and we finally get to meet our heroine, Lisbeth Salander, who is very young, broken somehow and extremely smart and capable. Of course she is attractive apparantly despite the everything-but- her- skin black she rocks. Hopefully the other women characters get more showtime soon, they are intoduced and I want to know more about the feminist lawyer sister etc, but, as of yet, Salander looks like the typical ‘only female and therefore superawesome’ character. Hope it doesn’t turn out this way though. Also, her boss’ thoughts of her are just plain creepy, but at least it looks like it took an okay turn with his protective angle. But so far Salander is interesting, I love her concern for others and her skills and I’m half-afraid of finding out all the shit that probably happened to her.

And then Blomqvist gets offered a job with Vanger, to solve the mystery of Harriet’s disappearance. So, the mystery part can begin and I’m curious about it. I want to see much more of Salander and hopefully there won’t be too much of the business intrigue stuff.

What’s most interesting to me is that the work’s original title is “Men Who Hate Women,” did that make the  US/UK publishers panic? There’s two quotes of statistics about violence against women and domestic violence against women in Sweden written on the part 1 and part 2 title pages. So now of course I want to see more of how Larsson handles this, is he successful in his ambitions?

On to the second part! What did you think, Deepika? Lu? Everyone else, did you enjoy The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo when you read it (probably ages ago)?

Thoughts: Twinkle Twinkle

Twinkle Twinkle by Kaori Ekuni is a short novel (just 170 pages), which follows the story of Shoko and Mutsuki. When we meet them, they are only a short time into their marriage of convenience. Shoko suffers from depression and is an alcoholic, Mitsuki is gay and has been in a relationship with his boyfriend Kon for a long time. Their respective in-laws only know about the “defect” of their own child and are ecstatic that they got their children married.

The novel is told alternately from Shoko’s and Mutsuki’s perspective, a style which worked very well for me, blending and crashing both their perspectives and voices to tell their story. It’s a quirky and somewhat strange book, but the topics at the heart of it are important and dark.

First of all, there is the matter of their “defects”; Shoko’s mental illness and alcoholism are very serious problems, Mustsuki’s sexuality should not be one at all. Because of that they are both not considered ideal marriage partners, but their parents’ are desperate to see them married. Bowing to the constant pressure of their parents and Japanese society is how they end up married to each other.

I think this novel was originally written in the 90s and I have no idea whether things have now changed, but I had no idea the pressure to get married and have children in Japan was this great. There seems to be no place outside traditional gender roles and both characters are constantly told that everything will be alright once they are married and then once they have children. Shoko is completely ignored when she attempts to get help, because apparently marriage will magically fix it all.

They do seem to find a bit of comfort and understanding in each other. But with Mutsuki continuing, and Shoko insisting he continue, his relationship with Kon, they end up in a somewhat unconventional love-triangle. Although there is a suggestion that they find a solution that works for them all in the end, I have to say I am a bit unconvinced. It’s no small thing to be living with an alcoholic depressive, who has violent mood swings, and to be bound to someone who loves another person. Supposedly, the problems and moments of tension will be resolved with their solution, but throughout the story and over the couple of months of their marriage I could not really see how Shoko was more stable or drank less. And Mutsuki was mostly incredibly patient and understanding all the time.

This was the biggest problem for me, the characters. The secondary characters were very flat, especially the parents, who kept repeating the traditional, conservative tirade and not much else, they might as well have been walking posters. And Mutsuki, I simply don’t think that anyone can have his patience and tolerance all the time, and so I could seldom believe in him as a person. Shoko is the one character who stood out to me. In the beginning, I was afraid she would be another caricature of the mad woman, but slowly she became more three-dimensional: Trying to get professional help, enjoying being on her own, saying mean things and regretting them.

I did enjoy reading Twinkle Twinkle for its quirkiness, the sarcastic bright cover, its representation of mental illness, and the way it calls attention to gender roles in Japanese society. I read this novel as part of Tony’s January in Japan challenge. It seems that another Ekuni novel, God’s Boat, has been translated into English recently. I know I’ll want to give it a try.

 

Have you reviewed this book? Let me know and I’ll add a link!

 

Rage (Rabia) by Sergio Bizzio

Rage is another attempt of mine to read more literature that isn’t American or British and focusing more on the box of post-it notes that constitutes my personal reading list. It’s always amazing to see how much literature has been translated into German and even the tiny small-town library I visit when I stay with my parents offers enough world lit to seduce me away from my stacks of unread books at home.

Rabia was first published in Argentina in 2004 and has been translated into English as Rage. It is Bizzio’s 6^th novel and has been adapted to film. The book earned Bizzio the Premio Internacional de Novela de la Diversidad and the Premio La Mar de Letras awards.

Bizzio tells the story of José María, a construction worker, who falls in love with Rosa, maid in a Buenos Aires mansion. However, when María kills the foreman after being provoked and let go, he hides for years on the upper floor of the mansion, observing Rosa and her employers without anyone noticing they’ve acquired a squatter.

While the premise seems to promise a suspenseful thriller, quickly read and forgotten, Bizzio manages to make it so much more. Once María hides in the mansion, the book is narrated from his claustrophobic, confined perspective but never is there not emotional depth to his character. I especially appreciated the pages Bizzio devoted to describing María’s behavior during the first days in the mansion, how he took care not to leave traces in the empty room he slept in or the bathroom, how he stole food from the kitchen in the middle of the night, always considering if something would be missed or not. And the terrifying moments when he thinks he might have been seen. His sneaking around the house is suitably creepy and reminded me of an episode of Whitechapel, which also focused on a squatter none of the residents know about. But while María is a voyeur and his obsession with Rosa is disturbing, Bizzio made me sympathetic to his plight and the way his self-imprisonment changes him.

Also, with a construction worker observing a well-to-do family, commentary on class issues and the state of Argentinean society is always present. Rosa is over-worked and underpaid and even worse is raped by her employers’ son, the teenaged grandson also lusts after her and of course she is always, unknowingly observed by a possessive, jealous María. From what I’ve heard, the difficult situation of maids in Argentina has received more attention in recent years, and I’d like to read another perspective, which does more to expose the sexual objectification and male gaze, as Rage simultaneously exposes and perpetuates this.

The book has been hailed as the best of contemporary Argentinean literature, which makes me want to explore more. Read this one for an atmospheric Kammerspiel, Bizzio’s amazing imagery and sparse language.

Have you reviewed this book? Let me know and I’ll add a link!

Review: Borges and the Eternal Orangutans

Borges and the Eternal Orangutans (translated by Margaret Jull Costa) is a very short novel by Brazilian writer Luís Fernando Verissimo. And it is such a delight really, for everyone who loves detective stories, Borges, and literary puzzles. If you have any knowledge of Poe, Borges and  perhaps even occultism you will enjoy this book because it’ll make you feel clever 🙂

The story is told by Vogelstein, a middle-aged teacher and translator, who has led quite the sheltered life. There was that incident though, where he translated a story by Borges and changed the ending. Borges was understandably horrified and Vogelstein has been trying, unsuccessfully, to make amends ever since. When the Israfel society, devoted to the studies of Poe, suddenly holds its conference in Buenos Aires, Vogelstein reads it as sign. Although he meets his idol Borges at the conference, he also discovers the body of Rotkopf, a hated Poe scholar. Vogelstein believes that the dying Rotkopf moved his body into a position resembling a letter to convey a message and so he and Borges try to solve the puzzle and find Rotkopf’s murderer.

Borges and the Eternal Orangutans is not only a locked-room mystery but also the parody of a detective story and at the same time an anti-detective story. The attempts of reading the clues by Borges and Vogelstein of course mirror the art of interpreting a text, nods like that have to be expected when reading a novel that makes Borges a character. I wasn’t familiar with H.P. Lovecraft’s Necronomicon and my knowledge of Borges is limited to a few short stories, but while reading Verissimo’s novel I was thankful for all those postmodernism classes. I don’t think those are required but I found them quite helpful for all those tidbits that are thrown in (Dee’s eternal orangutan, Borges’ alter ego, mirror symbolism etc). Please don’t be scared off! This is a funny and accessible novel, and while it’ll obviously be a bit more fun of you get all the allusions and references, it’s not a must. In fact, I had lots of fun researching occultism and alchemists and the Necronomicon afterwards.

I can’t really understand how I had never heard of Verissimo before, but I loved Borges and the Eternal Orangutans so much, I looted another of his works, O opositor (couldn’t find the English title, it’s Meierhoffs Verschwörung in German). And here is a link to NPR where you can read an excerpt in case my review hasn’t convinced you 😉

Have you reviewed this book? Let me know and I’ll add a link!