The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Final Review & A Mild Spoiler)

I’ve just spent all evening finishing Steig Larsson’s The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, I just could not put it down and when I came to the end was absolutely gutted to discover that the next part of the trilogy isn’t even published until January next year!

Part murder story / part thriller set in magazine publishing, Larsson has created some extremely readable characters, Blomkvist the journalist and part owner of the Millennium magazine, the members of the Vanger family he is sent to investigate and the girl with the dragon tattoo, Lisbeth Salander, who I liked the best, a troubled young private investigator who I was right about having Aspergers, she helps Blomkvist investigate the disappearance of a member of the Vanger family back in the ’60s.

The story starts off quite slow burning as Larsson establishes the characters and even though nothing really happens, there’s something about his writing (sadly he died shortly after finishing his trilogy) that just makes you want to know more. Then when the clues all start slotting into place, wham, wham, wham, one after another, you’re almost breathless as you try and keep up, especially when it becomes clear that someone else knows that they’re onto them.

That’s the murder part of the story anyway. The thriller bit set in the magazine which enfolds the murder story, almost felt like a bit of a let down afterwards but it made the whole Millennium world seem more complete, so much so that I have just one criticism, the text ends with

THE END

like a jarring full stop. Yes, I know it’s only a story but I quite enjoyed having Blomkvist and Salander live in my head and I always like to think that characters from stories go off and live in their own literary universe somewhere, off fighting crime in the case before they get summoned back to the pages for part two. Having THE END kind of ruins it a bit. I don’t recall seeing another book with THE END written on it recently, other than maybe a kids book.

Actually that reminds me, I’m guilty of using THE END when I read a story to Boy Lacer, so much so that when he ‘reads’ himself a story he’ll say “the end” when he gets to the last page, I used to do that to signify that storytime had finished, maybe that’s why I didn’t like seeing THE END at the end of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Must try and stop using THE END when reading to Boy Lacer now, I think he’ll get when a story ends now, at least in his favourite books.

Some moaning, some whinging and a spot of shoe shopping

We needed to go into town today to get some bread and nappies, so I thought we might as well go and get school shoes to. We went to John Lewis first, as their shoe department has a neat timed ticket thingy-me-jig, so in theory it allows you to get your timed slot and go off and shop whilst you wait. So, a half hour wait, where we went downstairs to the kitchen department and I finally found some cake storage tins that are actually big enough for my needs (my current set were Cath Kidston which were a bit on the small side, the bunsI made the other day didn’t all fit even the biggest tin in the set (so I had to eat the excess, the harship ), so I now have some spotty Emma Bridgewater ones, where the biggest tin is ginormous).

We went back to the shoe section after the cake tin shopping and even though it was our allotted time we still had to wait ten minutes or so, Boy Lacer, who was out of his pushchair resorted to laying spreadeagled on the floor, but at least that kept him quiet. When Girl Lacer eventually had her feet measured her feet had grown, so it wasn’t just school shoes, it was new everyday shoes to. So we ended up getting some, wait for it, navy blue Converses, which I’d just brought myself last week! So just have to teach her how to tie shoe laces now! Going for Converses actually worked out as the cheaper option, specially considering we also had school shoes to buy to. We went for some Start-Rites, which ummm have flashing heels, although luckily the flash can be switched on and off, I’m not sure if flashing heels are totally appropriate! We also got a pair of plimsolls.

We then went to get a picnic lunch in Marks and Spencer, Girl Lacer had a tantrum (and this is the girl who’s about to start school here) as she asked for a bagel in the bakery section, I got her a bagel and it turned out she meant a pink donut with sprinkles on! Which I wouldn’t have got her anyway!

Whilst having lunch though Girl Lacer spotted a problem with Boy Lacer’s pushchair, the rubber bit on one of the back wheels had actually fallen off! Honestly it’s shocking, we brought this pushchair in February, this year and it’s the second time it’s developed a fault, last time a bolt fell off. So luckily we were in town anyway, so after lunch I took the pushchair to Mothercare and gave them a polite earful about how I was not happy that bits kept on falling off one of their Mothercare branded pushchairs, not exactly safe is it? So, they sent it off for repair again, saying that they’ll give it complete check to make sure nothing else is wrong but to be honest I don’t think the pushchair in itself is dodgy, it’s just the design and quality of that particular model, it was a ‘cheap’ (at £99, not really cheap but a lot cheaper than most models) pushchair that we had to buy because our other one had broken after four years use and I think it’s one of those cases where you get what you pay for, which is dispiriting as it doesn’t seem right that just because money is a little tight we have to buy stuff that just doesn’t last! That pushchair only has a one year warranty, goodness knows what we’ll do when another bit falls off in March next year, if Boy Lacer was a ‘normal’ nearly 3 year old (I hate to use that word normal) I don’t think I’d be that worried about unreliable pushchairs, it’s not that someone who’s nearly 3 would need it for that much longer, a year at the most but Boy Lacer will need his for a lot longer considering physically he’s at the level of an 18 month old. So the pushchair is off for repair again and we have a courtesy pushchair which is absolutely awful, it’s got some weird overly springy suspension which makes it a nightmare to push and to get up kerbs etc., the journey home was not fun. So it’s in our hallway now, but we’ll use our old cheap as chips stroller that is normally relagated as something to put in the boot on holiday as it’s a small and folds up easily, instead, that stroller cost us £10 four years ago and funnily enough nothing has fallen off that yet (so it goes to show that some cheap stuff is ok, just as some overpriced stuff can also be complete tat), I’d use this stroller all the time except it hasn’t got a hood or a rain cover and as it’s small it hurts my back to push it for too long as I’m quite tall.

So, with the long waits in John Lewis and Mothercare, that shopping trip was far longer than I anticipated and I’m knackered and in a simmeringly bad mood now, which I know is principally the charms of my pms (which made it far easier for english old me to complain) which is actually disconcerting as with the low dose anti-ds I’m on I shouldn’t be having it, in fact haven’t had it for months, the ibs which I’m principally on them for has also crept back slightly and what is weird is that all this has been since I renewed my prescription and when I came back from the chemist it was a different brand, same drug just different manufacturer, nothing too new in that, since being on the anti-ds I’ve used several different manufacturers versions but this new manufacturer I hadn’t used before, makes me think it’s not as effective but considering it’s the same chemical? It’s probably just the stresses of the summer holidays getting to me, roll on start of term!