I haven’t been reading as much as normal, but I just finished listening to the audio book of “The Girl with the Gragon Tattoo” by Stieg Larsson that I downloaded from the library. I’d say it is for mature adults only thanks to some of the more vivid content, but I can say it is worth reading. I will warn you though, in my opinion it was extremely slow to warm up but then it was go-go-go.
Plot
The overall plot of the book is that a disgraced journalist, Mikael Blomkvist, takes a job from a very wealthy old tycoon, Henrik Vanger, to find out what happened to Vanger’s niece 36 years ago. She somehow disappeared from an isolated island never to be seen again. Vanger wants to know which one of his awful family members murdered her so long ago. Blomkvist teams up with Lizbeth Salander, and excellent researcher with special skills you learn about as you read, and she has a subplot of her own threaded through the novel.
I won’t ruin the book for anyone, but I can say that the other main character, Lizbeth, is a kick butt heroine with a ton of mental problems. She’s not nuts, but she’s not very “normal” either. Awful things happen to a lot of people in this book – in the past and during the plot itself – but I always really rooted on Lizbeth and even grew to like Mikhail too. I will say that there is one pay back scene in the book that almost made me applaud. If you have read or will read this, let me know if you liked that part as much as I did!
Money Advice to be Gleaned
The most glaring problem I saw in regards to money was that Lizbeth’s official mental status kept her from running her own accounts. If I was ever put in the position of having my assets ran by someone else entirely, I would do what she did and make sure to have at least a little cash socked away just for me. I’d also get my employer to directly deposit 10% of my paychecks and get the rest in cash or deposit it into an account that isn’t a matter of public record.
And I wouldn’t have turned down so many jobs – especially if I could convince my awesome boss to pay me mostly in cash. But of course, I do not have the same past or social problems as Lizbeth. It is clear that she does not think like a middle class spoiled kid. She thinks like someone who has always had it extremely tough and has to solely rely on herself. She is a very original main character in my opinion.
So, if you can make it through a slow start, I would suggest checking out “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” from your own library right now. I’d also suggest never being declared mentally incompetent or hiding your resources if you are. Lastly, it is yet another book that shows that everyone needs someone in their life that they can lean on if necessary.
Have you read this yet? If so, did you clap at the same part that made me extremely satisfied? I think I may have anger management issues…
This book is one of my all time favorite. I love the whole series actually. Out of three, the second one is the best in my opinion. Are you going to read all three? Yes, The Girl was slow in the beginning and I was wondering if I should move on to another book. But as soon as I met Lisbeth, I was hooked. I consider her one of the strongest female characters in fiction. And the most interesting one. I think I am in love with her.
I am REALLY looking forward to the movie (American version of it is out in December.)
I cheated and watch the movie version of it. My wife said it was pretty close to the same story lines as the book though.
I think I know of the part that made you clap and it’s in the movie too!
Hard to believe a guy wrote the series… I wonder if the other two books/movies are equally as interesting. I bet yes…
Great book. It was very slow out of the gate you are right but do not give up on it, dredge through those first few chapters to get to the good stuff. I never thought about the money lessons to be gleaned from the book. Although, I did think about her money issues as I was reading it but not how I would deal with the situation so thanks for that insight. Great post. Now, go read the next one it is good as well!
My husband listened to all of them. He said they were really great, slow start but great and asked me not to read/listen to them
He did tell me the story though. I might watch the movie.
There are so many misogynistic characters in that series that it was difficult for me to read at times. I think the second book has the most characters that I’d like to see forced to live in eternal pain and misery. So, yeah, I loved the revenge scene! And there are more excellent Lisbeth scenes coming in the rest of the series.
The Swedish movies were on Netflix earlier this year. I watched them all and found them quite engaging. Also, the actors and actresses were great. It was refreshing to see people acting who aren’t plastic and perfect. The Erika character actually had wrinkles. Wow!
For instances where someone cannot legally or mentally control their finances the assets are often put into a trust making the trustee the responsible person. Or a durable power of attorney (drafted before incapacitation) can be granted to a trusted party. If a person isn’t capable of running their assets they shouldn’t in my opinion
I loved loved loved those books, and the movies (both original and English remake) look AMAZING – I just don’t know if I can bear to watch some of those scenes!
[...] from BFS learns a few financial lessons from the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. What a great twist on an awesome [...]