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sorcyressDon't have all that much to write about today2. Finished "The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest", meaning I'm officially done the trilogy3. Good books --trying to sift out who has and hasn't read them so I can gossip.
Before I start babbling about the books (and I invite you to add your own thoughts in the comments if you've read them), I do point out that one of the themes of the books is violence against women, especially sexual violence. So, trigger warning for rape, sexual and non-sexual violence, and pedophilia is in effect for this post and comments.
Some things I definitely love about the trilogy:
I love that Lisbeth Salander is, in all likelihood, aspergers. I love that she is clearly the heroine of the story, that she is presented as an interesting and complex character, and that she is mentally disordered. We need more non-kyriarchal1 characters, damnit!
Similarly, I love that Erika Berger has a perfectly healthy and well-communicated non-monoamorous relationship. She loves(romantic, sexual) her husband, she loves(platonic, sexual) her best friend/fuckbuddy, and both are okay with her relationship with the other.
About halfway through the third book, when Blomkvist started sleeping with Figuerola, I realized that he really is a bit of a Mary-Sue, isn't he? But he's an interesting Mary-Sue, and not entirely unrealistic --there are many men who sleep with all the important female characters in their lives. But it made me giggle, and in no way affected my enjoyment of the books.
I want to do dirty things with Lisbeth Salander, surprising no one ever. She solved Fermat's Last Theorem, the way it was meant to be solved! That...just...gah...WANT.
So, violence against women, especially sexual violence, is one of the central themes of the trilogy. This means that about halfway through the first book, I was struck by the extremely graphic descriptions of Salander's rape by Advokat Bjurman. Having had no idea what the books were about prior to reading them, this was startling and uncomfortable, hence the reason that part of my recommendation for them, to whoever I provide said recommendation, involves a trigger warning.
(That being said, they are a Good Read, the Good Guys Win In The End, and some rather elegant vigilante justice is taken (as well as some deeply uncomfortable vigilante justice --just because someone raped you does not give you permission or reason to rape them.))
The more I learn about hackers, the more I become convinced that I want to be one, at least on a small scale and of the white-hat variety. Needless to say, Wasp, Plague, Trinity, et al are probably my favourite characters in the entire book.
I don't really have any other thoughts at the moment. Good read, all three of them, and now I'll have to find something else to read on the train. Recommended. Sometimes violent, though not super overly graphic, though like I said, lots of trigger-happy material. Your thoughts?
~Sor
MOOP!
1: Roughly, I would like to see more characters who are non-white, non-middle/upper class, non-straight, non-Christian, non-abled, non-monoamorous, non-vanilla, non-standard-body-types, non-cis, and/or non-male. Because that's what many real people are like, and it would be satisfying if there were more representations of us in the media.
(And as always, it's perfectly nice when there are relatable, well-written characters who are any or all of the above. None of these traits are inherently a bad thing. But it's also almost sickeningly common, and that disappoints me.)
2: This is in reference to my 750words account, and turned out to be a bitter lie, as I ended just under a thousand. Also, it's been 61 straight days since I missed. Holycrapwow. At any rate, I have many many things to post to LJ, and am probably going to start with a sundries post in a minute, so I can clear out some of the tabs I've got open.
3: By Steig Larsson: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl who Played with Fire, and The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest.
Before I start babbling about the books (and I invite you to add your own thoughts in the comments if you've read them), I do point out that one of the themes of the books is violence against women, especially sexual violence. So, trigger warning for rape, sexual and non-sexual violence, and pedophilia is in effect for this post and comments.
Some things I definitely love about the trilogy:
I love that Lisbeth Salander is, in all likelihood, aspergers. I love that she is clearly the heroine of the story, that she is presented as an interesting and complex character, and that she is mentally disordered. We need more non-kyriarchal1 characters, damnit!
Similarly, I love that Erika Berger has a perfectly healthy and well-communicated non-monoamorous relationship. She loves(romantic, sexual) her husband, she loves(platonic, sexual) her best friend/fuckbuddy, and both are okay with her relationship with the other.
About halfway through the third book, when Blomkvist started sleeping with Figuerola, I realized that he really is a bit of a Mary-Sue, isn't he? But he's an interesting Mary-Sue, and not entirely unrealistic --there are many men who sleep with all the important female characters in their lives. But it made me giggle, and in no way affected my enjoyment of the books.
I want to do dirty things with Lisbeth Salander, surprising no one ever. She solved Fermat's Last Theorem, the way it was meant to be solved! That...just...gah...WANT.
So, violence against women, especially sexual violence, is one of the central themes of the trilogy. This means that about halfway through the first book, I was struck by the extremely graphic descriptions of Salander's rape by Advokat Bjurman. Having had no idea what the books were about prior to reading them, this was startling and uncomfortable, hence the reason that part of my recommendation for them, to whoever I provide said recommendation, involves a trigger warning.
(That being said, they are a Good Read, the Good Guys Win In The End, and some rather elegant vigilante justice is taken (as well as some deeply uncomfortable vigilante justice --just because someone raped you does not give you permission or reason to rape them.))
The more I learn about hackers, the more I become convinced that I want to be one, at least on a small scale and of the white-hat variety. Needless to say, Wasp, Plague, Trinity, et al are probably my favourite characters in the entire book.
I don't really have any other thoughts at the moment. Good read, all three of them, and now I'll have to find something else to read on the train. Recommended. Sometimes violent, though not super overly graphic, though like I said, lots of trigger-happy material. Your thoughts?
~Sor
MOOP!
1: Roughly, I would like to see more characters who are non-white, non-middle/upper class, non-straight, non-Christian, non-abled, non-monoamorous, non-vanilla, non-standard-body-types, non-cis, and/or non-male. Because that's what many real people are like, and it would be satisfying if there were more representations of us in the media.
(And as always, it's perfectly nice when there are relatable, well-written characters who are any or all of the above. None of these traits are inherently a bad thing. But it's also almost sickeningly common, and that disappoints me.)
2: This is in reference to my 750words account, and turned out to be a bitter lie, as I ended just under a thousand. Also, it's been 61 straight days since I missed. Holycrapwow. At any rate, I have many many things to post to LJ, and am probably going to start with a sundries post in a minute, so I can clear out some of the tabs I've got open.
3: By Steig Larsson: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl who Played with Fire, and The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest.