"Män som hatar kvinnor" book done

Yesterday I finished reading the book "Män som hatar kvinnor". Since I had already seen the film the ending did not come as a big surprise - or did it. Because when I reached what I remember as the big ending in the film there were still around 1/5 of the book left. The few short clips the film ends with is a very quick summary of some of the elements that takes place in the last part of the book.

Before I saw the film I heard it followed the book very well. After reading the book I can say that it is not entirely true. The overall story is there but many elements, even some crucial to the plot, have changed. To avoid spoilers I will not start mention everything here, but I will talk about the relationship between Mikael and his business partner and long time friend Erika. In the film I got the feeling that Erika were interested in Mikael but Mikael were to busy thinking of something else to notice it - but in the book they have a really weird relationship where they get "close" to each other on a regular basis even though she is married, the husband even knows about this arrangement. Mikael is sentenced to prison and in the book he serve his time in the middle of the story. In the film however he does it at the end. Quite a plot change but it works in the film giving an acceptable ending.

Other parts of the film illustrates elements of the book but they are interpreted, at least by me, completely different from what is actually happens. A common mistake made by someone who have read the book and starts to cut in the screenplay without remembering that people who watch it might not know the book.

So how was the book? Extremely detailed! Stieg Larsson uses several pages to describe a flower which is seen a couple of seconds in the film. This trend continues through out the whole book where items and situations are described in extreme details. The characters are not that interesting. Only Lisbeth is "special" meaning that the rest are basically just regular people with different jobs. Other than that it was a good book with a good story and worth a look if you like crimes that contains more than just a body.