Dragon Tattoo

Today I finished reading "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," by Swedish author Stieg Larsson. Larsson died in 2004, one year before the publication of the book, and so never knew that the novel and its successors would receive such wide acclaim. The novel is a fictional crime thriller that is a full-on page turner and, to my eyes, well written in its English translation. Most of the characters are oddball to varying degrees, and some are verifiable psychopaths who commit terrible atrocities. I will not recommend the book to Stephanie: Without doubt, the ratio of ugliness to uplift exceeds her threshold—but what a story. To me, Larsson's book is yet another example of how a novel can artfully weave a broad array of human experience and consciousness: Good and evil, family history and biography, downfalls and triumphs. Some writers say that novels are read primarily for enjoyment, and that may be true. Perhaps for this very reason, some people steer away from fiction—enjoyment is an insufficient reason to invest the time. But good stories, especially those that explore character and entail complex plots, do much more than provide enjoyment. They open a window into human nature and prompt the reader reflect back on his or her own life—its meaning and possibilities. A good novel entertains, but with equal force it also educates.