Quote:
Originally Posted by phenomshel
I said this, and said this, and everyone kept telling me I was nuts. I soldiered on (on my third try to read the book), and it *does* get better. I don't know if it's just me, but though it wasn't the best book I ever read, it wasn't the worst either, and I don't count it as a complete waste of time.
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Well, contrary to what I said earlier, I picked up the book again and read a bit more. I can see there might be a story, and even characters, in there somewhere, but I'm still not sure it's worth my time. Right now it looks on the verge of embarking on a "closed room" (or rather closed island) mystery, which I find profoundly uninteresting. Tomorrow I have to go back to the library to renew my loan on Seneca, and I think I will give back the Larsson and look for something more rewarding.
I started Patrick Modiano's "La place de l'étoile" this morning on the train. Now here is someone who knows how to write. And the fact that he writes in my native language doesn't hurt, of course. Good start, but I'll need to do some research on the literary world in France before, during and after WWII. He mentions many names I know only vaguely, or not at all: Drieu la Rochelle, Maurice Sachs, Brasillach... Wikipedia, here I come!