Sigh.
I so wanted to hate this book.
About a year ago, I got into an argument with my 13 year old cousin about it.
Me: “Emma, the book is clearly for pre-teens, similar to you, and it’s all about adolescent longing and how you’re too young to actually kiss any boys or do anything with them, but you’re starting to think about them all the time. It’s pretty lame and transparent, actually.”
Emma: “Katie, actually, you’re full of crap. I love it, Olivia (cousin, 18) loves it, Charlotte (cousin, 21) loves it. Everyone loves it. Get over it. Until you read it, I don’t want to talk to you about it again.”
Emma, I am sorry. You were right. I was wrong. I love Twilight. I am now going to need to read every book and every off shoot and probably see the films too.
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First of all, is this one of the greatest book jackets of all time? I think so. Love it.
This book is not at all what I imagined. For some reason I thought the plot was all about Stepford wives - women almost robotic in their ability to be the perfect image of femininity and motherhood. I pictured it set in Los Angeles (AKA the Valley) and thought the word ‘doll’ referred to the women.
Not at all. Actually it is the story of three young women who are brought together in Manhattan as they each come up in the world of showbiz. Then, thanks to poor decisions, being used by every man that comes across them, and a steadily increasing dependence on red pills to get them to sleep and green pills to perk them up again and help maintain their thin, svelte physiques, they start the descent back down to the bottom again. It was written in the late 60s, but still feels incredibly relevant today. It is well written, funny at times, but also overwhelmingly tragic. There is a quote at the back saying that ‘Susann didn’t become the queen of girl trash for nothing’. I don’t know what the rest of her books are like, but this is not just some trashy chick fic novel. It is absolutely addictive and I think men would enjoy it as much as women.
Next, I have been told I have to read some Jilly Cooper. I can’t be a woman working in publishing until I have, apparently. This is the first book I have been tasked with. Seriously. I know it has 26 5 star reviews on Amazon, but can I actually ride the tube reading a book with that cover? I’m not 100% sure about this…
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Oh Sunnyside I am so disappointed. I was so looking forward to reading you. Carter Beats the Devil was one of my favourite books of all time, and now even that book has been sullied by how boring I am finding you. Did I really like it or was I imagining it? You are so pretentious, so self-aware, so want-to-be-in-with-the-cool-California-writers. I can barely stand it. I am going to persevere, because I really hope you will come good eventually, but for now I have put you down in favour of Alain de Botton’s Pleasures and Sorrows of Work, which I am finding extremely enjoyable.
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The first third of this book is absolutely dire. Seriously. I almost could not get through it. I knew it was going to be bad, because a friend had already warned me, but still. I know that Larsson is dead, and his estate is in a shambles, but does he not have an editor? The first third is the same length as a short book in its own right, and it could easily have been cut out almost entirely. Do I really need to know how every single department within the Swedish police force works and how they interact with one another? Does the book really need 500 different characters, all of whom have names I barely remember one page to the next? No and no.
BUT having said that…
Wow the last two thirds are good! Again, Larsson completely sucks you in. Although I definitely did not like the book as much as the previous two, it still gripped me to the point where I could barely put the book down on the tube and sat glued to it for about an hour and a half when I got home, determined to finish it as soon as I could.
The story picks up exactly where the last one left off - Salander has been shot in the head and is about to undergo delicate surgery to remove the bullet. Her father has been shot and killed, two of his cohorts were shot, two police officers have been attacked, and despite her condition, the blame looks like it might fall on her. Teleborian, the psychiatrist that ‘treated’ her when she was 13, is back on the scene and determined to get her locked up again, and the agents that protected her father for so many years want to keep their story quiet, whatever it takes.
The book is essentially a revenge novel. It largely takes place in hospitals, police stations and in the court room. There is not nearly as much violence in it as in the first two, although there are a lot of references to things that have happened in the past. The last third consists of character after shady character being brought to their knees thanks to a few good police officers and Blomkvist and Salander’s partnership. Every time another piece of the puzzle was revealed and they trapped another one of the government criminals down, I wanted to high five someone. When Blomkvist’s sister starts lashing in to Teleborian during Salander’s trial, I wanted to do a ‘YESSSSS’ air grab. It’s a very satisfying read.
If you have JUST read the second one, I would probably wait a little while before picking this up. The first third is really off putting, and I think if you had just been absorbed in book two, you would probably put this down and possibly not pick it back up again. But if it has been a few months since you read the second one, and you are ready to enter this world of Swedish corruption, violence and unlikely cyber hacking, then definitely buy this book.
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I loved David Nicholls’ One Day, so I decided to go back and find out what else he had written. Somehow I completely missed this book, even though, as my flatmate rightly pointed out, it was made into a film a few years ago starring a few pretty big names (Catherine Tate, Mark Gatiss, James Corden, James McAvoy).
It follows Brian Jackson as he leaves his childhood home behind and moves to Bristol to start an English Literature degree. When he was a kid, Brian and his dad would watch University Challenge together, and since his father died when he was 12, he knew he wanted to be on the show one day. As soon as he gets to uni, he signs up to be on a team. Meanwhile, he falls in love with the beautiful and perfect Alice, a team mate, and we follow him as he struggles with love, university, being on the team, his exploding acne and general social awkwardness.
If there is one thing that this book is, it is awkward. God, so many cringe-worthy moments. You just so want Brian to do well, but he is such an enormous tit. Whether it’s violently scrubbing his face to get rid of the spots (and then trying hard not to move his face once it is dry because he fears the skin will crack and his spots with bleed! Gross, but I totally remember this from being a teenager) or the way he fawns over Alice or the way he treats his friends from back home once he’s at uni, he is just a massive loser. Yet still you kind of love him. He just keeps fucking up over and over again.
I suppose that by the time I was 18 I wasn’t too bad - I certainly thought I was pretty hot stuff during my gap year, but there were so many points during this where I was cringing not only for poor Bri, but for memories of myself being equally idiotic at some point during my teens. Really. I am horrified at being nearly 30, but also really super glad I’m not 16 anymore.
The person who plays Brian in the film (James McAvoy) is way too smooth to be Brian from the book. I’m sorry James, but you are hot. Brian is not hot. I don’t think I could enjoy this as a movie, just because McAvoy is too good looking and sure of himself to get across the pain of being that age, but it was definitely worth reading. A mostly enjoyable (sometimes painful) book and I laughed a lot on the tube as I read it, which is always a good sign.
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So, I can’t really write a review of this book. I found it pretty boring and almost instantly forgettable so didn’t even get half way through before abandoning it. I couldn’t really tell you anything about the plot, aside from the fact that they constantly refer back to the good old days, when a murder was something exceptional and people could leave their doors unlocked and blah blah blah. Something about a man with a weird skin discolouration. Ruth Rendell: Must try harder! Usually I love her books. Maybe I will take it on my next flight and enjoy it more, since that’s where I usually read her books.
Next I am on to Stepsisters, which I am SO excited about. It is the manuscript for Rupert James’ next book. Rupert James wrote the awesome (and filthy) Silk, which I highly recommend to anyone interested in backstabbing, bitches, fashion, sex and power struggles. Which is everyone, no?
