Unfortunately this sentence echoed in my mind while I was reading The Girl in Spider’s Web by David Lagercrantz. I feel this book was produced to capitalise on the fervour for the Millennium series, and despite its well-written composition, I see it as little more than a cash-cow.
The characters who I had come to know under Stieg Larsson’s pen felt strange and soulless in David Lagercrantz’s rendition. The names Salander and Blomkvist were inserted like brand names into manufactured copy and lacked the danger the original penman was capable of creating.
With that said I’m sure it will make a satisfactory popcorn movie.
Alongside the drawbacks of the final product, the whole Stieg Larsson backstory has helped me reach this conclusion.
Steig Larsson was a very interesting man. His CV lists a year in Eritrean, training a squad of female guerrillas, and counts job roles such the president of a Swedish science-fiction fan club and co-founder of the investigative magazine Expo.
I hope one day to read his biography written by his life-long partner Eva Gabrielsson, who is currently battling for rights over Larsson’s literary legacy. There was no legal will left by Stieg Larsson, so by default his estate, including the Millennium unpublished manuscripts, went to his estranged father and brother. This is still a contested issue as settlement with Eva Gabrielsson doesn’t appear to have yet been made.
The jury is still out and the general reading public may never know the details of the case (as it is a personal matter I don’t think they should). However David Lagercrantz’s Acknowledgements thanking the father and brother was enough for me to make up my mind. I’m sure they are comforted with the sales figures anyway.
No comments:
Post a Comment