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The Man Who Left Too Soon
The stranger-than-fiction life story of the author ofThe Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
His three novelsare violent, terrifying, brilliantly written, andhavesold millions of copies around the world,but Stieg Larrson wasnot ableto witness their international success.Since hedied in 2004 the author of the Millennium trilogy has received international fame with dizzying speed. Bu...more
Hardcover, 294 pages
Published
May 28th 2010
by John Blake
(first published 2010)
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This was an interesting discussion of Larsson's books. It would be great if you were leading a book group or class on him. Forshaw doesn't go too deep into Larsson's biography - he refers to the conflict over the author's estate but refers us to other sources for more information - which is probably good. The plot summaries are good; he raises several interesting points for discussion. He also discusses Larsson's influences and gets the perspective of other writers' on the trilogy (which is inte...more
First, this is a welcome volume. The Millennium Trilogy phenomenon and the untimely death of author Stieg Larsson is compelling material. There is enough here to make this a worthwhile purchase. Still, it is, in the end, a bit disappointing.
Why? For one thing, the summary/.synopsis of the books is not representative of what I read. Maybe the author read the book in the original language and the translation didn't capture things clearly. Examples: On page 178, Forshaw notes that Salander--after c...more
Why? For one thing, the summary/.synopsis of the books is not representative of what I read. Maybe the author read the book in the original language and the translation didn't capture things clearly. Examples: On page 178, Forshaw notes that Salander--after c...more
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‘Facts about fiction: more a companion than a biography.’
I was on the verge of buying this book, but comments by friends who had already read it made me cautious. I opted to borrow a copy instead and while I was interested in parts of the book, I’m reluctant to recommend it to others.
Barry Forshaw acknowledges that the approach he has taken is piecemeal: the first 62 pages contain most of the biographic information; the next 152 pages provide a (not completely accurate) summary/synopsis of the b...more
I was on the verge of buying this book, but comments by friends who had already read it made me cautious. I opted to borrow a copy instead and while I was interested in parts of the book, I’m reluctant to recommend it to others.
Barry Forshaw acknowledges that the approach he has taken is piecemeal: the first 62 pages contain most of the biographic information; the next 152 pages provide a (not completely accurate) summary/synopsis of the b...more
This book contains remarkably little about Stieg Larsson's actual life and work, but spends the majority of the text (some 120 pages) summarizing each volume of the Millenium trilogy with authorial asides like "perhaps Larsson based this upon his own experiences". Another large portion of the text is spent interviewing other crime writers, particularly Scandinavian crime writers, about Larsson's work. While this is at times insightful, the conversations more or less reveal something about the sp...more
Oct 21, 2011
Kathleen Hagen
added it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
2011-audio-books,
2011-nonfiction
The Man Who Left Too Soon: The Life and Works of Stieg Larsson, by Barry Forshaw, Narrated by Stanley McGeagh, Produced by Bolinda Publishing, downloaded from audible.com.
A detailed analysis of Larsson’s works and his life. The Milenium trilogy was analyzed in detail, tediously, and the films were also analyzed. This part of the book was too long. The discussion of the interviews the author had with others about Larsson were very interesting, and his brief analyses of works by other Scandinavian...more
A detailed analysis of Larsson’s works and his life. The Milenium trilogy was analyzed in detail, tediously, and the films were also analyzed. This part of the book was too long. The discussion of the interviews the author had with others about Larsson were very interesting, and his brief analyses of works by other Scandinavian...more
I was a bit disappointed with this book. Its subtitle reads "The Biography of Stieg Larsson." The biographical part is a mere 63 or 64 pages. The bulk of the book, over half of it, is exposition of the three novels. There is a short section on other Scandanavian authors, but there were none of whom I was not already aware. Besides the short bio info, there is a good section on how other authors see Larsson and his novelistic works. If you skip the exposition of the novels, you might find this of...more
Bit of a strange book. First 70 or so pages are biographical but then book moves to be a synopsis of the trilogy - I would imagine that anyone who chooses to read this book it's because they have read the trilogy. therefore such a long summary seems strange. did enjoy the beginning and the end of the book though - particularly liked the suggestion of a number of other Scandanavian authors. I've now a read a few!
Jul 29, 2011
Andrew
added it
For the firt 59 pages this book sticks to its cover story and does a convincing job as a biography. For the following 230 pages it wavers between a literary analysis of the Millenium Trilogy, a who's who of scandinavian crime fiction and a description of the movie adaptations. Overall I found the book to be a disappointment, however I now have a few new names on my list of authors to try.
A general biography, a detailed outline of each of the Millenium books, and a discussion of other Scandinavian crime writers. Good if you want to review the books before seeing the movies. The most interesting insight into the worldwide success of the trilogy is the author's idea that readers are yearning for an antidote to institutional corruption and finding it in the character of Lisbeth Salander.
This rather disappointing book about an interesting and so successful author says more about the plots of Larsson's novels than anything else. I finally quit because I wanted to get on with reading the books rather than letting someone else read them for me. A major spoiler-alert really.
A pedestrian, boring rush job of a book. There's nothing particularly insightful to be found here. The excruciating summaries of the Millenium books read like a high schooler's summer reading book report.
And on page 67, I knew it was bound to happen, a reference to "Dragon" Armansky.
And on page 67, I knew it was bound to happen, a reference to "Dragon" Armansky.
I was very disapointed in this book. I didn't like the authors' style of writing, he jumped around too much. Also there were many mistakes in his reviews of the books. I feel like he wrote this book in a hurry just to cash in on the popularity of the books.
Extremely well done! Follows the storyline of all three books and tells the story of the man who wrote them. And a bonus was that he also tells of other Swedish crime writers that we might want to explore, for our reading pleasure.
Eh. Not so good. Has a nice summary of all three Girl Who books and tells where possible inspiration for the characters might have been. Not worth reading though.
Didn't think this book was all that great. I enjoyed Kurduo Baski's book on Stieg much better. Looking forward to reading Gabrielle's book
I had to give up on this one. It was too much literary analysis, not enough biography.
Painful read - writing style was annoying which was interesting since it critiques another's writing style. Background info was like a gossip magazine trying to be pretentious. Easier to read the summary/critique of the trilogy although it didn't provide enough insight/background info. Only finished because it was the only reading material available.
This "biography" was written by a book critique and, for the most part, that's exactly what this is, in great detail. If you want a detailed guideline for Stieg Larsson trilogy book group discussions, this is it. If you want to truly know and understand more about Stieg Larsson, there are other options.
('tho I must admit, some tidbits fascinate -- e.g. Pippi Longstocking inspired Lisbeth. It's been a treat to go back to some of my childhood favorites and reread with adult eyes.)
('tho I must admit, some tidbits fascinate -- e.g. Pippi Longstocking inspired Lisbeth. It's been a treat to go back to some of my childhood favorites and reread with adult eyes.)
I was hoping for a typical biography, but a recent New York Times covered Larsson's life better than this book. Most of the pages recap the three books and tell why or how specific passages relate to Larsson's own life. I couldn't force myself to finish this title, a rare occurrence for me.
I ordered this through Amazon UK because I just couldn't wait. Now I only have to wait until I finish the two books I'm reading.
Not much new information here. Basically a rehash of magazine and newpapers articles about Steig Larsson. Checked out through library and glad I didn't buy it.
This book is a complete disaster! Absolutely not worth reading, it doesn't contain anything interesting for a fan of "Millennium". Badly written and boring. I don't need anyone to summarize the plot for me!!!
I excepted a real biography and received with that book only a shortening of the trilogy.
OK but not as compelling as his books
May 15, 2013
Amy Lacker
is currently reading it
Apr 11, 2013
Melceleste
marked it as to-read
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
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| Stieg Larsson biography | 1 | 15 | Jan 06, 2010 11:14pm |
