Chapter 3/(Fri 23 Oct)

[Simon]

After I finished the novel, I went and watched the original film and I have to say: I'm quite glad that I read the book first. It's the background and depth that the characters are given that are really interesting. This chapter is one of those things that are often left out of a film.

While Hakan is no doubt creepy and perverse, you end up having some kind of pity for him (or at least I do). He has desires, secret ones, that has expresses in the strangest and most disturbing of ways. To know his role in the book with Eli makes it even more chilling.

More than anything else, this chapter reveals and expands on two of the central stories that we'll find in the book: that of Haka/Eli/Oskar and Lacke's world. It's interesting that even with the protagonist, Oskar, there's a lot of disturbing content revealed about him. The narration makes no attempt at glorifying our heroes, but if anything, he just seems "less bad" than several of his antagonists.