I've heard people talk about Stieg Larsson's "Millennium" series for a few years now, but I've only just started reading the first book.
Usually when it comes to books, movies, TV shows and the like, I don't go with trends. Chances are, if everyone's talking about it, I'll ignore it and try it out in a few years in peace when all the hype has died down. When the "Tomorrow" series by John Marsden first came out, I ignored it. Everyone at my school was reading it, so I didn't. Then halfway through high school, once everyone stopped talking about it, I checked it out. And loved it. It was exactly the same with Harry Potter: I was working at Toys R Us when the fourth book came out, and every second person was buying it or asking where to find it, but I wasn't interested; when I decided to venture into the world of Hogwarts a few years later, I loved it. It's the same with movies (Lord of the Rings, Empire Records), some bands (Green Day, silverchair) and tv shows (How I Met Your Mother, Gilmore Girls). Usually once I try one of these really popular series, I tend to like them, but I don't like to be told what to like by the hype circus.
So I've waited a few years to read "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", and until today, I loved it. It's very well written, the characters are well developed (so far anyway - I'm only 200 pages in), and I'm torn between reading it at every opportunity and savouring it - it's that good.
Then there was today. I still love it, but I'm mildly annoyed by today's pages.
Product placement in media is almost unavoidable. From Bella Swan's MacBook to the Miracle Whip in Lady Gaga's "Telephone" video to the Coca Cola water glasses on talent show judges' desks, there's no escaping it. That's the thing with movies, TV or radio - the fleeting image of a brand of computer, food or drink in a popular show is a subtle (or sometimes less subtle) way of creating a positive association with their product in a few seconds, but it's typically in the background - rarely is it blatantly highlighed: that's what commercials are for. In books however, it's less subtle. I'm sure I've come across occasional mentions of food or drink brands in novels before, but one word in a thousand isn't something you really notice. Or notice maybe, but it doesn't distract you from the narrative.
In the first hundred and fifty odd pages of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", there were a few mentions of an iBook, but I didn't think much of it. Then a central character's laptop got destroyed halfway through chapter 11. It would have sufficed to mention that the laptop was expensive or high-quality or state-of-the-art or similar; not everyone who reads Swedish crime novels is interested in computer specifications. Well, it would have sufficed for me. Larsson however thought it necessary to outline the specifications of her computer in detail - the brand, the brands of various components, and also mention several times that she bought it because this model by this brand was the best available, the highest quality, a superior product. This irritated me - if I wanted to read about Apple computers, I wouldn't be reading a Stieg Larsson novel; I'd be reading the Apple website.
That wasn't enough though. The following page outlined her desired replacement, in even more detail than the previous page. It wasn't just that it was blatant product placement, or that it was for a brand that I dislike for various reasons. The thing that really annoyed me was that the author chose to waste two pages of his novel on a sales pitch for a 2004 model Apple laptop when he could have been further developing a character or continuing the narrative - you know, what fiction writers usually do in their novels.
I'll keep reading, but reading in the hope that the next page does not make more than a passing reference to technology branded with a piece of glowing white fruit.
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