Blech!

I watched The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (the Swedish version) on video tonight, after I found it staring at me from the rental shelf in the library.  I've avoided it all this time, but I was starting to feel like a wimp, so I thought I better get on with it.

Ugh.  Somewhere in there is a not uninteresting murder mystery, with a surprisingly happy ending, as well as two very interesting characters ably portrayed by two interesting actors.  But the rest of it is a truly repulsive tour of rape, revenge, Nazis ritualistically murdering Jewish women, unrepentant sadists mutilating women for fun and folic, and general derangement and degradation.  Gah!  Who finds this entertaining?  It's completely unappealing to me, and makes me wonder yet again why so many people cheerfully and eagerly embrace brutality when it's dressed up as art or literature.

I am so not reading that book for the next book club.  I'll have to think about whether to see the American remake of the movie, because I'm quite curious how they will handle several elements, including the very unconventional romantic relationship.