Better late than never!

“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” Thomas A. Edison.

Good Afternoon!

I bought the novel titled "The Girl Who Played with Fire" by Stieg Larsson two years ago. I left the novel untouched after reading only the first chapter as I considered the story-line as not interesting. Few weeks ago, I was arranging some of the novels I have with me and I found the above mentioned title. Whoa! I'm very fortunate that I did not misplace the novel over the past two years. As I haven't read it completely except for the first chapter, I thought I'll give it a try to read and complete it. After all, I paid for it and now it definitely requires my reading or else I owe myself the price of the book... :)  

After reading the second chapter of the novel, it kept me engrossed every day on my way to office in coach till the end of last chapter. Now I have to endorse it as a gem among the best suspense-thriller genre. I'm very fortunate to have bought the book and read the book after two years ago... :) That’s my bad! The main character in the book, Lisbeth Salander, is one of the most intriguing characters, and she is one of my favorite anti-protagonists in fiction book. Now that I've completed the book, I learned few things that hit me really hard though ironically.

No matter even if the first chapter of a book or a novel might bore me but judging or concluding a novel or any kinds of book before reading it completely makes me no better than an ignorant prick. The fact is that our intuition cannot be right all the time and after all we are far from perfection. But if we can widen our mind and feed our intuition with knowledge, it is always worth it. We also have this tendency to quit when the going gets tough and I'm not an exception. As long as the going is easy, it doesn't matter but a slight pinch on the back is a good damn reason to quit with all kinds of creative explanation to justify one's decision.

Imagine if Thomas Edison had quit after his first failed experiment of electric bulb, who knows we'd still be living in darkness. But he kept on going forward even after thousand times of failed experiments and candidly said, “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.” In the end, he emerged as the triumphant and invented the electric bulb above our head. We can never predict the outcome until we have reached the finishing point. And to reward ourselves with the best possible outcome, moving forward is the only key to unlock the pool of experience and opportunity. 

About the novel, what I really like is the main character, Lisbeth Salander. I never felt for once neither her character is over the top nor very superficial. Yet, she is one hell of genius, a hacker, a self-taught mathematician although socially inept. There has been a lot of debate about woman empowerment and equality between man and woman, etc. The simple truth is that modern societies feel insecure about the ability of women because when they make a decision, it is always based on her mind and heart, equilibrium of both the factors. Neither I support feminism nor the anti-feminism, but the equality of both gender matters.  And what I learned from the novel is that man use fear and intimidation as tools wherein few women stood up and fights back.

The author of the book, Stieg Larsson, also highlighted the present-day human trafficking or slavery though he used it as backdrop of the story. In fact, human trafficking is considered to be one of the fastest growing activities of international criminal organizations which are rather very alarming. The recent news report of bride selling in Bihar is no exception to human trafficking when girls especially from poor families are sold like cattle. And it is not only in Bihar but also the other states like, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, etc., known for human trafficking as reported in major newspaper, The Times of India. If this is how we treat woman in our society, we are not that behind the ISIS, a barbaric terrorist organization known for brutality.

Food for thought: “Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages.” Thomas A. Edison.

Thank you.