A few more comments about Millennium 4. Longer comments will have to wait,
because I won't have the book itself until tomorrow (and it would be nice to
have time to read it first...). Seven TV cameras, 10+ countries represented,
and a press conference held in two parts, first in Swedish and then in English.
Father Erland and brother Joakim was there (they in fact sat right in front of
me, me on the second row). I can't say much news were presented, which hadn't
already been covered in at least the Swedish press. The morning papers Dagens
Nyheter and Svenska Dagbladet have recently had long articles. The evening rag
Aftonbladet had a supplement Aug 22nd about Millennium. Most things said have
already been mentioned in those papers. David Lagercrantz talked a lot and
faast and waved his hands all the time. In noticed that his message - he was
"enthusiasic", had "greatest respect for Stieg", had "worked very hard", etc -
was almost the same in the Swedish and English versions of his presentation,
which means he has rehearsed what to say. There were few details of the plot
not known from before: Mikael Blomquist is contacted by some professor AI
Balder, Lisbeth Salander hacks the NSA, we will learn more about Lisbeth's
background, etc. I actually managed to ask a question (which was good since
they only allowed 4-5 questions in each part of the press conference, due to
running the thing twice...). I asked something like: "How much have you tried
to emulate the style of Stieg Larsson?" The answer was something like (my
notes are a bit messy and Mr Lagercrantz talked fast): "I write diffferent for
different type of books. The prose of the Zlatan book /the footballer/ was very
different. I write my own prose here, but not my most "literary prose', as in
my book about Alan Turing, it is more journalistic. Stieg wrote the same way
and was fantastic in that regard. He had a very good 'flow' and was of course a
journalist. He wrote matter of factly, unartificial. My job is to continue in
Stieg's world, but also give something from myself and develop his world
further." (I interpret that as that he tries to write a bit like Stieg
Larsson. Lagercrantz to me seems a little bit like a literary chameleon, and
has written books in different styles.) First printing of The Girl in the
Spider's Web (Swedish title: Det som inte dödar oss/What Doesn't Kill Us) is ca
2.7 million copies for the ca 30 countries releasing it tomorrow (ca 100 000
copies/country). They may have to print more...
--Ahrvid
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