Two Technical Flaws

Hey, so I am "That Guy". My brain leaps out of fantasy the minute anything does not match up and it tends to ruin the experience for me. I just finished listening to series 1 on cd. Problem 1: Mark tells Mikael he has a glock in his hand... then a few mins later is described as removing the safety. Glocks do not have safetys. A glock pistol is point and shoot only. ALl of the models.

Problem 2: Lisbeth borrows 140,000kr and only pays back 120,000kr. What happened.

I have not looked at the printed version. any input?

Posted by Phill i Chicago ill , 16 May 2010

You missed the .45 magnum. I think it was a .45 ACP.

Posted by sgpatien in livermore, ca , 16 May 2010

45?? where...

Posted by , 18 May 2010

Wrong. I happened to be researching Glocks, one model in particular, a 17C. Has a back thumb safety.

Posted by GLenn in Los Angeles, CA , 20 May 2010

the ".45 magnum" is probably some sort of re-translation of the swedish term for the .45 colt revolver cartridge, aka "45 Long Colt"

Posted by Ado Annie in lake jackson TX , 24 May 2010

all good answers. I stand corrected , Glenn was right. In fact there were a few Glocks produced with thumb safeties. You got lucky Stieg. You know you did. :).. ANd the money???????????????

Posted by , 27 May 2010

In the UK paperback the amount Lisbeth borrows is 120,000kr (p.503). She says that Blomkvist has 'roughly 140,000 kronor' in his current account.

Posted by marcus in London , 28 May 2010

so funny I also noted the glock mistake....it is a mistake, sorry guys regardless if there is ONE glock with a saftey... glocks are known for not having them!

Posted by susana in caracas , 1 June 2010

Not so much a technical flaw, but it was stated that it was cold outside, I thought; however, it said that girls were wearing bathing suits in the parade - later to state bathing suits with harem pants.

nb. just an aside - it took awhile, toward the end of the second book when Blomquist was in Lisbeth's new apartment, but vitamins were finally mentioned and she also ate a couple of apples after that, so I suppose the author had a lecture about nutrition and threw a couple of different things in. Sandwiches, coffee, cheese, pizza, pickles, the odd something else such as a lamb chop, but what poor diets. 7-11 stores in Canada are mini-marts with not much there for food, although things are improving (if one pays a hefty price for food). There must be more food in the 7-ll stores in Sweden. I wonder if the author received money for mentioning Billy's Pan Pizza or whatever it was.

Posted by Andy1 in Sherwood Park , 3 June 2010

wha about jeremy taking 5% commission on the 2.4 billion. Wouldn't that be 12 million? so why was saying 10 mill he's out?

Posted by ben in tauranga , 4 June 2010

5% on all profits?

Posted by bert in Cheyenne , 5 June 2010

I was hoping to discuss technical flaws within the writing, not some little errors on guns or amounts of money. We should consider that Larsson wrote in Swedish not English and perhaps the translator lost too many details while doing his work. But overall, I think Larsson is a wonderful writer and produced one of the more beautiful and magnificent novels of XXI Century so far...

Posted by Historiaensis in Puerto Rico , 7 June 2010

Phill i, I'm so sorry these small technicalities ruined your experience. Ultimately, I agree with Historianensis--translations are crucial. But whatever, Dude. The big attraction for me is that these finely plotted novels are built around one of the most intriguing characters ever created--Lisbeth Salander. She is THE anti-heroine for our time--and I mourn not only her creator, but the fact that there will never be another novel with her at its center, or Kalle Fucking Blomkquist as its conscience. I am bereft...will just have to wait for whtever John Burdette or Donna Leon come up with next...

Posted by Pamanali in Rivercity , 7 June 2010

I don't understand the nailgun scene. It said she was below the floorboard shooting up, that means the head of the nails would be below the floor with the points going up through the wood and then through the shoes. How would it be a show of brute force to pull his foot up through the nail heads?

Posted by Dan in Arlington, Texas , 8 June 2010

what book did you read, dan in arlington tx? she wasn't below the floorboards.She was under the table.

Posted by roxanne in r.i. , 10 June 2010

I just finished listening to the third book in audio format and I'm fairly certain she was beneath the cabinet, not the floor boards. This makes sense given that he knocked the cabinet over to get at her.

Posted by Raven in Seattle , 15 June 2010

How nit-picky can you get?

Posted by Noreen in San Diego , 21 June 2010

I cannot believe all the people that deliberately spoil their own experience by looking for errors. For goodness sake, all I know is I could not put the book down for the three days it took me to read it. To me that says, it's a hit. Learn to just enjoy the read.

Posted by lisa in northmead , 24 June 2010

The great Hitchcock films had some pretty weak moments- bad effects, probablity stretches in the story; but these are books and movies, not "real life". Masters sometimes throw in things on purpose to leave you wondering...Bunuel! (That's not fair, surrealism rolls around in improbability).

If a narrative holds together within its own system of rules, to hell with the little numbers. If the exact amount of kronors advances the story or is important to the developments after, then they should be "right". If not, what's the difference?

Posted by bbostock in brynathlahem Pa , 24 June 2010

Wow, just read and enjoy. All this nit-picking sounds like jealousy. It is especially bad as he is not around to answer these questions.

Posted by Terry in Madison, WI , 25 June 2010

She was beneath the cabinet and the nails go in at an angle. I listened carefully today to this bit of the story.

Who cares? Lisbeth is a superhero. She can do stuff that mere mortals like us can't.

Mary

Posted by , 26 June 2010

The genius is in the larger-than-life character construction.

Posted by Bill in Lexington NC , 26 June 2010

The fact that this man wrote these books at night, AFTER work, is astounding. I can barely practice two hours after a day of work. He said he "Didn't need much sleep"....! How COULD you sleep with all those plots and characters running through your head?

And does anyone know if he had outlines for the other seven books already in his brain?

Posted by bb in brynathyn , 29 June 2010

It isn't nit-picking to be irritated by small errors of fact. I read novels and willingly accept a suspension of disbelief and accept the improbably possible. That entire aura is shattered by errors, when authors try to make a point with a fact that is incorrect.

Posted by the_traveler in columbia, MD , 2 July 2010

I am suddenly confused about the likelihood of the Millenium people getting involved in solving murders that just so happen to both point to Lisbeth and her father, a year after she splits from Blomkvist. Murders that both Lisbeth AND Blomkvist get involved in unraveling. Do I need to go back to the first book and do some thinking to see how Zala seeds were planted early on?

Posted by bb in ba , 4 July 2010

I am half way through the final book and consider them to be excellent. Enjoy the read and don't look for mistakes unless you are one of an extremely rare breed that never make mistakes.

Posted by CC in Beira, Mozambique , 5 July 2010

I'm not nit-picking just a wondering something that doesn't make sense to me. the last two chapters have dates that are about 6 months apart but in the last chapter it mentions that Lisbeth was only gone for two weeks? What did I miss???

Posted by Sarah in NYC , 8 July 2010

Have to admit that some if not most of the "errors" are very minimal. Could be lack of knowledge of the author or translator. I personaly do not really care. Great books and made into great movies. I agree with all that it is a shame the author has died. What a great talent.

Posted by Rich in Norwalk , 13 July 2010

Only flaw with nail gun scene is that no nail gun fires unless it is pressed against material to be nailed.

Posted by Derek in Edinburgh , 14 July 2010

It's my guess that most people would not know if a Glock had a safety or not. Nor would they care. Same goes with the nail gun. Made me say ouch!

Posted by Erica in Seattle , 17 July 2010

I'm wondering when somebody will notice that one of the main topics of the books is violence against women, not some technicalities. I really want to discuss that and I think I will start a discussion on that theme. Who wants to join?

Posted by Historiaensis in Puerto Rico , 17 July 2010

Being a South Texan......in the film "The Alamo" the editors caught a yellow school bus in the distance in time to cut it out........life can be made more interesting by "out of context" moments......I bet you guys circle misspelled words in newspapers for fun on Friday Night........

Posted by Linda Thamm in Victoria, Texas , 26 July 2010

Was anyone annoyed by the fact that Salander and her father don't have police officers at their door when they are in the hospital??? Isn't she still wanted for a triple murder at that time...

Posted by Christine in Canada , 30 July 2010

Yes! Thank you Christine in Canada! Not only should there have been police outside their hospital rooms but Salander should be in a post-operative intensive care unit. I was so annoyed that I put the book down for awhile and found this discussion board while looking for criticism of the books. Despite some flaws I enjoyed the first two so I will finish the trilogy.

Posted by Catherine in Boston , 27 August 2010

violence against women was a main story in stieg's life. an article i read about him mentioned the rape of a girl by him and friends as a teenager. it troubled him his whole life.

Posted by john in orlando , 29 September 2010

I guess it depends on your source John in Orlando but I'd read that Steig WITNESSED a gang rape of a girl when he was 15 and was racked by guilt that he didn't do anything to her her or stop the attack.

Posted by Lyn in Auckland , 21 January 2011

I enjoyed this book, Stieg Larsson is much smarter than me, and that's why it jumped out at me that the glock had a safety. Even though it was written in his spare time, I had assumed he had done his research so I started to look up glocks sold in sweden- thinking maybe they have safeties there.

I have recently picked up gun shooting as a hobby after realizing that in movies, when the victim wrestles away the gun from the attackers hand the perpetrator calmly says, "the safety is on" and then takes the gun back. I didn't want to be in this same group of victims, so I decided to get myself educated on guns. It's funny because Stieg was such a liberal like me, he also might have assumed there was a safety in a real life situation, and that I think it's a somewhat charming mistake.

Posted by beatle in usa , 13 February 2011

I listened to the audio version of the trilogy straight through, and I liked it a lot. But I do have this problem with the nail gun scene: I don't know of an electric nail gun that will drive 7 inch nails. In the U.S., the only kind of nail gun that would do anything like that would be a large one that uses compressed air. To use it you would have to start up an air compressor and run it for several minutes until you had sufficient pressure. The gun would be much too large to handle while scrambling around underneath a cabinet. The smaller nail guns that you hold like a pistol drive nails no longer than 2 or 3 inches, and the all-electric models fire even smaller brads that would certainly not be useful for nailing a giant's feet to a floor. You might as well say she used a magic ray gun, unless I'm missing something. Maybe these Russian made nail guns are different, but I doubt it. Does anyone know? (I haven't seen the movie, so I don't know how this scene was handled.)

Posted by cb in Colorado , 12 Mars 2011

It simply does not matter...licentia poetica..just imagine.

Posted by , 12 Mars 2011

Of course it matters. This is the last big action scene of the trilogy. Salander is saved by a fantasy nail gun, the like of which has never existed in world history. That's worse than making a mistake about whether a Glock has a safety or not. You can't blame Larsson, since he wasn't around by the time the book was published and probably didn't know any better. But this scene should have been fixed to make "willing suspension of disbelief" possible for anyone who has ever used a real nail gun. Just my opinion, of course...

Posted by rod , 13 Mars 2011

Blomkvist makes reference on page 435 in my copy of Dragon Tattoo to "the" photograph taken from the chruch hill that proves Martin was on the town side of the bridge as the acident was being cleared. I can't find any earlier reference or inclusion of this photograph in the story. Am I being too nitpicky?

Posted by Tom in Boston , 14 Mars 2011

I noticed the Glock error too. Also, when in Australia a local described a distance in miles. Down under, they use kilometers. (That was probably the translator's doing.)

Neither slip dampened my enjoyment of the book. I loved it!

Posted by Dave in Emerald Triangle , 13 Mars 2012