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"There Are Things I Want You to Know" About Stieg Larsson and Me
"There Are Things I Want You to Know" About Stieg Larsson and Me
"There Are Things I Want You to Know" About Stieg Larsson and Me
Audiobook5 hours

"There Are Things I Want You to Know" About Stieg Larsson and Me

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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About this audiobook

There is only one person who can tell Stieg Larsson's story better than he can, and that is his lifelong companion, Eva Gabrielsson. This is her book.

The keys to the "Stieg Larsson phenomenon" all lie with Stieg Larsson the man. No one knew him like Gabrielsson. Here, she tells the story of their 30-year romance; of Stieg's lifelong struggle to expose Sweden's neo-Nazis; of his struggle to keep the magazine he founded, Expo, alive; of his difficult relationships with his immediate family; and of the joy and the relief he discovered writing the Millenium trilogy. Above all, this is a love story, and we come to understand, reading "There Are Things I Want You to Know" About Stieg Larsson and Me, that if there was another secret besides Larsson's own imagination and convictions, it was his absolute love for his companion and her nurturing of their privacy and shared passions.

The book is told as a series of short vignettes, with titles ranging from "Speaking of Coffee" and "Stieg's Journalistic Credo" to "Goodbyes" and "The Fourth Volume." Gabrielsson speaks with rare candor and dignity, inspired only by the truth as she knows it. "There Are Things I Want You to Know" About Stieg Larsson and Me is thus short and to the point, poignant in its account of two soulmates and the life they shared and deeply insightful into the man everyone wants to know better, and about whom so little is known.

"I would have preferred to have never written this book. It speaks of Stieg, of our life together, and of my life after his death," writes Gabrielsson early in her book. It was written because she alone can tell his story.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateJun 21, 2011
ISBN9781452672342
"There Are Things I Want You to Know" About Stieg Larsson and Me

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Reviews for "There Are Things I Want You to Know" About Stieg Larsson and Me

Rating: 3.518518525925926 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Interesting information about their relationship and the family dynamics. The family rejected her and will not accept her or give her any money or property.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I recently won a Twitter contest by Tantor Media and when I was allowed to choose an audiobook I could not pass up this selection. Since I had recently finished the Dragon Tattoo series I was interested in knowing a little more about the man behind it. This book did not disappoint.

    Although they never married Eva Gabrielsson was Stieg Larsson’s lifelong companion. Sharing thirty-two years together Ms. Gabreilsson is able to relate some of Mr. Larsson’s childhood and early life with the reader as well as the kind of man he was as an adult. The reader learns about his career ambitions and the road his life took in that respect. She also shares his strong moral beliefs on a variety of subjects.

    Any book dealing with his life cannot omit what happened after his sudden death in 2004 at the age of fifty. Ms. Gabrielsson not only writes about her understandable grief but also discusses the difficulties surrounding the Millennium series (with family, lawyers and the government) with a grace that I feel I could not muster under similar circumstances. Although admittedly one sided, since she is the author of the book, I feel she deserves kudos in that department.

    In reading other reviews of this book I realize many people were disappointed that it was not more of a tell all (behind bedroom door type secrets) but I do not believe that was Ms. Gabrielsson’s mission in writing this book. As it stands this book was an interesting insight into the man behind the phenomenal success of the Dragon Tattoo books, but also an opportunity to get to know a little bit about a woman who is quite amazing in her own right.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I really enjoyed spending time with Eva and felt her pain as she told her story. She's a great lady who deserved much better than she got after her husband died. Their love and the life they shared makes for a great love story.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I liked this book more than I thought I would. It's a quick read, and presents a moving portrait of a woman in mourning.I'm not a big fan of Stieg Larsson or the Milennium trilogy (I've read only The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and don't have much interest in reading the other two). I was interested in this book because of the controversy regarding Larsson's estate. The author died suddenly, without a will, and without ever marrying his live-in companion of over thirty years, Eva Gabrielsson. Therefore, the millions Larsson has earned posthumously due to the success of his crime novels have gone to his father and brother, not to his companion. Gabrielsson's understandably bitter, She blames mysterious enemies ("they") who overworked her late lover to the point of early death. She even performs an ancient Norse ritual to inflict curses on these people, whoever they are (but, as she admits, Larsson did not take good care of himself and that his mother and grandfather both died young, from heart problems, just like Larsson did. His heart attack at the age of fifty is much more likely to be the natural result of these factors than the workings of mysterious enemies). She gives a number of excuses why they never found an opportunity in 30 years to get married. Although she never says this, I suspect that the main reason is that they just didn't believe in marriage, Predictably, she claIms there was a will that left everything to her, but it was regrettably unwitnessed and therefore not valid.I don't know anything about Swedish law, but it seems to me that if you aren't married, you can't expect the benefits of marriage. If you don't have a properly-prepared will, you can't expect the benefits of having a properly-prepared will. It's too bad, but that's the way the law works.I do sympathize with Eva Gabrielsson. She's lost the love of her life and his money and literary control as well. It's clear her impulse is to blame everyone else (the father, the brother, the enemies) for the situation, rather than the man she loved, who, in my opinion, bears some of the responsiblity as well..